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A Nation Divided: Regional Identity, National Narratives, and Senator Zell Miller in the 2004 Presidential Election

2011; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 76; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/10417941003602530

1930-3203

Christina Moss,

Social Media and Politics

Abstract This essay analyzes the interconnectivity of regional, political party, and national identities and their association with cultural hegemony. The 2004 Republican National Convention Keynote Address by Democratic Senator Zell Miller coupled with his book A National Party No More (2003 Miller , Z. ( 2003 ). A national party no more: The conscience of a conservative Democrat . Macon , GA : Stroud and Hall . [Google Scholar]) created an event that displays how the Southern regional narrative and its role in the national narrative reinforce a white hegemonic view of Southerners and "the South." This analysis shows that Zell Miller's keynote address and book provided an opportunity for a renewed and more inclusive version of Southern and national identity. However, Miller, political party spokespeople, and media representatives never capitalized on the opportunity but, instead, further entrenched white hegemony into both regional and national identity narratives during the 2004 Miller , Z. ( 2004 ). 2004 Republican National Convention keynote . Retrieved from www. americanrhetoric.com/speeches/convention2004/zellmiller2004rnc.htm [Google Scholar] presidential campaign. Acknowledgments The author thanks Cindy Spurlock, Ken Zagacki, Jeremy Packer, the Communication Department research group, and the editor and reviewers for their helpful suggestions, encouragement, and conversations regarding this project. Notes See the Philadelphia Inquirer "Editorial: The Southern Strategy; Free At Last!". Southern studies scholars have long understood that there is no one "South." How multiple Souths are used rhetorically to constitute visions of Southern identity for a particular end is even less understood. As Fitzhugh Brundage argues: "The historical South that exists today is the consequence not of some innate regional properties but of decades of investment, labor, and conscious design by individuals, and groups of individuals who have imagined themselves as 'southerners'" (2000 Brundage , W. F. ( 2000 ). Where these memories grow: History, memory, and southern identity . Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press . [Google Scholar], pp. 2–3). In addition, "the South" is also created by those outside the region who react to what is "imagined" by those calling themselves "Southerners." Making Southern identity and whiteness interchangeable is not unusual; it is, however, problematic. For when a regional identity and whiteness become intertwined, "white claims to power, status, and collective identity are advanced at the same time that black claims are undercut" (Brundage, 2005 Brundage , W. F. ( 2005 ). The southern past: A clash of race and memory . Cambridge , MA : Harvard University Press .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar], p. 3). Scholars have identified the United States as a place of white hegemony in a variety of rhetorical discourses. Dickinson and colleagues have argued that whiteness in connection to U.S. national identity appears in regional museums, popular cinema, and popular news magazine covers (Dickerson, 2006 Dickinson , G. ( 2006 ). The Pleasantville effect: Nostalgia and the visual framing of (white) suburbia . Western Journal of Communication , 70 ( 3 ), 212 – 233 .[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]; Dickinson & Anderson, 2004 Dickinson , G. , & Anderson , K. ( 2004 ). Fallen: O.J. Simpson, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and the re-centering of white patriarchy . Communication & Critical/Cultural Studies , 1 ( 3 ), 271 – 296 .[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]; Dickinson, Ott, & Aoki, 2005 Dickinson , G. , Ott , B. , & Aoki , E. ( 2005 ). Memory and myth at the Buffalo Bill museum . Western Journal of Communication , 69 ( 2 ), 85 – 108 .[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar], 2006 Dickinson , G. , Ott , B. , & Aoki , E. ( 2006 ). Spaces of remembering and forgetting: The reverent eye/I at the Plains Indian museum . Communication & Critical/Cultural Studies , 3 ( 1 ), 27 – 47 .[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]). Gordon and Crenshaw argue the existence of whiteness in rhetorical Apologia on the U.S. political stage (2004 Dickinson , G. , & Anderson , K. ( 2004 ). Fallen: O.J. Simpson, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and the re-centering of white patriarchy . Communication & Critical/Cultural Studies , 1 ( 3 ), 271 – 296 .