the the newsletter of the Center for the study of southern Culture • spring 2012 the university of mississippi Southern Foodways Alliance Brings Home Three IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) Major Awards Three recent awards brought attention graphs—that Amy Evans Streeter and to documentary work by the Southern others have collected are a model for Foodways Alliance. In May, John T. Edge a single-subject oral history collection. won the M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished And John T.’s writing is impressive both Writing Award from the James Beard in what he has to say and how it reaches Foundation for Excellence. The foun- so many people.” dation gave the award for Edge’s article The awards came simultaneously with “BBQ Nation: The Preservation of a other news about publications. The Culinary Art Form,” which appeared in University of Georgia Press published Saveur in May 2011. Edge adopted the the sixth edition of Cornbread Nation: article from a Charleston lecture he had The Best of Southern Food Writing, edit- delivered at the University of North ed by Brett Anderson with Sara Camp International Association of Culinary Carolina. Just a month earlier, the SFA Arnold, in May. This summer Arnold, Professionals’s New Media Awards win- won two New Media Awards from the who has been working with the food ner Amy Evans Streeter International Association of Culinary letter Gravy, joins the SFA full time as Professionals. One award was given for a content manager to work with SFA the oral history audio clips on the SFA’s publications. summer. Cooley will continue in the website. The other, for “Intriguing Use Other important news from the SFA postdoctoral position in 2012–2013. of New Technology,” was awarded for includes teaching. For the second year, Summer and fall of 2012 will be im- the iPhone app called “SFA Stories.” Streeter will lead a workshop this sum- portant seasons for the SFA, with mul- Center director Ted Ownby con- mer on oral history methods for food- tiple events, including a Potlikker Film gratulated the SFA for the prizes, tak- ways. Last fall, Southern Studies 555, Festival at the Big Apple Barbecue ing note of the long-term projects that taught by postdoctoral teaching fellow Block Party in New York and the SFA led to the awards. “People at the Center Jill Cooley, brought together 20 stu- Field Trip in eastern North Carolina. don’t work to win prizes, and they usu- dents. Two of those, Kirsten Schofield Those events will lead up to the ally don’t pause very long to celebrate and Susie Penman, defended MA the- SFA symposium on barbecue culture when they win them. But winning an ses on foodways topics this spring, October 19–21, which will present new award is a good way to acknowledge a and another, Patrick Weems, wrote films, including an hour-long feature by lot of inspired and creative work, and a paper about a community garden in Joe York, set to debut in the fall. we’re glad when people notice. The Greenwood, which he will be present- stories—with text, audio, and photo- ing at a food studies conference this the D IRECTOR ’ S C OLUMN Published Quarterly by From one spot in front of Barnard Observatory one can see at least 10 markers and The Center for the Study of Southern Culture memorials. First, there are ours, a marker for the Barnard Observatory building itself The University of Mississippi and another, part of the Mississippi Blues Trail, for Documenting the Blues. Across Telephone: 662-915-5993 the street, next to Farley Hall are two signs, one for the site of a building that served Fax: 662-915-5814 E-mail: [email protected] as a Civil War morgue, and the other marking the university as an important site in www.southernstudies.olemiss.edu the history of journalism. Beside Farley Hall is a bench dedicated to Paul Guihard, www.facebook.com/SouthernStudies the journalist killed during the anti-integration riot on campus in 1962. In the other direction is the arch marking the Walk of Champions, commemorating a successful IN THIS ISSUE University of Mississippi football team. On the side of Ventress Hall is a stained-glass Spring 2012 window scene of the Civil War, and beyond that building is a statue of a Confederate 1 Southern Foodways Alliance Brings Home soldier. Less immediately obvious is a tree planted in honor of Mae Bertha Carter, Three Major Awards 2 Director’s Column whose children were among the first to desegregate all-white schools in the Mississippi 3 Living Blues News Delta (many of those children later came to the University of Mississippi). Beyond the 3 Marian Wright Edelman Speaks at UM Carter tree is a sign commemorating the importance of the Lyceum in the life of the 5 Southern Studies Students Win Awards, Take Master of Arts Degrees University of Mississippi, and at nearby Bryant Hall a sign points out that the catalpa 5 Gammill Gallery Exhibition Schedule tree is likely the largest and oldest of its kind in Mississippi. 