Graduate Programs in Southern Studies
Unique programs that combine coursework in Southern Studies and interdisciplinary fields.
An Immersive Interdisciplinary Curriculum
The Center for the Study of Southern Culture offers two types of graduate degrees—the Master of Arts degree in Southern Studies and the Master of Fine Arts degree in Documentary Expression. Both avenues of study offer an intense interdisciplinary curriculum touching on many facets of southern life, history, and culture.
Documentary Studies
M.A. in Southern Studies—Documentary Track
The M.A. Documentary Track requires completion of two core seminars, a selection of additional coursework in areas such as fieldwork, oral history, and visual storytelling, and a minimum number of thesis credit hours. Students present a final documentary project—using audio, still photography, film, or a combination thereof—along with an essay that chronicles the evolution of the student’s thinking regarding the documentary process and the development of their final project.
M.F.A. in Documentary Expression
The M.F.A. in Documentary Expression requires a total of 30 credit hours, including both coursework and thesis work. Students complete a series of foundational seminars and fieldwork courses, along with additional classes focused on documentary practice in various media. The program also includes a workshop component and offers elective options in areas such as photography and film.
Documentary Partners
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SouthDocs
The Southern Documentary Project, SouthDocs for short, produces works of documentary storytelling from the perspective of studying the American South. SouthDocs teaches classes in Southern Studies, provides internships and multimedia workshops, and helps to drive the Center’s M.F.A. in Documentary Expression program.
Learn more about SouthDocs SouthDocs Vimeo Farish Street Project -
Southern Foodways Alliance
The Southern Foodways Alliance documents, studies, and explores the diverse food cultures of the changing American South.The SFA is based at the University of Mississippi’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture, where they share oral histories, produce films and podcasts, publish great writing, sponsor scholarship, mentor students, and stage events that serve as progressive and inclusive catalysts for the greater South. Donations from generous individuals, foundations, and companies fund their good work.
Documentary Work at SFA Website -
Mississippi Stories
The Mississippi Stories website, launched in 2016, showcases Mississippi’s rich history through film, photography, oral history, and sound. It includes archival and ongoing documentary projects that explore evolving storytelling practices.
Mississippi Stories website
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Upcoming SST Courses
For a full list of upcoming Southern Studies courses, as well as courses in other departments that satisfy Southern Studies major/minor requirements, check myOleMiss or download the Courses Available document below.
myOleMiss Courses Available -
Resources for Southern Studies Graduate Students
Find what we have to offer—from help with writing to information about conferences, grants, and travel—to help you have a successful graduate school career.
Graduate Student Resources
About the M.A. in Southern Studies
Reflecting the program’s interdisciplinary study of the South, students enroll in seminars on Southern history, literature, music, religion, and other topics; take independent study courses that enable them to work closely with faculty; and participate in documentary methods workshops, such as oral history, photography, and filmmaking. Some students pursue internships that provide supervised work experience in cultural institutions.
One can pursue an M.A. in Southern Studies following one of three tracks:
- Thesis
- Documentary
- Internship
All students select courses from at least two academic disciplines with a maximum of twelve hours in any single discipline.
M.A. in Southern Studies Graduate Program Coordinator
"If you have any questions about the Master of Arts in Southern Studies, don't hesitate to reach out!"
Simone P Delerme
Associate Professor of Anthropology and McMullan Associate Professor of Southern Studies
M.A. Program Information
APPLICATION DEADLINE: rolling; February 1 for funding
The Center for the Study of Southern Culture welcomes student applications with the following materials.
- Complete the Graduate School’s Online Application.
- Pay the application fee ($60). We have scholarships for the application fee. Contact the Graduate Coordinator with questions.
- Submit official transcripts.
- International applicants whose first language is not English may be required to submit scores from an acceptable English language proficiency test.
- Upload Supplemental Application materials for the Center to the link provided by the online application.
- Statement of purpose: 500-word statement of purpose that articulates why joining the program is the next best step. Why is a degree in Southern Studies from UM is the best next move for you? How will it help you to achieve your personal and professional goals? What specifically appeals to you about the program?
- Writing sample
- Two letters of recommendation: provide contact information for two recommenders
Complete this form to receive the latest updates on UM Grad School news, application requirements, campus tours, event registration, and more.
Students in the internship track must take 6 hours of S St 603 (Internship).
Students in the thesis track must take 6 hours of S St 697 (Thesis) and complete a thesis defense.
Students in the documentary track complete the following courses:
- S St 533: Fieldwork and Oral History
- One of the following
- S St 534: Documentary Photography
- S St 535: Anthropological Films
- S St 560: Oral History of Southern Social Movement
- 6 credit hours of S St 697 (Thesis)
Students who apply by February 1 will be considered for an assistantship. Assistantships pay roughly $14,625 per year (August-May). Students with a graduate assistantship receive a scholarship that covers some or all of the tuition and non-residency fee, if applicable, for regular semesters and subsidized health insurance. The CSSC will provide up to $500 per student per year for research or conference related travel.
The Graduate School’s financial aid webpage lists a variety of funding possibilities, including summer support and a recruiting fellowship program that promotes academic excellence and access to graduate education to groups who are historically underrepresented.
MiMi Bishop
M.A. student
MiMi earned a business degree from Jackson State University.
Ryley Fallon
M.A. student
Ryley Fallon is a first-year Southern Studies master’s student who earned a degree in English and creative writing from N.C. State.
