Requirements for the Minor

A minor in Southern studies consists of 18 hours of Southern Studies courses, including SST 101, 401, and one course from SST 103-118.  Two more electives must be selected from additional departments.

Download a printable summary of MAJOR and MINOR requirements.

SOUTHERN STUDIES department:

  • 101: Introduction to Southern Studies: An introductory course to the interdisciplinary study of “the South” and “southerners” via the lens of race, class, and gender, with particular focus on history, literature, music, memory, foodways, popular culture, and/or other subjects.
  • 103: Southern Mythologies and Popular Culture: This course will explore one or more of the mythic Souths, using popular writing, advertising, music and music videos, film, and other visual media.
  • 104: The South and Race: This course examines historical and contemporary dimensions of racial and ethnic relations in the U.S. South. The course enables students to think through their own identities, experiences, and beliefs as they learn how to approach the subject of race and ethnicity from a critical perspective.
  • 105: Introduction to the South and Food
  • 106: Introduction to Southern Documentary
  • 107: Introduction to Gender and Sexuality in the South
  • 108: Music and Southern Society: This course takes students on a tour of major regional music locales, introducing them to the wide array of southern musical artists, groups, and genres.  Notable genres examined include the blues, jazz, country, soul, rock n’ roll, and rap.
  • 109: Rights and Southern Activism
  • 110: Slavery and the University
  • 118: Special Topics in Music
  • 401: Southern Studies Seminar: An interdisciplinary seminar on method that examines the South through a close study of social groups, social structures, and social forces.
  • 314: Race, Place, and Space (Same as AAS 414, GST414, SOC 414)
  • 334: Introduction to Fieldwork Techniques: Interdisciplinary study of the theory, practice, and tradition of documentary field research through readings, photography, films and video tapes, audio recordings, and field notes. (Same as ANTH 534, ART 534).
  • 350: The South and Sexuality (same as GST 350)
  • 533: Fieldwork and Oral History: Interdisciplinary study of the theory, practice, and tradition of documentary field research through readings, photography, films and video tapes, audio recordings, and field notes. (Same as ANTH 534, ART 534)
  • 534: Documentary Photography
  • 535: Anthropological Films
  • 536: The Southern Environment
  • 537: Documenting the South in Film
  • 538: Advanced Documentary Film
  • 544: Advanced Documentary Photography
  • 555: Foodways and Southern Culture
  • 556: Heritage Tourism in the South
  • 560: Oral History of Southern Social Movements
  • 597, 598, and 599: Special Topics: Interdisciplinary study of specialized topics in Southern culture. May be repeated once if topic varies.

Additional departments:

Students must take 12 hours of Southern Studies electives from at least two different departments:

African American Studies

  • 201: African American Experience I OR
  • 202: African American Experience II
  • 302: Judicial System and the African American Experience
  • 308: Politics of Civil Liberties and Civil Rights
  • 310: Experiences of Black Mississippians
  • 316: The African Diaspora
  • 320: African American Politics
  • 325: African American History to 1865
  • 326: African American History since 1865
  • 334: Introduction to Field Work Techniques
  • 337: Anthropology of Blues Culture
  • 341: African American Literary Tradition I
  • 342: African American Literary Tradition II
  • 367: Blues Tradition in American Literature
  • 386: African and African American Arts
  • 395: Survey of Black American Art
  • 413: Race and Ethnicity
  • 414: Race, Place and Space
  • 420: Richard Wright
  • 421: Readings in U.S. Black Feminism
  • 438: The Rise and Fall of American Slavery
  • 440: History of African Americans in Sport
  • 441: Comparative Black Literatures
  • 443: The Civil Rights Era
  • 468: Major African American Writers
  • 477: Rhetorics of Race in the US South
  • 479: Special Topics in Comparative Black Literatures
  • 493: Special Topics in Race and Ethnicity 
  • 504: Research in African American Studies
  • 517: African American Musical Tradition
  • 518: History of Jazz
  • 593: African American Literature

Art

  • 366: History of Southern Art and Decorative Arts
  • 369: Survey of Black American Art
  • 386: African and African American Arts

English

  • 314: The Cinematic South
  • 354: Survey of Southern Literature 
  • 357: Women in the South
  • 361: Survey of African American Literature to 1920
  • 362: Survey of African American Literature Since 1920
  • 367: Blues Tradition in American Literature
  • 373: Studies in 20th and 21st Century Comparative Black Literatures
  • 414: Special Topics in Cinematic South
  • 458: Southern Environmental Literature
  • 460: Faulkner
  • 461: Special Topics in Southern Literature
  • 462: Special Topics in the Global South
  • 468: Major African American Writers
  • 479: Special Topics in Comparative Black Lit
  • 514: Studies in Faulkner

Gender Studies

  • 337: The South and Sexuality 
  • 418: African American Women’s History
  • 421: Readings in Black Feminism
  • 454: Women in Southern History 

History

  • 404: The Civil War Era 1848-1877
  • 414: African American History to 1865
  • 415: African American History since 1865
  • 418: African American Women’s History
  • 420: History of African Americans in Sports
  • 422: The Rise and Fall of American Slavery
  • 423: History of Mass Incarceration
  • 424: The Civil Rights Era
  • 440: Military History of the Civil War
  • 450: Southern History to 1900
  • 451: The South in the 20th Century 
  • 452: The History of Mississippi 
  • 453: Environmental History of the South
  • 454: Women in Southern History
  • 455: History of Religion in the South

Journalism

  • 513: The Press and the Changing South

Music

  • 517: African American Musical Traditions
  • 518: History of Jazz
  • 577: Diasporic African Music Cultures

Political Science

  • 307: Constitutional Law II: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights
  • 317: Mississippi Politics
  • 318: Politics of the American South
  • 320: African American Politics

 

Rhetoric

 RHET 477: Rhetorics of Race in the US South

Sociology and Anthropology

  • SOC 413: Race and Ethnicity
  • SOC 414: Race Place and Space
  • ANTH 309: Indians of Mississippi and the South
  • ANTH 315: African Diaspora
  • ANTH 316: Rise and Fall of the Mississippian World
  • ANTH 317: Indians of the Southern Frontier
  • ANTH 319: Environmental History of the South
  • ANTH 333: The Mississippian Shatterzone
  • ANTH 337: Anthropology of Blues Culture