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Throughout the course, we will be exploring, negotiating and debating what we can consider Southern. In so doing, we will attempt to navigate the waters of what is actually considered part of the region from different perspectives. What you perceive is what you see from where you stand. Thus, a white cis man from a mid-sized town in North Carolina (like me) will very much view the South from a different perspective to someone of a different background from Atlanta, the region’s largest city. From the outside (most of your perspectives will be Central European), the South may seem to be a unified region, but we will also be looking at the diversity of the South and many ‘internal contradictions’ that come from being a Southerner as well as exploring the portrayal of the region and its people in American media.
The ‘lost causes’ in the title refer back to the ‘Lost Cause’, which is a troubling, persistent myth of the foundation of ‘Southern character’. Following the defeat of the Confederates in the Civil War, many white Southerners persisted in believing that slavery and their antebellum world view were a cause worth maintaining, either by suppression in actuality or forming narratives of lost virtue and gentility. Among some, this mindset persists today and is often framed as preserving the ‘heritage’ of the ‘Old South’. A counter-narrative emerged, at the latest, with the Civil Rights Movement and the promise of economic prosperity in the ’New South’. Somewhere in the interstitial spaces between the lost causes of the past and new opportunities we will attempt to explore what could be considered Southern.
By necessity, we will be dealing with the history, geography and cultural geography of the South. However, the course will not focus on history alone but rather a variety of cultural products from music, food, literature, film and television. Race and ethnic identity will also inform much of what we explore. Since we cannot definitively state what is Southern (though we may try), it is also imperative to explore how the region has been portrayed in American culture and media. Ultimately, I hope to introduce you all to a region which you may know little about and by the end of the term, I hope we will be able to respectfully, intelligently and critically question what the South was, is, and potentially could be in the future. |
