Preface

I am a folklorist. I explore aspects of cultures that a person or people feel are important to them, socially, physically, spiritually. In the case of Southern Journeys, home is that important aspect of culture. It is physical, it is cerebral. Either way, it is of value and its value is passed on through the generations.

The Southland I visited is a land where the land meets the heart of many kinds of people: African American, Chinese, Italian, Jewish, Slovenian, Vietnamese. It is a land where respect for others is practiced through forms of public address (Yes, Sir; No Ma'am; Good morning Miss Margaret), and a keen sense of community connection is practiced through community service in clubs including Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, and Pilot. Church. It is said that Sunday mornings are the most segregated time of the week when African Americans, Anglos, and other groups attend their respective churches. But the fact of the matter remains, that most people are tightly bound to the land, the family, the community, and to God.

The South is a diverse place where a child is raised to negotiate many contradictions. Its landscapes are verdant and varied, agriculturally rich in cotton, soy, and catfish, peopled in wealth and dire poverty, and steeped in history from the Civil War to Civil Rights. Tumble down shotgun houses on tightly wound streets witness to a world where a racial caste system remains. Antebellum plantation houses testify to the domestic side of the Civil War. And there is a growing middle class of people, people who decided to make the South their home or just never thought of living anywhere else.

This is what I explored in over 30,000 miles of travel. And I learned that no matter the state, no matter the economy, no matter the social strata, people have an image and concept of home.

I chose to explore the American South because it is a place where I am personally most at ease. To me, its textures, smells, and emotions are strong, and people are articulate about them. While stereotypes of Southern conservatism, elitism, racism, and ignorance seem to persist, everyone's concept of home bores through misshapen perceptions. Home causes wonder and a feeling of safety and comfort. People's descriptions are like a fabric that cools in the summer and warms in the winter. Concepts of home help to keep familial continuity and social cohesion. And when a child comes of age he or she will know that home can be visited in joy and returned to in sorrow.

A sense of home is one's critical response to the world at large. It is a reaction that can withstand changes in the times, in geography, economy, and society. Home is a rock between the shores of certainty and confusion, a standing place closer to the former than the latter. It can be physical, but it is always emotional. It is at once a physical place and a state of mind.

In the American South, geography, history, and economy meet on common ground. There is great respect for the land, reverence for history, and sense of commitment to community. Residents of towns and cities from Birmingham, Alabama to Tyler, Texas are concerned about their welfare. And a part of that is a strong sense of home.