Southern Cultures: The Irish Issue


Book Description

In the Spring 2011 issue of Southern Cultures -- The Irish Issue -- Front Porch by Harry L. Watson "The authors in this special issue on Ireland and the South argue that the Irish left an outsized imprint on the cultures of the American South and forged a persistent affinity between Ireland and the South." "A lengthening chain in the shape of memories" The Irish and Southern Culture by William R. Ferris "Irish rockers U2 are committed fans of B.B. King and wrote the song 'When Love Comes to Town' at his request. The song introduced King to important new rock audiences." Tara, the O'Haras, and the Irish Gone With the Wind by Geraldine Higgins "Into the debate about place, race, and the second-best-selling book of all time, we can also bring Irishness." Another "Lost Cause" The Irish in the South Remember the Confederacy by David Gleeson "As there had been only two prominent Irish generals, and only one, Cleburne, had had a very distinguished record, the story of the common soldier was the story of the Irish Confederate." Blacks and Irish on the Riverine Frontiers The Roots of American Popular Music by Christopher J. Smith "One of the realities of American life is that certain features of African American performance style will remain strange and alluring to those outside the culture. Not least among such features is the making of hard social commentary on recurring problems of life, often through cutting and breaking techniques-contentious interactions continually calling for a change of direction." Smoke 'n' Guns A Preface to a Poem about Marginal Souths, and then the Poem by Conor O'Callaghan "Addressing a jubilant crowd in Belfast shortly after the declaration of the original ceasefire in 1993, Gerry Adams reminded his audience that 'they haven't gone away, you know.' He meant that even as 'the cause' was dwindling, its upholders-'the boys'-were still among us. He might just as easily have been talking about the Klan."




The Irish in the South, 1815-1877


Book Description

This book explores the story of the Irish in America and southern culture. The Irish who migrated to the Old South struggled to make a new home in a land where they were viewed as foreigners and were set apart by language, high rates of illiteracy, and their own self-identification as temporary exiles from famine and British misrule. They countered this isolation by creating vibrant, tightly knit ethnic communities in the cities and towns across the South where they found work, usually menial jobs. Finding strength in their communities, Irish immigrants developed the confidence to raise their voices in the public arena, forcing native southerners to recognize and accept them--first politically, then socially. The Irish integrated into southern society without abandoning their ethnic identity. They displayed their loyalty by fighting for the Confederacy during the Civil War and in particular by opposing the Radical Reconstruction that followed. By 1877, they were a unique part of the "Solid South." Unlike the Irish in other parts of the United States, the Irish in the South had to fit into a regional culture as well as American culture in general.




Two Continents, One Culture


Book Description

This in-depth analysis examines how and why Southern culture was forever changed when Scotch-Irish immigrants flooded the Appalachian Mountains in the 1700s. Geographical similarities between Southern Appalachia and the Highlands of Scotland and Ireland are discussed, as well as the parallels and differences of the two cultures in four basic areas—music and dance, agricultural practices, fighting and hunting techniques, and technological innovativeness. More than 300 years of the communities' ideology is explored based on data culled from ethnographic observation, interviews at various heritage sites, historic accounts, archived letters, and other textual documentation.




Southern Cultures: Special Roots Music Issue


Book Description

The Special Roots Music Issue features: B.B. King on Bukka White's legacy; The Top Ten Folk Singers of All Time; Bob Dylan backstage in '63 and other rare photographic gems; Swamp bluesman Jimmy Anderson's first published interview in the U.S.; Lynyrd Skynyrd vs. the Allman Brothers; Pete, Peggy, & Mike--and all the rest that Charles Seeger gave to the world of music; Willie Lowery--musician, songwriting sensation, and humanitarian; Saxie Dowell, the great saxophonist and war hero; a sneak peek at NASHVILLE CHROME, the sizzling new novel from Rick Bass; and much more. The Roots Music Issue comes with a classic FREE CD full of great roots musicians, including BUKKA WHITE, ETTA BAKER, THE BYRDS' ROGER MCGUINN, WILLIE LOWERY, IDYLL SWORDS, ALABAMA SLIM & LITTLE FREDDIE KING, JIMMY ANDERSON & THE MOJO BLUES BAND, MICHAEL HURLEY, FILTHYBIRD, MEGAFAUN, PRESTON FULP, JOE BROWN, AND MORE OF THE SOUTH'S BEST ROOTS MUSICIANS—old and new. We'll mail the CD separately to our Roots Music e-book customers at no extra charge. Southern Cultures is published quarterly (spring, summer, fall, winter) by the University of North Carolina Press. The journal is sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Center for the Study of the American South.




