Where Is the Voice Coming From? Memory, Race, and Coming to Terms With the Past

• In Event: Exploring Lives and Livelihoods in Biographical and Documentary Research

Abstract

Abstract: Eudora Welty’s writing stands in stark contrast to the Lost Cause narrative that dominated white Southern thinking and academic writing in the 20th century. The way that the past is remembered, in a Southern context, evokes the German concepts of Heimat and Vergangenheitsbewältigung. Heimat translates to mean homeland and Vergangenheitsbewältigung translates to mean “coming to terms with the past.” We use this framework to analyze photography, correspondence, and literary works from the life of Eudora Welty to explore the Southern Heimat. This understanding can lead us towards Vergangenheitsbewältigung, and we can begin to apply our findings in designing k-12 social studies curriculum, continuing the process of wrestling with, and coming to terms with our past in the American South.

Authors

• Chara H. Bohan, Georgia State University

• Abbey Hortenstine, Georgia State University