Is the Civil War Still Central to the Study of Southern Civilization?: Reflections on the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture

Is the Civil War Still Central to the Study of Southern Civilization? Reflections on the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture George C. Rabie That the Civil War is the central event in southern history is a proposition that once seemed hardly worth stating, much less debating. But now historians question whether they should even study events; l'historié mentalité threatens to supplant l'historié événementielle. Social history sweeps all before it as the children and grandchildren of the Annales school come to dominate the professional meetings and scholarly journals, even in United States history. More recently, partisans of the so-called "old" and "new" histories have appeared locked in mortal combat, a scholarly fray that threatens the already precarious place of history in public discourse. Inevitably, then, the publication of a massive and comprehensive reference book on southern culture raises important questions about the present and future state of southern studies.1 As the editors point out in the introduction, this work appears at a time when not only the nature but even the existence of southern distinctiveness have become hotly disputed matters.2 Moreover, the boundaries of the field appear elastic to the point of defying easy definition. At the outset, a disturbing ambiguity arises from that common, simple, but always troublesome, word "culture." After what has become the de rigueur bow in the direction of anthropologist Clifford Geertz, the editors briefly note the multitude of definitions offered by twentieth-century 1 Charles Reagan Wilson and William Ferris, eds., Encyclopedia of Southern Culture (Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1989. Pp. 1650. $59.95). 2 Ibid., xv. Various writers have adopted often contradictory geographical definitions of "The South," but Wilson, Ferris, and their associates wisely consider both "core areas and margins" as well as the "diaspora of southern ethnic culture" throughout the United States. Civil War History, Vol. XXXVI, No. 4, c 1990 by the Kent State University Press ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SOUTHERN CULTURE335 social science. They prefer T. S. Eliot's designation of culture as "all the characteristic activities and interests of a people" or, more simply, his notion of culture as a "way of life." This definition subsumes virtually anything, though both the larger sections and individual entries in the Encylopedia of Southern Culture were selected to "include the characteristic traits that give the South a distinctive culture."3 Despite being rather circular and tautological, such a broad criterion makes this work a wide-ranging, interdisciplinary reference book. Its principal divisions readily suggest the scope of the project: agriculture, art and architecture, black life, education, environment, ethnic life, folklife, geography, history and manners, industry, language, law, literature , media, music, mythic South, politics, recreation, religion, science and medicine, social class, urbanization, violence, women's life.4 Such an ambitious work invites both awe and skepticism. The most casual readers will find surprises in every section and will certainly widen their knowledge on all matter of things southern. But when the entry on "Cheerleading and Twirling" is longer than the entries on most Civil War topics, some historians are bound to raise eyebrows. Indeed the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture may well serve as another lightning rod for the increasingly strident disputes about the future direction of history as a discipline.5 This would, however, be unfortunate, because the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture in some ways transcends the usual arguments over methods. For example, even the most hide-bound Civil War buff will find that many of these new approaches to scholarship have much to offer. Appropriately enough, Charles Reagan Wilson—one of the senior editors on the project—has also written several entries that demonstrate the potential for an imaginative synthesis of "old" and "new" history. His essay on "History" masterfully integrates an enormous volume of scholarship on southern culture and distinctiveness. Studded with telling literary allusions, his contributions stand out for their creativity, style, ' Ibid., xvi. 4 Given the breadth of topics, popular distinctions between low-brow and high-brow culture nearly disappear. The usual topics in southern intellectual and literary history receive due attention, but so too does popular culture—everything from mules to murder, from quilts to porches. For a provocative and often polemical discussion of...