Southern Cultures


Book Description

In the Winter 2012 issue of Southern Cultures… The Great Debate: NASCAR vs. College Football Undercover: Inside the World of the Debutante On the Backroads: Country Stores and the Days of Yore A Look at the Numbers: Race and Region in the American South and Beyond Autobiography: Cotton Milling in Alabama and Understanding Personal Identity in the South . . . and more. Southern Cultures is published quarterly (spring, summer, fall, winter) by the University of North Carolina Press. The journal is sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Center for the Study of the American South.




Irish Catholic Writers and the Invention of the American South


Book Description

In this comprehensive study, Bryan Giemza retrieves a missing chapter of Irish Catholic heritage by canvassing the literature of American Irish writers from the U.S. South. Beginning with the first Irish American novel, published in Winchester, Virginia, in 1817, Giemza investigates nineteenth-century writers contending with the turbulence of their time -- writers influenced by both American and Irish revolutions, dramatists and propagandists of the Civil War, and memoirists of the Lost Cause. Some familiar names arise in an Irish context, including Joel Chandler Harris and Kate (O'Flaherty) Chopin. Giemza then turns to the works of twentieth-century writers, such as Margaret Mitchell, John Kennedy Toole, and Pat Conroy. For each author, Giemza traces the impact of Catholicism on their ethnic identity and their work. Giemza draws on many never-before-seen documents, including the correspondence of Cormac McCarthy, interviews with members of the Irish community in Flannery O'Connor's native Savannah, Georgia, and Giemza's own correspondence with writers such as Valerie Sayers and Anne Rice. This lively history prompts a new understanding of how the Catholic Irish in the South helped invent a regional myth, an enduring literature, and a national image.




Southern Culture


Book Description

From the very beginning the South was different. The source and significance of this difference has been debated and discussed for over 200 years. In recent decades, the demise of the South as a regional culture has frequently been predicted, although now some scholars and journalists are maintaining that it is proving to be remarkably resilient and is actually having an ever greater influence on the broader American culture. Southern Culture examines the origins and evolution of the region's culture and focuses on six key patterns that have defined it: agrarianism, class relations, race relations, gender and family traditions, evangelical Christianity, and political traditions. Southern Culture also explores the products of the culture with major sections on dialect, painting, architecture, pottery, music, literature, and icons and myths. It concludes with essays by each of the authors in which they reflect on where Southern culture is headed. Professors, to see an annotated list of helpful links to accompany Southern Culture, click here "Three community college instructors combine their long experience in teaching English, history, and sociology in North Carolina (Vance-Granville Community College) to provide an interdisciplinary introductory text well worth adoption. Beck, Frandsen, and Randall meet well the challenge of merging humanities and social science approaches to regional studies by examining six focal areas: race, class, politics, family, religion, and agrarianism. ... Highly recommended." - Choice Magazine ". . . a scholarly resource that also is fun to read." -- Durham Herald Sun




