Contested Memory and the Global South

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En provenance du cours de The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The American South: Its Stories, Music, and Art

260 notes

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The American South: Its Stories, Music, and Art

260 notes

From small farms to urban neighborhoods, from the region itself to the more distant worlds of the southern diaspora, we discover the stories, music, and art of the American South.

À partir de la leçon

Introduction to the American South

Reflecting on geography, the diaspora, the mythic and the global South as ways to approach the contested memory of the region.

Welcome to the American South3:52

The Region, the Diaspora, and the Mythic4:17

Contested Memory and the Global South5:23

Race, Class and Gender5:14

Rencontrer les enseignants

Dr. William Ferris
Joel R. Williamson Eminent Professor of History; Senior Associate Director of CSAS; Adjunct Professor in the Curriculum in Folklore
Department of History

[MUSIC]

The South is arguably the most studied place on earth.

Generations of historians, Southerners, Americans and

international scholars have studied the South and

have tried to understand its rich history and its complex worlds.

A lot of the study has looked back at the Civil War, at slavery and

reconstruction, and tried to understand that history.

Today, there are very interesting new ways of approaching Southern history and

culture, new ways that are being shaped and

developed here at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

There is the field of contested memory.

When we say the South lost the Civil War, we can say wait just a moment,

some white Southerners lost the Civil War, but black Southerners were liberated.

So that when we look at the South, increasingly we have

both Civil War museums and Civil Rights museums.

We have Civil War trails and Civil Rights trails,

as well as blues trails, country music trails.

There is a rich and growing body of information

that helps us appreciate the contested memory of the South.

And it's not only Black and White.

There are Jewish, Irish, Italian, Chinese, Greek,

many, many worlds in the South that we increasingly recognize and

honor their memory as part of that braided history of the South.

We also look at the South today, again, of an approach to history

being developed here at UNC in the understanding of the global South.

The South has always been a global place.

Our very first settlers, Indian settlers came

across the Bering Straits from Asia to settle in the South.

And later from Africa and Europe, others came.

And today, we have a growing and very diverse population of Hispanic,

Asian, African, a wonderfully rich mix,

a gumbo of people who are moving to the South and

are creating a kind of new world is part of what we think of as the global South.

I was thinking one day about a story that illustrates this.

If I were to take Delta Airlines from North Carolina and

fly to London, and take a cab to the Holiday Inn.

And on the way to the Holiday Inn, I realized I had left my film,

and I asked the driver to stop at the Walmart so I could buy film.

When I got to my room at the Holiday Inn, I was thirsty.

So I opened the refrigerator and take out a Coca Cola.

I'm curious about news, so

I turn on the television to CNN news, and there's a knock at the door.

An overnight package has been delivered by Federal Express.

Now, each step of that story is made possible by a Southern

business that began in a small town like Bentonville, Arkansas,

and eventually became a global presence in the world.

So the South, like kudzu, has spread.

And when we study the South, we can think of it in terms of the contested

memory of its people and their history, and also the global South.

In every period of our history, we have been

deeply connected and shaped by the rest of the world.

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