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Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Which One Am I Multiple Personalities and Deep Southern Secrets by Thomas S. Smith How Would Southerners Describe the South to Outsiders? • Among their descriptions, which aspects of the South would they articulate? • Would native Southerners, converted Southerners, and non-Southerners (who live in the region) describe the South in different ways? • Would there be any differences between White Southerners and Black Southerners, males and females, older and younger citizens, educated and not-so-educated individuals, rich people and those less-well-off, born-again Christians and non-born-again respondents, Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives? Residents of the American South are used to seeing their home region depicted in stereotyped derision. Some Southerners try to deal with such disparagement with various strategies, such as polite silence or impassioned rhetoric about their "New South" homeland. Often, "rebels" delight in such criticism; and they give as well as take in outrageous debate. But how would most Southerners respond if they had an opportunity, in a reasonable conversation, to describe the South to outsiders? Some of my political science colleagues recently reported the results of such hypothetical conversations at the Citadel Symposium on Southern Politics in Charleston, SC. Scott H. Huffmon and Allie Briggs (both of Winthrop University) and Christopher N. Lawrence (Middle George State College) conducted a study among South Carolinians. In April, 2013, as part of the Winthrop Poll series, interviewers asked for responses to the following probe: "Imagine that you had to describe the South to someone who had never been to a Southern state in America in just two words or two very short phrases." The co-authors then coded the responses for substantive analysis. Positive or Negative Self-Descriptions? As might be expected, this survey elicited overwhelmingly positive comments about the South. Over two-thirds of the responses were positive and only about a fourth were negative. Combining first and second mentions, around 60% gave two positive terms or phrases; and only 14 percent offered two negatives. The positive mentions related mainly to the region's people and culture (32 percent of first mentions) and quality of life (26 percent of first mentions). The respondents seemed ambivalent about the economy and government. Using a scale from +2 (both first and second mentions of a positive nature) to -2 (both first and second mentions of a negative nature), the authors derived an overall positive score of +0.81 for their collective audience. Natives vs. Converts vs. Non-Southerners. The authors found, again expectedly, that native Southerners and converted Southerners (with mean scores of +0.84 and +1.06 respectively) had more positive evaluations than those who considered themselves non-Southerners (+0.21). Race, Gender, Age, Education, Income, Religion, Party, Ideology. Race was a significant divider among the respondents. African-Americans were more likely to offer negative terms and less likely to offer positive terms (mean score of +0.39) compared to Whites (+0.99). Gender differences were insignificant; men (+0.78) and women (+0.81) scored substantially the same. Age played a role. Older respondents had more positive views of the region, with each additional decade of age corresponding to an increase of +0.07 in the average score. Education seemed to make no difference. No pattern appeared and there were no statistical differences in descriptions based on educational attainment. Income produced complex and unclear patterns. A general trend suggested that higher incomes were associated with more positive evaluations; but the authors expressed little confidence because of the few respondents with high household income. Religion also was of little value in distinguishing among these respondents. Born-again Christians had a net positive rating of +0.85 and non-born- again respondents had a score of +0.77. Party was a divider. Republicans scored +1.22 and Democrats scored +0.56 (independents scored +0.67). Finally, differences surfaced in terms of ideology. Very conservative respondents had an average positivity of +1.04 compared to a very liberal score of +0.29. Conclusions. My colleagues found that most of their respondents would describe the South positively; but there were important differences in how they would describe their region to outsiders. Natives to the region or those who have adopted a Southern self-identification were substantially more positive than those who have moved into the area but retain a non-Southern identity. There also were noteworthy patterns along racial, age, party, and ideological lines. Commentary. As a native Southerner, I found this study generally confirms what most of us might expect. But it does more. It provides statistical data under- girding these expectations. And I'm sure it will generate some strong responses from readers of this post. AUTHOR