Southern Beauty: Race, Ritual, and Memory in the Modern South
Elizabeth Bronwyn Boyd
Sep 2022 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Elisabeth Ashby
4.3star
3 reviewsreport
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6 hr 50 min
Unabridged
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About this audiobook
In a trio of popular gender rituals-sorority rush, beauty pageants, and the Confederate Pageant of the Natchez (Mississippi) Pilgrimage-young white southern women have readily ditched contemporary modes of dress and comportment for performances of purity, gentility, and deference. Clearly, the ability to "do" white southern womanhood, convincingly and on cue, has remained a valued performance. Based on ethnographic research and more than sixty taped interviews, Southern Beauty goes behind the scenes of the three rituals to explore the motivations and rewards associated with participation. The picture that Boyd paints is not pretty: it is one of southern beauties securing status and sustaining segregation by making nostalgic gestures to the southern past. Boyd also maintains that the audiences for these rituals and pageants have been complicit, unwilling to acknowledge the beauties' racial work or their investment in it. Southern Beauty moves beyond representations to show how femininity in motion-stylized and predictable but ephemeral-has succeeded as an enduring emblem, where other symbols faltered, by failing to draw scrutiny. Continuing to make the moves of region and race even as many Confederate symbols have been retired, the southern beauty has persisted, maintaining power and privilege through consistent performance.
Ratings and reviews
4.3
3 reviews
A Google user
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October 28, 2024
Southern Beauty is a fascinating book that explores the complex and often contradictory nature of Southern womanhood. Boyd expertly analyzes rituals like sorority rush, beauty pageants, and historical reenactments, revealing how they perpetuate and reinforce racial and gender hierarchies. While the book can be a bit academic at times, it offers a thought-provoking look at the ways in which Southern culture continues to shape our understanding of beauty, femininity, and race.
Brandon Barrington
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November 12, 2024
Southern Beauty is a really interesting book that explores the complex history and culture of the American South. It's full of fascinating stories and insights into the region's past and present. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about the South. It's a great way to understand the region's history and how it shapes the present.
A Google user
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October 30, 2024
Southern Beauty: Race, Ritual, and Memory in the Modern South is a really interesting book that explores the complex history and culture of the American South. It's full of fascinating stories and insights into the region's past and present. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about the South.
About the author
Elizabeth Bronwyn Boyd is an independent scholar who lives and writes in Takoma Park, Maryland.
Elisabeth Ashby is a seasoned character actor and singer with over two decades of stage experience. Having loved audiobooks since she was a little girl, she is thrilled to have found a way to combine her love of performing with her lifelong passion for the written word as a narrator.
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