Cultural Diversity in the U. S. South: Anthropological Contributions to a Region in Transition ed. by Carole E. Hill and Patricia D. Beaver (review)

184 So u t h e a s t e r n G e o g r a p h e r Cultural Diversity in the U. S. South: Anthropological Contributions to a Region in Transition. Carole E. Hill and Patricia D. Beaver, editors. Univer­ sity of Georgia Press (Southern Anthropological Society Proceedings, No. 31), Athens, 1998. 204 pp., maps, tables, bibliography. $20.00 paper (ISBN 0-82031966 -X). John T. Morgan This collection of essays emanates from the 30th Annual Meeting of the South­ ern Anthropological Society in 1996. The volume also is evidence of recent efforts by some North American anthropologists to legitimize the study of their own cul­ ture, as opposed to past research activities that focused primarily on traditional, non-Westem societies. The editors, Carole E. Hill and Patricia D. Beaver, provide a superb introduc­ tion to Cultural Diversity in the South, and they identify and discuss the research themes of constancy of change, dominance of a tri-racial caste system, the intercon­ nectedness of ethnic diversity and the global economy, ingenuity of local people in acquiring tools and skills for community development, and the subtleties of the mosaic of diversity in the region. Hill provides additional context for the work, including a review of relevant theoretical approaches, in a subsequent chapter. The 10 chapters that follow represent an impressive array of topics, and most of them should be of interest to geographers. There are two chapters each on American Indi­ ans and Asians in the South, and individual essays on ethnicity in Appalachia, White Anglo-Saxon Protestants, Black return migrants in the rural South, Latino southerners, urban immigrants, racial transformations and the global economy, and race, ethnicity, and class in the Southeast. A final chapter on the trials and tribula­ tions of the discipline of anthropology in the South and the Southern Anthropologi­ cal Society does not complement the other essays and should not have been included in this book. One of the more engaging essays is Carol Stack’s “Holding Hands: An Ameri­ can Struggle for Community.” It is a fascinating account of the impact of African American return migrants on rural society in poor northeastern North Carolina counties with Black-majority populations and White-controlled governments. In her case study county, a few women decided in the early 1980s to “make a difference” in the Black community by creating Holding Hands, a tax-exempt, nonprofit organi­ zation that provided the poor with basic necessities such as food, firewood, and household items. The leaders soon formed another group, MAC (Mothers and Dr. Morgan is Professor o f Geography at Emory and Henry College, Emory, VA 24327-0947. V ol. XXXVIII, No. 2 185 Children, Inc.) to provide day care for the community and to seek federal funds for the project. Although the local White-dominated bureaucracy refused to accept fed­ eral entitlements for such projects, leaders of MAC persisted in their efforts, and after a three-year struggle secured funding for a child care center, which was fol­ lowed by two more day care facilities. The study gives evidence of how African American return migrants, “intent on applying hard lessons learned up North to build new lives” (p. 93), are changing the character of places in the rural South. Perhaps the most controversial essay is “Doctors, Lawyers, Indian Chiefs: Indian Identity in the South,” by Carmaleta L. Monteith, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. She assesses the recent increase in Indian numbers and recognized groups in the United States and the South, especially in Georgia where the Indian count jumped from 333 in 1950 to 13,348 in 1990. With no claim of objectivity, the author shows little sympathy for the new “wannabes” seeking Indian status, and condemns the federal Census Bureau for allowing citizens to become Indians simply through self-identification. Monteith claims that the new Indians, often without proper knowledge of Indian culture and with incorrect dress, are com­ peting with authentic Indians for appearances at schools, festivals, and other events. She argues that only members of established, federally recognized tribes, through birthright, should be able to designate a person as “Indian.” The establishment of new Indian groups is...