Time Travelling in Dixie: Race, Music, and the Weight of the Past in the British “Televisual” South

This article examines a series of British travel documentaries on the American South made since 2008 which are representative of the way in which southern distinctiveness is maintained through television within a transatlantic context. The travelogues focus on historic racial struggles, southern foo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of American studies 2019-02, Vol.53 (1), p.197-222
Main Author:	O'CONNELL, CHRISTIAN
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	African American literature American culture American studies Antebellum period Audiences Authenticity Cultural heritage Distinctiveness Documentary films Empiricism Food Food industry Fry, Stephen (1957- ) History Hunter, Reginald D Laurie, Hugh Literary devices Modernity Music Musicians & conductors Portillo, Michael Race Race relations Resistance Television Television miniseries Television programs Tourism Travel Twain, Mark (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) (1835-1910) Websites
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Summary:	This article examines a series of British travel documentaries on the American South made since 2008 which are representative of the way in which southern distinctiveness is maintained through television within a transatlantic context. The travelogues focus on historic racial struggles, southern food, and music, and frame the South as a distinctly historical space, where either historical moments obscure the contemporary South, or cultural continuity and resistance to change and modernity are celebrated. The article also discusses the similarities between the travelogues and the southern tourist industry, and how transatlantic “televisual tourism” works against the wider scholarly challenge to southern exceptionalism.
ISSN:	0021-8758 1469-5154