Reconstructing Dixie: Race, Gender, and Nostalgia in the Imagined South

333 Pages·2003·1.918 MB·English

by  Tara McPherson

Reconstructing
Dixie
g

RECONSTRUCTING
D I X I E
g
Race,Gender,andNostalgia
intheImaginedSouth
g
TARA McPHERSON
g
DukeUniversityPress
DurhamandLondon
2003
©2003DukeUniversityPress
Allrightsreserved
PrintedintheUnitedStates
ofAmericaonacid-freepaper
DesignedbyAmyRuthBuchanan
TypesetinPerpetuabyTseng
InformationSystems,Inc.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-
in-PublicationDataappearon
thelastprintedpage
ofthisbook.
Inmemoryof
PansyWallaceCarpenter
andfor
KayCarpenterMcPherson
PamelaMcPherson
MeganCassingham
Fourgenerationsofsouthernwomen
withmuchtoteachme
g

CONTENTS
g
Acknowledgments,ix
DixieThenandNow:AnIntroduction,1
1.RomancingtheSouth:ATourofthe
Lady’sLegacies,AcademicandOtherwise,39
2.‘‘BothKindsofArms’’:
TheCivilWarinthePresent,95
3.SteelMagnolias,FatalFlowers,and
DesigningWomen:OntheLimitsofaPolitics
ofFemininityintheSunBeltSouth,149
4.FeelingSouthern:Home,Guilt,andthe
TransformationofWhiteIdentity,205
Notes,257
Bibliography,293
Index,311
g

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
g
Someoneobservingmylifefromtheoutsidemighteasilyhaveguessedthat
I would end up writing about the South, but the need to tell about the
Southnonethelesstookmebysurprise.Inthelate1980s,Iheadedofftoa
northerngraduateschoolintent(likecountlessexpatriatesbeforeme)on
leavingthingssouthernbehind.Bornthedaughterofasouthernmother
andanorthernfather,saddledwithanamelike‘‘Tara,’’questionsofsouth-
ern identity had long both vexed and animated me, and I was ready for
a change. Still, as I studied feminism, cultural studies and critical race
theory,IoftenfoundmythoughtsstrayingbelowtheMason-DixonLine,
ifonlyinthelandscapesofmemory,wonderinghowtojointogethermy
southernandpost-southernlives.Thechallengeitseemedwastorecon-
cilethetheoriesIwaslearning—powerfulbutabstractlessonsforunder-
standingtheworld—withmycomplex,messy,oftenambivalentfeelings
aboutdailylifeintheSouth,alifeIhadwillinglyfled.Thisbookismyact
ofreconciliation,anattempttobringtogetherwhatoftenfeltlikeoppo-
sitionalrealities,divergentwaysofbeing.WhileReconstructingDixieisno
memoir,mylifecertainlyinformseveryword.Throughoutthatlife,I’ve
hadmuchsupportandowedeepthankstomany.
Through their examples and their insights, several fine teachers have
providedbothdirectandindirectaidinthecompletionofthisproject.At
Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, Allen Scarboro, Michel Mitias,
andRichardMallettedemandedrigorousthinkingandchallengedmeto
expandmynarrowteenageviewoftheworld,encouraginganinterdisci-
plinarymodeofthoughtthathasservedmewell.AtCentenaryCollege
inShreveport,Louisiana,JeffHendricksandBruceAllenintroducedme,
respectively,tofeministfilmtheoryandmodernart.Withouttheirfriend-
shipandguidance,Imighthaveendedupinlawschool.AttheUniversity
ofWisconsin-Milwaukee,mydoctoralcommitteebrilliantlyoversawthe
dissertation upon which this book is based. A student couldn’t ask for a