6 Graduate Student Seminar Yields Gammill From this spot, one can almost see a few more markers and monuments. Down the Gallery Exhibition 8 15th Southern Foodways Symposium hill from Barnard is a sign commemorating the work of historian James Silver, au- Focuses on Barbecue thor of Mississippi: The Closed Society. If it were possible to look beyond the Lyceum, 8 SFA Oral History News one could also see the James Meredith statue, and beyond the library, one could see 9 Craig Claiborne Exhibition Debuts trees with plaques marking the work of three great writers who taught at the univer- 10 June Course to Bridge Foodways Scholarship and Public Policy, Examining Social Inequality sity—Barry Hannah, Josephine Haxton, and Willie Morris. in Mississippi These markers and monuments come to mind when, as frequently happens, I 10 Chris Fullerton Graduate Fellowship Awarded find myself answering questions about what the Center for the Study of Southern 11 Filmmaker Tells Mississippi Stories 12 Southern Studies Alumni Working in Culture does. My impression is that many of the people asking that question assume Education that the things university groups have identified as worthy of a sign are likely the 13 A Report on Southern Studies Graduate things we at the Center emphasize most. The Civil War and the civil rights move- Students, Past and Present 14 Mose Allison Albums Donated to Blues ment certainly work as starting points for thinking about the South, and mixing in Archive literature, music, the environment, and some football makes a good start for cours- 14 Julian and Kathryn Wiener Endowment to es in Southern Studies. Markers and memorials themselves can help raise questions Support SST Student Internships about the meaning of cultural representation. When I teach about public history, I 15 The Music of the South Symposium 16 Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha Conference always ask why it is important to put up signs and statues, and students give what Update I take to be the right answer—some group wanted a permanent reflection of some- 17 Faulkner Studies Scholarship Brings thing they thought was important. Many students address the political aspects of Columbus State Faculty and Students to UM for Conference cultural symbols, seeing markers and monuments as arguments for particular per- 17 Faulkner Newsletter & Yoknapatawpha Review spectives, and the issue of how to memorialize events that are troubling, controver- Now Online sial, and even traumatic always raises important questions. 18 2012 Mississippi Delta Literary Tour, March 18–21 But along with markers and memorials and what they may ask and represent, I al- 20 The 19th Oxford Conference for the Book ways try to emphasize that Southern Studies is not bound by what anybody decides is 22 Southern Studies on the Road most important about the South or how to study it. This issue of the Southern Register 23 CSSC Launches New Website provides a quick way to think about the range of topics Southern Studies students, 23 Mark Your Calendars! 23 In Memorium faculty, and staff are pursuing. The Civil War and civil rights movement are the sub- 24 Reading the South jects of scholarship on L.Q.C. Lamar, music and the Civil War, mental health is- 29 20th Annual Williams Festival Set for sues and civil rights workers, and Natchez activist Marge Baroni. An edited collec- October 12 and 13 30 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters tion on Faulkner, student work on Tennessee Williams, and newly digitized issues of Announces Award Winners Living Blues all have connections to markers and memorials as well. But along with 31 Contributors those topics, this issue mentions scholarship on 1980s independent rock musicians, REGISTER STAFF Mississippi fiddle traditions, GLBT communities in Memphis, foodways oral his- tories, the Scopes Trial and memories of it, self-identifying Southern chain restau- Editor: James G. Thomas Jr. rants, restaurant employees, feminist issues in South Carolina, the Creek War, and Graphic Designer: Susan Bauer Lee Mailing List Manager: Mary Hartwell Howorth a book using photography to document contemporary small towns. Newly published Lithographer: RR Donnelley Magazine Group and soon-to-be published volumes of The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture make The University complies with all applicable laws regard- clear that Southern Studies tries hard to study a wide and changing variety of topics. ing affirmative action and equal opportunity in all its ac- tivities and programs and does not discriminate against anyone protected by law because of age, color, disability, national origin, race, religion, sex, or status as a veteran continued on page 17 or disabled veteran.