The Redneck vs. The Humble Farmer: How Popular Imagination Influences Studies on Rural Identity

Summary

Rural forms of life and their material remains are rich sources of information for archaeologists on what was the largest economic demographic in the Western world until around 1900. Distressingly, influences from popular imagination and culture, with their many simplistic notions about the rural individual as either an idiotic bumpkin or a noble, humble tiller of the soil, continue to plague interest in, and conclusions about, rural remains and identity. Historical archaeologists have to contend with the problematic opinions of wealthier landlords or "city folk" in contemporaneous documentation, but they also must continue to confront how modern culture has influenced views on seeing rural people and communities. As development continues in these areas, we will lose the variety of rural material remains, whether they are those of a single farmstead or home, or of a larger village or community. There has been some improvement in preservation and restoration, but more is needed for education and heritage. Accepting the real variety of identities in rural areas—and the need therein to acknowledge race, class, and gender as attendant issues—is the first step towards more nuanced analyses, as well as representing the material there as valuable for continued archaeological research.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Proper ID Required: Difficulties in Discerning Past Identities

Keywords

Spatial Coverage