Transcending familiar categories of "black" and "white," this
volume of
The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture
complicates and enriches our understanding of "southernness" by
identifying the array of cultures that combined to shape the South.
This exploration of southern ethnicities examines the ways people
perform and maintain cultural identities through folklore,
religious faith, dress, music, speech, cooking, and
transgenerational tradition.
Accessibly written and informed by the most recent research that
recovers the ethnic diversity of the early South and documents the
more recent arrival of new cultural groups, this volume greatly
expands upon the modest Ethnic Life section of the original
Encyclopedia. Contributors describe 88 ethnic groups that
have lived in the South from the Mississippian Period (1000-1600)
to the present. They include 34 American Indian groups, as well as
the many communities with European, African, and Asian cultural
ties that came to the region after 1600. Southerners from all
backgrounds are likely to find themselves represented here.