Ain’t That America? History and Culture in the Country

Since 1920 the number of farmers in America has been dropping, yet the place of farming — and of rural life generally — in the American mind is stronger than ever. The images we encounter in country songs, labels at the grocery store and in country-fried restaurants tell us that to live the rural life is to live the most American of lives: to work honestly, for long hours and for mostly internal rewards. Our culture presents farmers as nothing short of heroes. But this was not always the case. This talk charts the rise, fall and rise again of the American farmer and rural life in the American consciousness with images from music videos, snippets of song lyrics, Cracker Barrel billboards and even some Congressional testimony. It seeks to answer the questions, why does this particular image of the farmer hold such sway, and what do the changes in that image over time tell us about Americans’ insecure relationship with its history?

Speakers Expertise:

Dr. James C Giesen is an Associate Professor at Mississippi State University in the division of agricultural, rural, and environmental history. Giesen also serves as the executive secretary of the Agricultural History Society and editor of the University of Georgia Press series Environmental History and the American South. Giesen’s book titled, “Boll Weevil Blues: Cotton, Myth, and Power in the American South” published in 2011, was the winner of both the 2012 Deep South Book Prize as well as the 2013 Francis Butler Simkins Award from the Southern Historical Association for the best first book on Southern History.