Civil Rights Movement, and Confederate monuments. The Real Housewives of Atlanta, The Help, and FX’s Atlanta. The U.S. South has been at the center of many of the major historical and cultural events of the 20th century. Culturally, the region has been the birthplace of American music (from blues and country to rock and roll and hip hop), the home of great literature, and the source of various religious, culinary, and other cultural traditions.
In this course, we will explore the cultures of the South and situate them within a historical context. We will consider the various everyday and expressive cultural forms that emerged from segregation and black protests, from working-class life, from Asian and Latin American migrations, from interactions with the rest of the nation, and from numerous other economic, political, and demographic transformations in the twentieth century. With a central interest in race, we will also consider how the region’s racial and cultural developments have regularly intersected with the ideas and practices of gender, class, ethnicity, and nation. Throughout the semester, two broad questions will regularly guide our readings and conversations:
- What is the relationship between race and culture in the South?
- In what ways is the South unique from other regions and in what ways is it emblematic of the larger nation?
Course Requirements:
A midterm and final examination, short assignments in discussion sections, and a paper analyzing a product of Southern culture.
Intended Audience:
All are welcome. No prior coursework in history is required.
Class Format:
A combination of lectures and discussions, with each drawing extensively on multimedia forms (music, film/television clips, photographs, etc.)