[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]). Grace Elizabeth Hale identifies whiteness framing in U.S. and Southern consumer culture (1998 Hale , E. H. ( 1998 ). Making whiteness: The culture of segregation in the south, 1890–1940 . New York , NY : Vintage Press . [Google Scholar]). While Acosta-Alzuru and Kreshel find "white ethnicity" to be an identifying feature of "American" in the American Girl doll narrative (2002). Mari Boor Tonn found the media interpretation of Colin Powell's autobiography narrative as evidence of a "bargaining of white racial innocence" that allowed Powell to become a "racial reconciliator" instead of a black "looking for trouble" by challenging white hegemonic structure (2006 Tonn , M. B. ( 2006 ). Colin Powell's life story and the display of a "good" black persona . In L. J. Prelli (Ed.), Rhetorics of display (pp. 344 – 373 ) Columbia : University of South Carolina . [Google Scholar]). All references to Miller's speech are taken from the speech transcript found at www. americanrhetoric.com/speeches/convention2004/zellmiller2004rnc.htm, edited by Michael Edenmueller. Most of the work on Southern style focuses on the rhetoric of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries before civil rights legislation passed. It tends to be associated with politicians and/or preachers who fell under the headings of Dixiecrats, demagogues, or slavery advocates. However, no one characteristic or "style" has ever been found to fit all Southern speakers when analyzed from a rhetorical perspective. For examples of such work see Waldo Braden "Southern Oratory Reconsidered: A Search for an Image" (1964 Braden , W. ( 1964 ). Southern oratory reconsidered: A search for an image . Southern Speech Journal , 29 , 303 – 315 .[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]); Oratory in the Old South, 1828–1860 (1970 Braden , W. ( 1970 ). Oratory in the old south, 1828–1860 . Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press . [Google Scholar]); Oratory in the New South (1979 Braden , W. ( 1979 ). Oratory in the new south . Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press . [Google Scholar]); The Oral Tradition of the South (1983 Braden , W. ( 1983 ). The oral tradition of the south . Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press . [Google Scholar]); Cal Logue and Howard Dorgan's edited volumes The Oratory of the Southern Demagogues (1981 Logue , C. , & Dorgan , H. ( 1981 ). The oratory of the southern demagogues . Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press . [Google Scholar]) and A New Diversity in Contemporary Southern Rhetoric (1987 Logue , C. , & Dorgan , H. ( 1987 ). A new diversity in contemporary southern rhetoric . Baton Rouge : Louisiana State University Press . [Google Scholar]). Also see E. Culpepper Clark, "Pitchfork Ben Tillman and the Emergence of Southern Demagoguery (1983 Clark , E. C. ( 1983 ). Pitchfork Ben Tillman and the emergence of southern demagoguery . Quarterly Journal of Speech , 69 , 423 – 433 .[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Ironically, Miller led his 1992 Democratic convention keynote address with these same descriptions. See "Democrat National Convention Keynote" in Listen to this Voice (1998 Miller , Z. ( 1998 ). Listen to this voice: Selected speeches of Governor Zell Miller . Macon , GA : Mercer University Press . [Google Scholar]). The use of the word "carpetbag" references Reconstruction, when many white Southerners identified as Democrats including those Southerners previously identified as Republican. See de Moraes (2004a de Moraes , L. (2004a , September 3). Matthews and Miller: Spitballs at 10 paces. The Washington Post , p. C07. [Google Scholar], 2004b de Moraes , L. ( 2004b , December 15 ). Fox news channel, giving 'em more Zell . The Washington Post , p. C07 . [Google Scholar]) and Post convention day wrap up (2004 Post convention day wrap up . ( 2004 , September 2 ) CNN Larry King live . [Television News Program] . New York , NY : CNN . [Google Scholar]). "Pundits' Plea: Quell Zell," 2004 Pundits' plea: Quell Zell . ( 2004 , September 3 ). The New York Post , p. 34 . [Google Scholar], p. 34. Here, I am referring to the historical definition of "Dixiecrat" as associated with the 1948 rejection of "liberal leadership" of the Democratic National Party over "President Truman's proposal on civil rights advocating an anti-lynching law, a permanent fair employment practices commission, desegregation of the armed forces, and elimination of the poll tax" (Haas, 1989 Haas , E. F. ( 1989 ). Dixiecrats . In C. R. Wilson & W. R. Ferris (Eds.), Encyclopedia of southern culture ( , 1st ed. , pp. 1185 – 1186 ). Chapel Hill : University of North Carolina Press . [Google Scholar], p. 1185). When negotiations with the national party failed and Truman was nominated for president several Southern delegates walked out of the convention. Later, a group of six thousand Mississippians and Alabamans met and recommended a presidential ticket of Strom Thurmond and Fielding Wright. The group was given the name "Dixiecrats" by the Charlotte News. See "Dixiecrats" by Edward F. Haas in Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. The phrase "Southern strategy" refers to the campaign strategy first used by Nixon as a way to target Southern voters. In 1972, Nixon campaigned for the Southern white vote by targeting those disturbed by "racial equality and social disorder." Ronald Reagan polished the strategy in 1980 by appealing to moderate white Southerners through "lower tax rates, a stronger military force, and less government spending." In addition, Reagan contrasted with the Democrats by disavowing busing and abortion, ignoring the Equal Rights Amendment, and advocating family values and school prayer. See Black and Black's The Rise of Southern Republicans (2002 Black , E. , & Black , M. ( 2002 ). The rise of southern Republicans . Cambridge , MA : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press . [Google Scholar], pp. 205–211).