ABSTRACT

Knowing Your Place directs groundbreaking attention to the role of rural and urban places in identity construction. Written to redress the longstanding neglect and denigration of the rural, this book argues that the cultural dominance of the city has been reinforced by postmodern theory's near fixation on the urban and the sophisticated.

The essays explore rural identity in a number of cultures and situations, and look at issues of contemporary interest. Topics covered include the uses of popular and high culture, the explosion of high technology, the social and economic impact of ecological policy, the role of labor in the global marketplace, museum curatorship, and post-colonial politics. Throughout, the essays address the many ways in which place identity alters and influences the experience of race, class, gender and ethnicity.

chapter |38 pages

INTRODUCTION ~ Recognizing Rusticity

Identity and the Power of Place

chapter |34 pages

2 ~ “Is It True What They Say About Dixie?”

Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston, and Rural/Urban Exchange in Modern African-American Literature

chapter |26 pages

3 ~ “Ain't It Funny How Time Slips Away?”

Talk, Trash, and Technology in a Texas “Redneck” Bar

chapter |18 pages

4 ~ “Campesinos” and “Técnicos”

New Peasant Intellectuals in Central American Politics

chapter |24 pages

6 ~ The Roman du Terroir au Féminin in Quebec

Guèvremont's and Biais' Re-visioning of a Rural Tradition