The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture

Volume 6: Ethnicity

Edited by Celeste Ray

Charles Reagan Wilson, General Editor

296 pp., 6.125 x 9.25, 33 illus., 3 maps, 2 tables, bibl., index

  • Paperback ISBN: 978-0-8078-5823-3
    Published: May 2007
  • E-book EPUB ISBN: 978-1-4696-1658-2
    Published: February 2014
  • E-book PDF ISBN: 979-8-8908-7996-7
    Published: February 2014

New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture

Buy this Book

To purchase online via an independent bookstore, visit Bookshop.org
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.

Sponsored by the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi

About the Author

Celeste Ray is associate professor and chair of the Department of Anthropology at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. She has published four previous books, including Highland Heritage: Scottish Americans in the American South (UNC Press).
For more information about Celeste Ray, visit the Author Page.

Reviews

"Any serious student of Southern History will want access to the New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture--The Historian

"Each essay and individual entry is concise, informative and well written."--American Reference Books Annual

"A must-have for any educated Southerner. . . . You'll come away with a whole new perspective on your roots."--DEEP

"Impressive. . . . A balanced, readable, information-rich volume that should be a standard resource for scholars. . . . A welcome addition to the Southern Culture series"--Journal of Mississippi History

"Gathers a wide variety of useable information for scholars and non-scholars alike."--Louisiana History

"An expansion of the original [Encyclopedia of Southern Culture's] 'Ethnic Life' section, [The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 6: Ethnicity] takes into account new developments in the field of southern studies and treats more than twice as many ethnic groups."--Booklist