Southern Like US?

In its examination of the turn in Southern Studies towards the "global" U.S. South, this essay questions the extent to which scholars should—or could—extricate the region from a national model and a north-south binary. For example, it asks whether the differences between states and regions in the U.S. will inevitably seem comparable to the differences between nations in Europe, not least because of the size and diversity of the nation. The essay explores recent work that contributes to an internationally-comparative Southern studies but notes the continued pull of the "autochthonous," even in books that successfully open up debates about the "new" Southern studies. The essay argues for the importance of examining postcolonial narratives of migration to the South and provides a reminder of some of the ways in which "the South" has always also been "made" and taught in a global context, by default as well as by design.