Sponsored by the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi and published by the University of North Carolina Press, The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture is a twenty-four volume series that is a revised and expanded version of the original Encyclopedia of Southern Culture first published in 1989. Volume 2 of the series, Geography, is an engaging and timely collection of entries that addresses the South as a place. Contributors examine such obvious topics as land use, towns and villages, and migration, but also others of significance such as ethnic geography, religious regions, retirement regions, sports, and violence in an attempt to “grapple with the contestable issue of where the cultural South is located, both on maps and in the minds of Americans.” Though not much space is devoted to discussing the historical and geographical assumptions of where the South lies, the fact that this issue is debated surfaces repeatedly. Volume editor Richard Pillsbury, professor emeritus of geography at Georgia State, writes of changing and blurring boundaries of the South, both in physically defining the region’s geography and in distinguishing cultural characteristics. For example, of Florida, the southernmost state in the contiguous U.S., Pillsbury writes, the “inundation of retirees and the Orlando phenomenon have increasingly made that state southern in location only” (3). At the same time, the authors recognize the South’s extensive reaches in the numerous Southern “cultural islands far beyond the perceived borders of the region” (31).
This volume provides introductions to historical land use and migration patterns, vernacular architecture, economic geography, and cultural geography in the South. With forty-five contributors, the volume aims to be as thorough and inclusive as possible in its short 202 pages of text. The first thirty-three pages of the book is an introductory chapter, “Cultural Landscape,” in which Pillsbury provides an introduction to the cultural geography of the South and beautifully interweaves common stereotypes about the South and its subregions without apology or defense. Pages 35-202 contain alphabetic collections of thematic and topical entries. Some thematic entries include agricultural and industrial regions, migration patterns, religious regions, the “Disneyfication” of central Florida, expatriates, and ethnicity (other entries that address ethnicity include entries on black migration, blacks in northern cities, Hispanic/Latino populations, Jewish origin populations, and Indian groups). In the second section of topical sketches, there are entries on urban centers such as Atlanta, New Orleans, and Memphis, subregions such as Piedmont, Delta, Ozarks, and Sea Islands, and such geocultural markers as the Courthouse Square and the Mason-Dixon Line.
In the entry “Roadside,” an analysis of the roadside as a location illustrates both the importance of automobile culture in the South and the emphasis on the roadside as an advertising location, resting spot, and trading site. Contributor Charles Reagan Wilson (who is also the general editor of this series) writes, “The automobile indeed reshaped the southern roadside in the 20th century, promoting Americanization and standardization through billboards, service stations, fast food restaurants, trailer camps, motels, and other aspects of the car culture. But for travelers in motor vehicles, the roadside also reflects and reinforces an awareness of southern history and culture that promotes the consciousness of being in a landscape that is different from that elsewhere. It has thereby promoted regional self-consciousness” (129).
This volume seems prone to overgeneralization at times (for example, the section titled “Distinguishing Characteristics of the Region”). Just as it is impossible to define the South, it is also impossible to make statements that might characterize its entirety. Mostly, these generalizations are not made carelessly. The contributing authors are cautious to state that their overviews provide an incomplete view of the multiplicity and complexity of southern culture. As such, it is a useful reference work addressing the cultural geography of a large and contested region while taking care not to make blanket statements about the South. The focus on the nationalization of southern culture and the in-migration to the region, with the consequent changes to the cultural landscape, becomes a tiresome theme of the book. At times this tone even becomes apocalyptic. Pillsbury writes: “Thousands of small towns are enduring slow deaths as they no longer seem to have a role in modern society. Stores close, buildings crumble, and weeds find their way through the cracks in the streets with no hope in sight. Some, those close enough to the new urban dynamos, are finding new leases on life as residential crossroads, not viable freestanding communities” (32). The volume also suffers from some organizational problems. No orientation to the volume’s structure is provided. There are two sections of alphabetic entries, but no explanation of these categories is given; it seems the first section contains larger thematic issues and the second has shorter sketches and specific locations. Although all other place names included in the volume are located in the last section, the entry “Appalachia” is located in the first alphabetic section of thematic entries. Whether this is intentional or a mistake is unclear, and the lack of explanation or orientation itself seems to be the biggest problem.
Currently, only the first ten volumes of The New Encyclopedia are in print. The advantage of portability and ease of use of these individual volumes is weakened by the disadvantage of not having the entire encyclopedia available at once (perhaps an index to the entire collection would be useful in the future), an editorial decision with which Wilson and others undoubtedly struggled. For example, agricultural regions and industrial regions are entries in the volume on Geography, but Agriculture and Industry will be published as a separate volume. I personally prefer the individual volumes because each topic can be structured a bit more freely according to specific issues and theoretical approaches. Despite the minor problems of this volume and the difficulties of producing an encyclopedic collection on the South, this volume is a timely and welcome addition to studies of the South and is a must-read for anyone interested in the South, particularly the cultural landscapes of the region.
--------
[Review length: 1001 words • Review posted on July 29, 2008]