Southern Cultures: The Photography Issue


Book Description

The Cruel Radiance of the Obvious, The 2011 Photography Issue Tom Rankin, Guest Editor Our second Photography issue features full-color photographs by William Eggleston, William Christenberry, and much more. CONTENTS Front Porch by Harry L. Watson "It requires very special talent to make great photographs, and those who have it are among our finest artists." The Cruel Radiance of the Obvious by Tom Rankin "Photography in its finest and most decisive moments is about those tired or ignored or unseen parts of our lives, the mundane and worn paths that sit before us so firmly that we cease to notice. It is, we might say, about rebuilding our sight in the face of blindness, of recovering our collective vision." American Studies by Michael Carlebach "Many years ago I concluded that for me truth and beauty, and perhaps wit and wisdom as well, are more likely to reside in what is ordinary and seemingly insignificant. This is, perhaps, a sideways look at America and American culture, but it is one that can produce moments that describe us all, but without makeup and bereft of a spokesperson." Mapping The Democratic Forest The Postsouthern Spaces of William Eggleston by Ben Child "When the color photographs of William Eggleston first appeared at the Museum of Modern Art in 1976, the boldness of Eggleston's palette and his disregard for the conventions of black-and-white photography were shocking; nearly all the major critics were scornful, and Ansel Adams wrote a scathing letter of protest." Stereo Propaganda by Lynn Marshall-Linnemeier "In this examination, magic and myth-two of my favorite vehicles-act as buffers to the dominant power structure. It brings together two bodies of collectibles, one personal and one commercial, with the intent of shifting stereotypes about race and southern culture." Interview "Those little color snapshots": William Christenberry interviewed by William R. Ferris "Santa Claus had brought me and my sister a small Brownie camera in the late 1940s, and I just loaded it with color film and went out to that Alabama landscape and began to photograph what caught my eye." Heroes of Hell Hole Swamp Photographs of South Carolina Midwives by Hansel Mieth and W. Eugene Smith by Dolores Flamiano "Mieth and Smith shared a belief that photography could bring social change. They viewed Pat Clark and Maude Callen as heroic healers whose stories would inspire racial understanding. Both photographers shot powerful images of the most visceral human experiences: birth, death, sexuality, and disease." Women Working by Susan Harbage Page "'Rough. It is rough being a female.'" Not Forgotten The Day Is Past and Gone Family Photographs from Eastern North Carolina By Scott Matthews "'It is in fact hard to get the camera to tell the truth; yet it can be made to, in many ways and on many levels. Some of the best photographs we are ever likely to see are innocent domestic snapshots.'" All eight articles from this issue of Southern Cultures are also available individually as stand-alone ebooks.




Southern Cultures: 2011 Music Issue


Book Description

The Music Issue eBook includes a FREE CD and: The tell-all letter from a teenage girl who kissed—and kissed—Elvis Presley How corruption and greed made the Jacksonville music scene Gretchen Wilson, country music's "Redneck Woman" The invaluable social spaces of African American record stores Bobby Rush, "bluesman-plus" Where Opryland resides in hearts, minds, and souls Backstage with the Avett Brothers, Doc Watson, Tift Merritt, Southern Culture on the Skids, the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Johnny Cash, and more great artists. We'll send you the Music Issue's special CD, at no extra cost. Loving, Leaving, Liquor, and the Lord is packed with tracks from the Avett Brothers, Doc and Merle Watson, Archers of Loaf, and many more amazing Southern musicians--old and new. Southern Cultures is published quarterly (spring, summer, fall, winter) by the University of North Carolina Press. The journal is sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Center for the Study of the American South.




Southern Cultures: The Memory Issue


Book Description

Personal. Public. Historical. The next issue of Southern Cultures is devoted entirely to Memory. . . . . . Why We Argue So Much About Robert E. Lee . . . Alice Walker, Allan Gurganus, Elizabeth Spencer, Randall Kenan, and More Great Writers on our Favorite Films and What They Make Us Remember . . . Catfish Hunter: Baseball Legend, Small-town God . . . Life and Times: World War II–Era Appalachia . . . Growing Up in Hot Springs, Arkansas . . . New Poetry from Robert Morgan . . . What To Do About the Thomas Ruffin Statue . . . The Interview: "The Grandmother of Appalachian Studies" on the Long Women's Movement