The Center for the Study of Southern Culture (CSSC), located in
Barnard Observatory on the
University of Mississippi
The University of Mississippi ( byname Ole Miss) is a public research university that is located adjacent to Oxford, Mississippi, and has a medical center in Jackson. It is Mississippi's oldest public university and its largest by enrollment ...
campus in
Oxford, Mississippi
Oxford is a city and college town in the U.S. state of Mississippi. Oxford lies 75 miles (121 km) south-southeast of Memphis, Tennessee, and is the county seat of Lafayette County. Founded in 1837, it was named after the British city of Ox ...
, is an academic organization dedicated to the investigation, documentation, interpretation and teaching of the
Southern United States
The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
, including its culture.
The CSSC includes the Southern Documentary Project division and the
Southern Foodways Alliance Southern Foodways Alliance (SFA) is an institute of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi, dedicated to the documentation, study and exploration of the foodways of the American South. Member-funded, it stage ...
institute, and a partner publication, ''Living Blues'' magazine. Over the years it has hosted countless programs, including the Oxford Conference for the Book, the Music of the South Concert Series and Symposium, the Gilder-Jordan Lecture in Southern Cultural History, the Blues Today Symposium, and the Southern Documentary Festival. The center supports an undergraduate and graduate Southern Studies academic department, granting Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, and Master of Fine Arts degrees. Former directors of the Center include
William Ferris, Charles Reagan Wilson, and Ted Ownby. Kathryn McKee is the current director, and James G. Thomas, Jr. and Afton Thomas are the associate directors.
CSSC published the award-winning ''Encyclopedia of Southern Culture'' and ''The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture''.
In 2014, the CSSC launched the online journal ''Study the South''.
In Barnard Observatory, the center's Gammill Gallery hosts changing exhibits of documentary photography of the American South.
Among the many collections permanently housed at the center is the
Kenneth S. Goldstein Folklore Collection.
''Study the South''
Launched in 2014, ''Study the South'' is a peer-reviewed multimedia online journal, focusing on the culture of the American South. The academic approach is interdisciplinary, with a particular focus on history, anthropology, sociology, music, literature, documentary studies, gender studies, religion, geography, media studies, race studies, ethnicity, folklife, and art.
Programs and lecture series
* Oxford Conference for the Book
* SouthTalks
* Music of the South Series and Symposium
* Gilder-Jordan Lecture in Southern Cultural History
* Blues Today Symposium
* Southern Documentary Festival
Publications
*
Study the South' journal
*
The Mississippi Encyclopedia'
* ''Living Blues'' magazine
* ''The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture''
* ''Encyclopedia of Southern Culture''
* ''The Southern Register''
* The Faulkner & Yoknapatawpha Series
See also
*
Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina.
References
External links
Center for the Study of Southern Culture official web siteGammill Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Center For The Study Of Southern Culture
University of Mississippi
Research institutes in Mississippi
Museums in Lafayette County, Mississippi
History museums in Mississippi