Podcast showcases lives that encompass a spirit of daring

“All serious daring starts from within,” wrote Eudora Welty. Her quote serves as a springboard for a new podcast called The Daring, featuring the most exciting voices in arts, literature, business, and lifestyle, most of whom are Mississippians. Schuyler Dickson, a fiction writer and musician from Canton, earned his undergraduate degree in Southern Studies in

An Interview with John T Edge about The Potlikker Papers, Eating Democratically, and Foodways in Cultural Studies

My fellow Southern Studies MA alum John T and I over many years have talked about how food, shelter, and clothing hold the keys to learning about the lives of southern people, many of whom embody the collision of necessity and creativity that is at the root of cultural studies. In this interview about his new book, The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South, we discuss the tension between the essential and the complex, something he brilliantly struggles with as a founder of the academic discipline of foodways, and something I’ve thought about in my own past work in the building arts and research on clothing and fashion in the South.

Watch SHAKE ‘EM ON DOWN on PBS

You can now watch the SouthDocs film Shake ‘Em on Down by Joe York and Scott Barretta online through the Reel South initiative. Reel South is the result of a partnership between UNC-TV and SCETV and the Southern Documentary Fund, and highlights the documentaries from around the region, making them available through public broadcasting stations.

Alumni Story: Presenting Southern Culture

These Southern Studies alumni are in very different professions, with one common thread: presenting southern culture to the public, whether it is through historic preservation, working in the visual arts, showcasing the correspondence of our third president, or helping artists and arts institutions with funding.

Two Faculty Members Take Study of US South Abroad

Two Southern Studies assistant professors are getting to use their passports this summer as recipients of the Provost’s Faculty Development Award for Campus Internationalization. Catarina Passidomo heads to Peru May 31–June 10 for “Peruvian Food Systems: Balancing Growth and Preservation,” and Jodi Skipper goes to Senegal June 7–17 for “Islam, Politics, and Culture in Senegal and West Africa.”

Southern Studies MA Program Draws Students from Abroad

This article, by James G. Thomas, Jr., appears in the Spring 2015 issue of the Southern Register. Southern Studies Draws Students from Abroad The Center for the Study of Southern Culture is not unfamiliar to guests and visitors from beyond US borders. Whether they be scholars, students, or enthusiasts of Southern culture in general, the

Meet Our First Year Graduate Students

One of the most compelling aspects of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture is its eclectic faculty, staff, and students. This fall the Center welcomed 12 new students into its Southern Studies MA program, all of whom contribute to the Center’s notable diversity.

Professor and Students Participate in Program Examining Slave Dwellings

This article, by Dr. Jodi Skipper, originally appeared in the Spring 2014 issue of the Southern Register.  Check out our archive of past Registers for more. Interpreting the Enslaved: The Behind the Big House Program in Holly Springs, Mississippi For the past two years, Southern Studies students have helped to fill gaps in Mississippi interpretations

Hamilton Wins Prize for Documentary Work

Hamilton’s thesis, “Bottling Hell: Myth-making, Cultural Identity, and the Datil Pepper of St. Augustine,” was the winner of the Ann Abadie Award for Documentary Media. The annual award goes to the Southern Studies student (undergraduate or graduate) with the best documentary film, photography project, audio recording, or website.

Grad Student Receives Summer Internship Grant

Lindsey Reynolds, a Southern Studies graduate student and Nathalie Dupree Graduate Fellow with the Southern Foodways Alliance, received a grant from the Julian and Kathryn Wiener Endowment to fund her summer internship at Garden & Gun magazine in Charleston, South Carolina.