As a non-"Southerner" living in the South, I watch in curiosity at the culture I am surrounded by. From locals in my small town to academics, I feel at times like an outsider (or intruder), but yet, this view also lets me see things an insider could not see.
I grew up smack dab in the middle of the US. Iowa to be exact. The Midwest is where I born, raised, and educated. I moved to Nebraska for college-the Midwest- and then moved to Minneapolis - technically the Upper Midwest- for graduate school, spending 13 years there ultimately.
As far as I know, there is not a Center for Midwest Studies (though I think there might be one for Plains Studies or the such in Nebraska) or to preserve the heritage and culture of the Midwest. And I say this after attending my first academic regional Southern conference hearing about Southern centers like this. I feel as if coming from the Midwest, Iowa in particular, that people see me as existing without culture or as a "Northerner", part of our collective agenda is only to talk bad about the South. Neither of these is true. Sure, some folks in the North have a certain disdain for the South, particularly about politics and the legacy of slavery, but this is not generalizable to all of us Northerners.
I am a transplant. I am an outsider. And no one gives a damn about where I was born and raised. This does not feel good either. I've also faced the stereotypes of being from the Midwest from some folks from larger cities on the East and West Coasts. Every region has its stereotypes. But we all have culture... Sociology 101 teaches this.
And just as much as I question "Southern identity" when I hear the term here as I have a hard time seeing that applied to every person the same, I wonder what a or my "Midwest" identity is. I lived in the same town in Iowa, even the same house for all of my young adult life. My parents held the same jobs for years. They both hail from this town and still live there.
Yet, my mom comes from a strong Polish and Russian heritage, which is still influential for the women in my family. Her family ended up in Iowa on both sides because of the meat packing plants. My maternal grandmother, despite all her faults and not knowing her well before I died, was a strong woman. She was a USDA meat inspector in the 50's and 60's; a job not many women had. Russian was spoke by my grandma and her siblings. My mom tells me stories of Borsch, vodka tables, Russian newspapers, births at home for my grandma and her siblings, distrust of banks, picking up coal by the train tracks, and living on the hill with other Russian and Polish folks. Indeed my grandma's baptismal certificate has the Russian spelling of her name.
My paternal grandma hails from a farm in Iowa. One of three daughters, they helped on the farm. The family story is more complicated on this side in terms of heritage and something I can't express here nor do I even know the full story in terms of her family or my paternal grandfather's. She moved to the "big town" as she hated farm life, went to beauty school, worked all her life, and ending up owning her own beauty shop before she retired (what she called it, not my words). My paternal grandfather died the year my dad graduated from high school and my uncle went to Vietnam, so I do not know him. My grandma was strong. Despite some gendered comments to me, she would tell me many times I could do what I wanted even though I was a girl. She was wonderful and I miss her very much.
What does this have to do with my "culture" and hailing from the Midwest? Well, I always think about even though I am from Iowa, the Polish/Russian influence still runs strong, looking at women in my family (which I wrote my women's studies undergrad senior paper on). And yes, I do know a lot about meat... sorry vegetarians, but when your family worked in the industry and your parents were influenced by this, you know. Yet, my paternal grandma had her roots set more in the traditional Iowa farms you might think about. But I hardly visited a farm, but maybe a few times of a distant relative.
Here is what I know about living in Iowa. I had a great education. I learned the history of my town. I learned the history of my state. I was never taught to dislike another region of the country- indeed, I might have fantasized about them since I was smack dab in the middle of the country and wondered at that age about other places. I did learn about slavery, but I was never taught to hate the South. My home state has the first presidential primaries. We had both Democrat and Republican leaders. We had clean air (well minus the smell from the meat packing plants to breath). I had parks to play in. My childhood was good. Yes, it took awhile to travel to a big city, but what did I know when I was little?
For Minnesota, I could say different things. I love Minneapolis. I love the political and progressive ideas there. But at times the place could be narcissistic (for example, something would happen in the Middle East and the news would ask how does this affect Minnesota??). But let's get back to growing up in Iowa.
People say with the German and Scandinavian heritages often found in the Midwest, we have stoic personalities. Yes, this could be true and my dad could fit this, but I might reason this was because of his father's family history. Yes, some folks are stoic. But I grew up with great values from parents who were by no means perfect, but believed in social justice and me. And my parents were Christian, though a liberal sect. I was taught to respect others. I was taught to give back what I could because I had the means. I was taught about service to others and hard work.
When I think of "Southern Culture," I try to think of what this means as someone who is an outsider and learning from being here. I actively seek out information to understand this concept by talking to folks , attending academic sessions about this topic, and reading both academic and other information. I still do not understand, and I don't think I ever will as I'm not from here. Yet, as a sociologist, I must remind myself that there are different stories and different interpretations of the past and the present. As an outsider, if I ask a question, particularly in an academic setting, it is not a critique of the culture. It is not my Northern/Midwestern bias. It is a legitimate question based on using analytic frameworks that sometimes an outsider might see. Sure, my question may not ever come up in reviewing your work, but this is also part of helping academics. When our work is reviewed, reviewers will ask or challenge the analytic frameworks we use.
I'm learning. Yes, like anyone I do have my own biases, which I try to check. Yes, I don't like some of the politics down here (i.e. bring your guns anywhere bill). But when I express what I know it does come from the context of the places I have lived. It's not right or wrong, but a perspective. Let's learn from each other instead of becoming defensive. I also have culture.
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