Southern Stories: An Autoethnographic Visual Inquiry of the American South (Poster 6)

• In Event: Nomadic Visual Inquiries: Explorations in Visual Methodologies Across Disciplines and Paradigms

Abstract

Purpose
This visual inquiry highlights the tension of growing up in a rural, Southern area. With its mostly evangelical, Republican population, I often question if my hometown is still a space in which I belong, which has led to bitterness because my children and I don’t fit in with the area’s typical population.
Perspective
By stepping away from this tension and bitterness, I remembered Adichie’s 2009 TED Talk “The Danger of a Single Story” and her plea for us to avoid creating single stories, which “show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become.” I realized that I believed a single story about rural Southerners, one that focuses on our ignorance, judgement, and fear; I was forgetting the other stories—those of joy and peace. Even more, I simplified my religious upbringing, which offered me safety after a tumultuous early childhood—today, as someone nonreligious, all I could remember was hate, and nothing of love.

Methods
This project seeks to show more stories of a Southerner, as well as the tension of loving a place and recognizing its flaws at the same time. Using Hadeer’s concept of slow photography (2021), I revisited digital photos and videos from the past five years, reflecting on how each represents a part of my story and connection to this space. Next, I chose memorable religious songs from childhood to play in the background to depict the pervasiveness, both good and bad, of religion in this area. As I began to compile everything into Final Cut Pro, I used the idea of “Meanwhile” (Guyotte et al., 2020) to layer images, video, and songs on top of each other (see Appendix).
Data
I have collected all of the images used in the presentation over the past five years as I continued to live in the same community in which I was raised. Music used in the project is from YouTube.
Results
To grow up in the American South is to embody conflicting discourses; what one believes to be just and fair versus what one is taught causes tension as many Southerners grow into adulthood. My hope is that this project shows the great joy that I have gained in this space, but also an awareness of tension that still lives here and as disappointment in my own complacency of marginalization that occurs here. Too, I hope that it is clear that even though some Southern stereotypes are true, it is still multifaceted and rich.
Scholarly significance
In a polarizing time in American politics, to humanize any population is important work. As someone raised in a rural, Southern community who also grew to reject many of its marginalizing teachings, I offer a perspective of the American South that seeks to build bridges instead of walls.

Author

• Amanda Brady Deaton, University of Georgia