First institution established for the interdisciplmary study of the American South. Founded in 1977 at the University of Mississippi, the center has had only one permanent director so far (1995), folklore scholar William R.Ferris. In 1995 the associate director was Ann J.Abadie, and faculty included Charles R.Wilson and Ted Ownby (history), Robert Brinkmeyer (English), and Lisa N.Howorth and Thomas Rankin (art). The curriculum offers core courses in Southern studies and cross-listed courses in history, English, anthropology, sociology, music, art, political science, Afro-American studies, and women’s studies, culminating in B.A. and M.A. degrees in Southern studies. The center publishes a quarterly newsletter, the Southern Register, and several magazines, including Old Time Country, Rejoicel, and LivingBlues, the major American blues serial. It sponsors an interdisciplinary journal, Crossroads; has underwritten several reference books, including the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture (1989), edited by Wilson and Ferris; and has published several other books. The center cosponsors annual conferences, including the Faulkner and Yoknapatawpha Conference, the Chancellor’s Symposium in Southern History, and the Oxford Conference for the Book, as well as individual symposiums and weekly presentations that are open to the public. Graduate students in Southern studies have conducted folklore fieldwork for the National Park Service and the Woodruff Foundation. The Center for the Study of Southern Culture is housed in the restored Barnard Observatory, one of three antebellum buildings on the University of Mississippi campus in Oxford.
Brenda M.Eagles