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in addition to more traditional historical content, assignments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
Understanding Southern Culture
Prerequisite
Any HIST course or ENGL 1101 or ENGL 1101E or ENGL 1101S or ENGL 1102 or ENGL 1102E or ENGL 1102S or POLS 1101 or POLS 1101E or POLS 1101H or POLS 1101S
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
- By the end of this course, students will be able to arrive at conclusions about the history of U.S. Southern culture by gathering and weighing evidence, logical argument, and listening to counter argument.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to write stylistically appropriate papers and essays. Students will be able to analyze ideas and evidence, organize their thoughts, and revise and edit their finished essays.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to identify how the history of southern culture shaped diverse social and cultural attitudes toward race and slavery, labor and class, and religion and morality, encouraging them to understand diverse worldviews and experiences.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to apply appropriate methodological approaches to their analysis of primary sources and to organize their evidence to show historical continuities and discontinuities.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to generate their own research question or topic, locate suitable primary and secondary sources, and synthesize their ideas in novel ways.
- By the end of this course, students will be able to initiate, manage, complete, and evaluate their independent research projects in stages and to give and receive constructive feedback through the peer review process.
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 x
- 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)
Institutional Competencies
Analytical Thinking
The ability to reason, interpret, analyze, and solve problems from a wide array of authentic contexts.
Communication
The ability to effectively develop, express, and exchange ideas in written, oral, interpersonal, or visual form.
Critical Thinking
The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.
Social Awareness & Responsibility
The capacity to understand the interdependence of people, communities, and self in a global society.