NOTE: This column is part of a series of posts about Southern Politics. These posts derive from the 2014 Citadel Symposium on Southern Politics, a gathering of regional specialists in historic Charleston, SC. This Symposium has been held every-other-year since 1978; and it has become a "main event" for serious South-watchers from around the country. A hundred specialists -- representing scholars from about fifty academic institutions -- participated in the most recent conference, March 6-7, 2014. In this series, I will attempt to incorporate pertinent aspects of the presented papers and some of my own comments into various themes. The 50 Best Southern Novels Ever Written. The American South has long been seen as the focus of the country’s Civil Rights Movement, carrying with it the stigma of poverty, racism, and anti-intellectualism. Yet the region has also produced a disproportionate number of intellectuals, poets, and writers, possibly because of the complicated and layered identities each Southerner holds within him- or herself. The South has begotten some of our nation’s most important authors, including prize winners like William Styron, Eudora Welty, Flannery O’Connor, Ralph Ellison, Harper Lee, and that titan of American letters, William Faulkner. These 50 novels are a reminder that the South cannot be defined solely by its failings; it is also responsible for shaping the minds of countless thinkers who offered to American literature essential insights about not only their region but the world at large. Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner. Sure, alphabetically, Absalom, Absalom! is first on this list. But, coincidentally, it is also the greatest Southern novel ever written. A crowing achievement of William Faulkner’s experimentation in narratives and storytelling, it encapsulates all that defines the post-war (that’s the Civil War, you guys) Southern mentality, perfectly summed up in the book’s final line, revealing Quentin Compson’s true feelings about the homeland with which he has such a complicated relationship: “I don’t hate it he thought, panting in the cold air, the iron New England dark: I don’t. I don’t! I don’t hate it! I don’t hate it!” The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. The beloved and oft-banned classic is a hilarious romp down the Mississippi River, featuring Mark Twain’s stellar wit, unparalleled ear for dialect, and social commentary. All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren. One of the greatest novels about American politics, All the King’s Men took inspiration from real-life politician Huey P. Long and earned Robert Penn Warren the first of his three Pulitzer Prizes. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner. Faulkner’s tour de force follows a poor family struggling together to carry their matriarch’s dead body to be buried with her kin. In this narrative masterpiece, Faulkner allows the reader to go inside the mind of each of his characters — even the deceased woman whose lifeless body is being transported across Mississippi. The Awakening by Kate Chopin. An early feminist classic, Chopin’s short novel follows Edna Pontellier, a New Orleans wife and mother who falls in love while on vacation and returns home to find that she can no longer stand to devote herself to social obligations and domestic drudgery. Although Edna’s fate is ultimately tragic, her embrace of an artist’s life and journey to independence make her one of American literature’s first liberated women. — Judy Berman. Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison. A searing autobiographical coming-of-age tale from Dorothy Allison, who packs no punches when it comes to providing a detailed look at the pains and horrors of being a woman in a poor, rural, male-dominated Southern society in which violence is an everyday occurrence. Beloved by Toni Morrison. Morrison, herself a a Ohio native, is not really a Southern writer, but Beloved ‘s study of the psychological aftermath of slavery in the post-war Midwest is deeply rooted in the Southern tradition. Big Fish by Daniel Wallace. A crowd-pleaser that was turned into a beloved movie (and something of a flop of a Broadway musical), Big Fish is your classic story about a father-son relationship, heightened by its imaginative and fantastical characters — giants, witches, mermaids, and one huge fish. Cane by Jean Toomer. One of the must-reads from the Harlem Renaissance, Toomer’s impressionistic and modernist journey from the South to the North and back again features poems, vignettes, and sketches of life in rural Georgia. —Elisabeth Donnelly. Child of God by Cormac McCarthy. This tale set in the mountains of Tennessee, about a crazed, necrophiliac killer, might just be McCarthy’s toughest book to get through. —Jason Diamond. The Clearing by Tim Gautreaux. This incredible novel follows two brothers deep in the Louisiana swamp who must repair their fractured relationship to battle a ruthless gangster in the years following World War I.

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