At the close of All-American Redneck, author Matthew J. Ferrence writes: “As an ideology, Redneck means homophobia, xenophobia, ecophobia, misogyny, racism, and economic oppression. Figuratively, Redneck means Larry the Cable Guy, Deliverance, NASCAR romance, and the continual reassertion of the lampooned redneck and butt-scooting Southern white trash” (167). Ferrence’s work breaks down these ideological and figurative meanings to assert the multiplicity of voices silenced by the expectations of the redneck stereotype, and to expose the ways that stereotype is adopted by cultural elites to ensure ongoing ideological dominance.
All-American Redneck situates the image of redneck in American popular culture from its origins in Cooper's Natty Bumppo to Deliverance, Family Guy, 30 Rock, and Winter's Bone. Ferrence's engagement with popular culture becomes a tool to expose the performance of redneck citizenship as a political necessity in the twenty-first century, reinforcing historical American ideals of white masculine superiority. While actual residents of Appalachia, the South, and other “rednecks” have much more complicated things to say than the popular culture image of Redneck allows, the dominance of the redneck icon silences these voices in what Ferrence calls “the writing-out of those who live and exist in the places iconized as Redneck America” (44). Ferrence argues that multiplicity and “narrative validity” rather than stereotypical story have the power to disrupt the rigid icon of American redneck.
Ferrence's work focuses on the politics of cultural production, regionalism, and Southern Studies. Ferrence draws from but also heavily critiques Kathleen Stewart's A Space on the Side of the Road and calls for “messiness” (3) at the same time he makes use of Theodor Adorno, Louis Althusser, Jean Baudrillard, and Richard Hoggart, in an effort to bring theory and story side by side. Ferrence's engagement is more with American Studies than folkloristics, though he draws on Bronner's conceptions of American masculinity.
While Ferrence is concerned with regional studies and place, particularly of his home, Appalachia, he is firm about the national implications of the redneck icon. Ferrence points out that “there might be a difference between a West Virginia hillbilly and a Wyoming redneck, but there is not much difference in the way a broader American culture makes use of those identities” (viii). Ferrence argues, “the very lack of definable identity within the Redneck catch-all allows the identity to do its work” (viii). Ferrence concludes, “In the end, the Redneck icon is available for use only as a way to lend feigned-minority credibility to individuals and enterprises intent on maintaining an America that resists the actual inclusion of minorities, whether they be ethnic, gendered, or economic” (8).
All American Redneck is divided into four parts: Redneck Roots, Redneck Unrooted, Redneck Routing, and Redneck Resistance. Part I, Redneck Roots, considers history and geography. In chapter 1, “Foundations,” Ferrence locates the historical origins of the redneck identity in literature and popular culture, beginning his analysis with James Fenimore Cooper, moving to Erskine Caldwell's Tobacco Road, then Deliverance and Larry the Cable Guy. In chapter 2, “Redneck Geography,” Ferrence offers a geographical locus for the stereotypical identity: Appalachia and the American South.
Part II, Redneck Unrooted, is concerned with the development of the redneck stereotype over time, space, and culture. Chapter 3, “America's New Redneck,” examines the term “redneck,” tracing its evolution through an expanded national context. Chapter 4, “The Masculine Redneck,” compares the limited masculinities of Deliverance, Smokey and the Bandit, Gator, and White Lightning. Chapter 5, "The Working-Class Redneck," explores the potent and impotent symbol of the blue-collar worker through the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. Chapter 6, “The Minority Redneck,” takes the Korean-American wrestler Jimmy Wang Yang's adoption of a redneck identity as an entry into the constructed whiteness of the redneck identity and the contested Southern authenticity of black Americans like Trudier Harris.
Part III, Redneck Routing, turns to the strategic political and economic dimensions of the stereotype. Chapter 7, “Simulated Redneck Space,” argues that the figure of the redneck defends hegemony, and that American citizenship requires the individual to “acknowledge, deal with, and in some way follow the Redneck image in order to access or inhabit unquestioned American citizenship” (97). Chapter 8, “Rednecks for President,” explores the way George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter all made use of a feigned redneck identity that was unavailable to Barack Obama. Chapter 9, “Redneck Women,” dissects the backlash from the Dixie Chicks’ anti-war stance and the rigid gender roles of NASCAR romance novels and argues that redneck spectacle normalizes historical power structures.
Part IV, Redneck Resistance, is concerned with, obviously, resistance to the stereotype. Chapter 10, “Rednecks Writing Back,” uses environmental writing to show the disconnect between the redneck image and realities of redneck regions, ultimately arguing that rednecks can be environmentalists. Chapter 11, “The Redneck Academic,” explores the conflicts between theory, scholarship, identity, and regionality, and it is here that Ferrence quarrels with Kathleen Stewart, arguing that she does not afford validity to her subject. Chapter 12, “The Imposition of Identity,” brings the book to its conclusion, arguing that the ultimate problem is imposition of expectation, and exploring the question of culpability. Ferrence concludes by offering a collection of writers whose work refuses the imposition of redneck identity and in acts of defiance, chooses alternative Southern identities: Silas House, Fred Chappell, Trudier Harris, Janisse Ray, Lan Cao, Roberto Gonzalez, Susan Choi, Harry Crewes, Lewis Nordan, and Larry Brown.
The cultural predetermination Ferrence writes against can make it hard at times for the reader to read against these damaging narratives. It is comparatively easy when Ferrence writes about Tobacco Road, for example, but at times difficult to avoid sensationalizing the spectacle when Ferrence analyzes NASCAR romance novels. However, the book is readable and accessible and the arguments are carefully maintained and supported. Folklorists will find much to appreciate as well as much to debate.
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[Review length: 978 words • Review posted on April 1, 2015]