About South

When Tara Bynum tells people that she researches African American pleasure in the eighteenth century, they often respond with puzzled looks, but Tara asserts that interrogating pleasure re-centers the focus on black cultural production and uncovers the ways in which African American people make meaning in their own lives. We discuss eighteenth-century Methodist minister, John Marrant, a free black man who found pleasure through practicing his faith. Marrant’s experiences challenge traditional constructions of southern geographies and literary histories and invite us to rethink the role of Christianity and pleasure in the lives of African Americans in the eighteenth century. We close by way of Tara’s hometown, the sometimes southern city of Baltimore. Learn more about this episode at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com. | Co-Producers: Gina Caison & Kelly Vines | | Music: Brian Horton | www.brianhorton.com |

Ali Arant, English Professor at Wagner College on Staten Island, joins us this week for a conversation about old maids. Ali’s research focuses on old maids in regional literature, but she has also found the figure in surprising places. For instance, the term is used to describe an un-popped kernel of popcorn and the unmatchable card in a game similar to Go Fish. An old maid also lurks in the lyrics of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” as the “maiden aunt” with a “vicious mind.” Our conversation investigates how cultural anxieties are embodied in this tragicomic character. Learn more about this episode at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com. | Co-Producers: Gina Caison & Kelly Vines | | Music: Brian Horton | www.brianhorton.com |

This week, we have assembled an all-star team of football fans (all of whom happen to be women). Friends of the show, Kris Townsend, Alex Patafio, and Stephanie Rountree, join Gina Caison and Kelly Vines to have a conversation about what it’s like to be a woman who loves football in the South. We cover topics big and small: our childhood connection to the sport, our experiences with other fans, prescribed roles for women on game day, toxic masculinity, mansplaining, and regional performance. While it may seem like just a game, our discussion demonstrates the complex issues associated with our favorite fall pastime. This episode contains explicit language. Learn more about this episode at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com. | Co-Producers: Gina Caison & Kelly Vines | | Music: Brian Horton | www.brianhorton.com |

We associate certain foods and beverages with the U.S. South: sweet tea, barbeque, grits, and moon pies. Right now, southern foodways are particularly prevalent in popular media, as several widely circulated southern publications feature professional photographs of artisanal southern dishes served — as if by magic — to tables surrounded by smiling, multicultural southerners. This week, we talk with UNCG professor Scott Romine about how southern foodways might obscure the stark racial divisions and inequalities characterizing domains of food production and consumption. Scott also explains how the moon pie underscores how tradition and authenticity are always changing and rely on southern imaginaries to function. Learn more about this episode at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com. | Co-Producers: Gina Caison & Kelly Vines | | Music: Brian Horton | www.brianhorton.com |

For Dean Martin, the moon was a complicated metaphor representing love and pizza, but for The B-52’s, “that tacky little dance band from Athens G-A,” the moon in the sky is just “called the moon,” and no matter how many times fans may ask, a “tin roof, rusted” only refers to a rusty tin roof. This week, we talk with LSU professor Michael Bibler about how The B-52’s fashioned an internationally renowned music act out of a queer, campy, thrift store aesthetic and how their lyrical literalism might offer listeners a way to think about the tacitness of southern queerness. Learn more about this episode at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com. | Co-Producers: Gina Caison & Kelly Vines | | Music: Brian Horton | www.brianhorton.com |

The Native South is a complex term, encompassing many different American Indian cultures, peoples, and connections. This week, we talk with Choctaw author and professor LeAnne Howe and Native American Studies scholar Kirstin Squint about what we might mean when we talk about the “Native South.” Howe and Squint describe how Native American literature can act as a vehicle for change, opening up people to Indigenous histories, allowing them to see the continuing presence and influence of Indigenous cultures, and enabling productive conversations about contemporary issues including the environment and immigration. Learn more about this episode at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com. | Co-Producers: Gina Caison & Kelly Vines | | Music: Brian Horton | www.brianhorton.com |

In the U.S. South, parents frequently tell misbehaving children to stop “being ugly,” but according to southern studies scholar Monica Miller, there is a certain power in being ugly, especially for southern women who want to escape traditional expectations. This week we sit down with Monica to talk about ugly women in southern literature and popular culture, including Flannery O’Connor’s Joy/Hulga, Katherine Anne Porter’s Cousin Eva, Alice Walker’s Celie, and even Margaret Mitchell’s Scarlett O’Hara. We also discuss Designing Women, The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Dolly Parton, and Minnie Pearl. Learn more about this episode at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com. | Co-Producers: Gina Caison & Kelly Vines | | Music: Brian Horton | www.brianhorton.com |

While working as a street hustler and fortune teller in 1930s New York, Eddie Owens Martin fell ill and had his first vision of Pasaquan. When his mother died in 1957, Eddie moved back to Buena Vista, Georgia, changed his name to St. EOM, and began building Pasaquan, a seven-acre site with over 900 feet of painted masonry walls. The site is currently being renovated, and this week, we talked with site director Michael McFalls about St. EOM and his Pasaquoyan legacy. Learn more about this episode at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com. | Co-Producers: Gina Caison & Kelly Vines | | Music: Brian Horton | www.brianhorton.com |

Over the last twenty years, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in southern hip_hop artists; however, there are several distinctly southern artists who are not necessarily considered in conversations about southern musical traditions. We sit down with Scott Heath, a scholar of African American literature and culture, to talk about the southern inflections of neosoul music. We also discuss soul artists Ray Charles, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Al Green, and Nina Simone, and we listen to music by Taylor Swift, Outkast, James Brown, Erykah Badu, and Maceo Parker in order to investigate the qualities that make a sound “southern.” Learn more about this episode at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com. | Co-Producers: Gina Caison & Kelly Vines | | Music: Brian Horton | www.brianhorton.com |

Covington, Georgia is a small town on the outskirts of Atlanta with a big reputation in the film industry. Billing itself as the camera-ready “Hollywood of the South,” Covington has starred in several films and television shows, including the popular CW series The Vampire Diaries. This week, we tour the town with southern studies scholar Molly McGehee and sit down to talk about southern television, including the economic and material impact of television shows that are filmed in southern spaces. Learn more about this episode at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com. | Co-Producers: Gina Caison & Kelly Vines | | Music: Brian Horton | www.brianhorton.com |

In pet stores around the globe, customers can find for sale a bright blue crayfish that is supposedly endemic to Florida. Its abnormally bright color prompted a surprisingly lengthy search to find one in the wild. After reaching out to several crayfish experts, we realized that a huge mystery lurked behind this tiny blue creature. Lindsey Eckert joins us for the investigation. Learn more about this episode at www.aboutsouthpodcast.com. | Co-Producers: Gina Caison & Kelly Vines | | Music: Brian Horton | www.brianhorton.com |

Season One trailer for About South. About South is a weekly podcast hosted by Gina Caison. Each week we talk to the folks who create, curate, and critique southern cultures. Coming soon to iTunes and Google Play. Visit us at aboutsouthpodcast.com. Co-Producers: Gina Caison & Kelly Vines Music: "Alright With Me" Brian Horton | www.brianhorton.com