Monday, September 13, 1999

Professor’s book redefines Southern culture
From the creation of the first “New South” in the wake of Appomattox to the current struggles over the Confederate flag, Redefining Southern Culture surveys the story of Southern identity and its persistence in the face of sweeping changes in the South’s economy, society and political structure.
Throughout this volume by James C. Cobb, UGA’s B. Phinizy Spalding Distinguished Professor and history department chairman, examines Southern identity in its constantly changing forms, from history and literature to blues and country music to popular and consumer cultures.
In the book’s introduction, Cobb maintains that country music and the blues were actually more closely interrelated than they seemed.
In the essay “Searching for Southernness: Community and Identity in the Contemporary South,” he writes, “The commonalities and contrasts apparent in their distinctive perspectives on Southern life became more apparent in the post-Jim Crow era when the ‘Southern way of life’ was no longer simply a code phrase for white supremacy and both black and white Southerners engaged in fervent efforts to reconfigure their regional identity along non-racial lines.”
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