Southern Studies Minor

Faculty Advisor: Joe Oestreich
Professor | EHFA 201 | joeo@coastal.edu

The Southern Studies Minor immerses students in diverse perspectives on the American South. The minor incorporates a range of disciplines and courses that respond to the region's notably complex history: Native settlements and European colonization, chattel slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction, Jim Crow legislation and Civil Rights Movement, urban-industrial development and suburbanization, global capital and digital media.

Through a spectrum of texts and media produced in and/or about the region, students will explore the South's literary, historical, political, economic, and ethnic subcultures and the region’s continuing centrality to understandings of "Americanness" in an increasingly fluid, transnational world.

Requirements (18 Credits), Course Catalog

Area I (3 Credits)

Choose one of following: (3 Credits)

• ENGL 209 Blue Ridge to Blue Sea: Cultures of the American South 
• ENGL 352 African American English 
• ENGL 427 Studies in Southern Literature 
• ENGL 443 Topics in Women Writers (Topics in Southern Women Writers) 
• HIST 200 Introduction to Southern Studies

Area II (3 Credits)

Choose one of the following: (3 Credits)

• HIST 361 Antebellum Period 1820-1850
• HIST 362 Becoming American
• HIST 363 Black Atlantic and African Diaspora
• HIST 383 History of the Colony and State of South Carolina
• HIST 384 History of Horry and Georgetown Counties
• HIST 389 The New South
• ANTH 345 Archaeology of Plantations
• ANTH 380 Seminar in Archaeology
• ANTH 430 Southeastern Archeology

Area III (3 Credits)

Choose one of the following: (3 Credits)

• POLI 309 African-American Political Thought
• POLI 363 Southern Politics
• POLI 365 State Government
• POLI 399 Independent Study (South Carolina State Legislative Process)
• RELG 365 Religious Diversity in the South
• SOC 470 Sociology of the South

Electives (9 Credits)
Select three additional courses from any one or more of the three areas above. (Special topics courses deemed appropriate by the minor adviser can also satisfy minor requirements)

Note:

• Up to two courses from a student's major requirements may be applied towards the Southern Studies Minor requirements.
• A grade of C or better is required in each course to be applied toward the minor.
• Prior to graduation, students must submit a portfolio of their work to the adviser of Southern Studies.
• Other appropriate courses may count towards the minor at the discretion of the minor adviser.

Student Learning Objectives 

1. To increase students' understanding of various subcultures of the American South in relation to historical and cultural contexts through interdisciplinary coursework and approaches.
   
   
2. To assist students in engaging with contested issues surrounding the definition of regional identity and its connection to topics including globalization, nationhood, religion, politics, economics, class, ethnicity, and gender.
   
   
3. To enable students to utilize the opportunities afforded by the minor to gain firsthand, experiential knowledge of Southern culture and history.
   
   
4. For students to develop critical thinking and writing skills through collaborative, cross disciplinary studies.

Student Learning Outcomes 

1. Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the culture and history of the American South.
   
   
2. Analyze, synthesize, and evaluate critical and theoretical scholarship relevant to the topic of regional definition.
   
   
3. Produce independently researched analysis on the dynamics and problematics of the American South.
   
   
4. Illustrate the communication skills (written and oral) necessary to the sharing of their research with critical audiences, both peer and faculty.
   
   
5. Utilize the opportunity for experiential learning to enhance understanding of the region.