The author with her dog Phoebe.
My name is Karen Cox and I’m a history professor who teaches courses on southern history and culture and I’d like to think I’m an astute observer of popular culture, especially representations of the American South. Since I am a native of West Virginia, moved to North Carolina when I was 12, and lived in Mississippi for six years, I feel confident that I recognize a southern stereotype when I see one.
I first began blogging for UNC Press to help promote my book, Dreaming of Dixie: How the South Was Created in American Popular Culture. This book focuses on the period from the late 19thc. through World War II, but my interests extend to the present day. Therefore, Pop South.
Pop South is blog that examines how the American South is, and has been, represented in popular culture. It covers topics that include, but are not limited to, advertising, cartoons, movies, music, television, sports, and various news media. Occasionally, there will be guest blog posts, because even I can’t keep up.
*All opinions represented in this blog are mine and do not represent the views of my place of employment.
Well, I certainly like the photo! Good luck on the blog!
This is confusing; still learning my way around it.
From one KLC to another….I think it’s great!
A great idea born from a great love for the South, it’s Peoples, and it’s History. Looking forward to more… ;0))
so glad I found your blog! as a southerner who often hates how the south is typecast in pop culture, i find your posts very interesting.
Found your blog via the Honey Boo Boo controversy and then read your archives with great delight. I am a Yankee who transplanted to Charleston, SC for 20 years, taught high school there, received a Masters degree at the College of Charleston, worked at The Citadel,and then retired to the San Francisco Bay area. It is here in California that I am frequently shocked by the stereoptypes of the South. I have long been a student observer, researcher, (and defender) of “real” Southern culture. Love your astute commentary.
Thanks so much for the complement. I imagine that it’s true that you can find that Californians also stereotype the South and southerners. Certainly the L.A.-based companies who produce reality programs are doing their bit, including Authentic Entertainment, the producers of Honey Boo Boo. Thanks again for reading.
I recently found your blog. Good writing. Hope to see more.
Thanks!
Great blog, and thanks for hitting the right notes on the Paisley business: I’m already sick of the “on the one hand” readings of it from NPR etc. But why not allow comments on posts?
I do allow comments on posts, but they need to be approved since there are a lot of spammers out there. Thank you for your comment.
I’m quite interested also in the relationship between history and myth; creativity and non-fiction; place/identity and literary representation. I’ve recently been working on some ideas based on Alan Bennett’s The History Boys; Peter Carey’s The True History of the Kelly Gang; Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood; Graham Swift’s Waterland; Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg Ohio. There’s also a monstrous/grotesque element running through these works which I am trying to explore. (Thanks for your message on Twitter)