Course Description
The historical, racial, economic, political, musical, and literary dots that constitute the matrix of southern cultural identity. There will be substantial emphasis on readings, and in addition to more traditional historical content, assignments and classroom discussions will also incorporate music, literature, and folk culture.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be required to complete appropriate
additional writing assignments and attend additional discussions
of course material and themes beyond the scheduled class
meetings.
Athena Title
SOUTHERN CULTURE
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
By studying southern music, literature and folklore in historical context, students will acquire a better understanding of culture as a product of the interaction of past and present that is also shaped by the prevailing realities of economic and power relationships.
Topical Outline
Week 1 Where Is the South? The Physical and Cultural South “Wallerstein”; “What Can One Mean . . .” Week 2-3 Slavery and the South’s Economy, Society, and Culture; "Colonial/Antebellum Slavery”; “Atlantic World,” Agriculture and Rural Life, (ARL), pp. 4-18; Levine, “Sacred World,” “Slave Tales”; Away Down South (ADS), pp. 1-21 Week 4 Cavaliers and Yankees Go to War ADS, pp. 21-66; Cash, “Of the Frontier..” Week 5 War, The Lost Cause, Reconstruction, and the Creation of the “Solid” South ADS, Chp. 3; ARL, pp. 14-18 Week 6 FIRST EXAM Week 7 Life in Jim Crow’s South; Wright, “The Ethics”; Levine, “Pantheon,” “Black Laughter” Week 8 Bluesmen and Hillbillies Cobb, “The Blues”; Green, “Hillbilly Music” Week 9 The Awakening South; The Hamlet; ADS, Chp. 4 Week 10 The Rising South, A Musical Revolution Cobb, “The Dominant..”; “A Foretaste.,” ARL, pp. 18-28 Week 11 The Solid South Cracks; “Politics Overview” Week 12 SECOND EXAM Week 13 The South As New America ADS, Chps. 7-9; O’Connor, “Everything” Week 14 Film, “The Accountant;” The New Global South Cobb, “Beyond;” “Hispanic..” Week 15 The South: Enduring and Necessary ADS, Chps. 10-12; Week 16 Review and papers FINAL EXAM READING: William Faulkner, The Hamlet Guess Who? Away Down South: A History of Southern Identity (ADS)