Garret Fuller
M.A. student
Born in Evanston, Illinois, J. Garret Fuller grew up in Nashville, Tennessee. Garrett received a B.A. in studio art from Sarah Lawrence College in 2019. After a few years of working in the arts in New York City and Upstate New York, he is returning to graduate school to focus on his photography practice and examine the socio-cultural impact of college football in the state of Mississippi.
Nicholas Harvey
M.A. student
Nicholas Harvey is from Boaz, Alabama, and graduated from Jacksonville State University in 2024 with an interdisciplinary degree, focusing in the humanities and social sciences. Their research interests concern the philosophical and cultural thought of the American South, and fieldwork methodology in order to discern these ideas as held and lived by Southerners themselves. Areas of Interest: Southern Intellectual History, Atlantic History, Philosophy of the Americas, and Ethnography.
Astrid Knox-McConnell
M.A. student
Astrid Knox-McConnell is a first-year Southern Studies master’s student. Originally from Bradford, a city in northern England, she achieved her BA in History and Politics of the Americas from University College London in 2024. After a rewarding year studying abroad at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she first stumbled across both Food Studies and Southern Studies, Astrid decided to come back to the South and continue what she started, with the help of the British Association of American Studies. Her current research focuses on the role of food in queer protest, and she particularly intends to highlight oral histories of queer Southerners.
Samson Oklobia
M.A. student
Samson Oklobia is a first-year Southern Studies master’s student who earned a degree in mass communication from the Univ of Jos.
Charlie Pappas
M.A. student
Born and raised in Memphis, Charlie has lived in the south his entire life. He received his BA in studio art from Sewanee in 2018 and then moved to New Orleans following graduation. While there Charlie worked at a gallery, assisting with many of the day-to-day tasks of running the space before deciding to move home in February of 2020. Charlie has since worked in a variety of spaces centered around food and continues to do so now.
Rhondalyn K. Peairs
M.A. student
Rhondalyn is an Oxford native, secondary educator and local historian. Her passion for the complex history of Mississippi and its people started early and runs deep. She is a graduate of Tougaloo College and has done graduate work at the University of Southern Mississippi, where her research culminated in the thesis “Resisting in the Storm: Black Landowners in Mississippi from 1930 to the Present.” Her primary areas of research include the Post-Reconstruction American South, Civil Rights, the legacy of race and enslavement, as well as agricultural, women’s and oral history. She previously served as a documentary projects coordinator and documentary educator with the William Winter Institute at the University of Mississippi. One of her proudest achievements was the development of a training workshop for community preservationists entitled, Making History Last: Tips and Tools for Ensuring the Success of Your Cultural Site, Museum or Historical Landmark. In 2018, she founded HISTORICH, a tourism and educational services company. The company seeks to connect communities and visitors alike with the rich and complex history of North Mississippi through experiential learning opportunities. Patrons and visitors receive a more inclusive narrative of Mississippi history that privileges marginalized stories of those who have been erased from the traditional Southern narrative.
Areas of Focus: Marginalized histories and identities in the South (i.e. the indigenous, women, people of color)
Alexandra Santiago
M.A. student
Alexandra Santiago is a first-year Southern Studies master’s student who earned a university studies degree from the University of Mississippi.
David Smith Jr.
M.A. student
David Smith Jr. is a first-year Southern Studies master’s student who earned a public policy leadership degree from the University of Mississippi.
Olivia Whittington
M.A. student
Born in California, Olivia Whittington moved to Blue Springs, MS when she was eleven years old. Olivia received a B.A. in studio art and a minor in art history from the University of Mississippi in 2018. During her undergraduate career, Olivia was a member of Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society and Kappa Pi International Art Honor Society. Olivia is a freelance photographer and writer, published in Number: Inc journal.
Areas of Interest: documentary photography & practices, oral histories, southern literature, themes of home & belonging, the everyday.
M.A. Student Theses and Internships
- Agricola, John. “The Discursive Commons: The Establishment, ‘Outside Agitators,’ and ‘Communist Subversives in Gadsden’s Depression-Era Political Environment. ” (2014)
- Alexander, Dawn. "Corona College as an Example of Antebellum Southern Education" (1990)
- Andersen, Danielle. “Nonviolent Bodies and the Experience of Breakdown in the American Movement for Civil Rights” (2012)
- Barger, Jim Jr. "Ophelia Go Home: The Life Story of Ophelia Killens" (1996)
- Benton, Eunice. "Shelter Neck's Unitarian School" (1994)
- Chartier, Courtney. "The Making of the Homoerotic Body: Southern Evangelicals and the Fight for Gay and Lesbian Rights" (2003)
- Best, Nathan Campbell. “Three Dreams, Three Radical Reformers, and the Intellectual, Philosophical, and Collegial Connection between the Beloved Communities of Learning that They Each Created: Myles Horton at the Highlander Folk School, William Heard Kilpatrick at Bennington College, and Royce Stanley Pitkin at Goddard College” (2009)
- Fullerton, Christopher. "Striking Out Jim Crow: The Birmingham Black Barons" (1994)
- Gildea, Barry. "Estranged Fruit: Making and Unmaking in Mississippi's Jails" (1995)
- Gilstrap, Ben. “The Old South and Continental Europe: A Transatlantic Conversation” (2009)
- Gould, Marty. "The 1878 Yellow Fever Epidemic and the Cultural Politics of Journalistic Representation" (2002)
- Hamlin, Tiffany. "Still Movin': The Life Journeys of Four Members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee" (2003)
- Hassel, Leslie. "Narrating Jackson State: Media Coverage of the 1970 Shootings at Jackson State College" (2014)
- Herring, Caroline. "The Mississippi Council of the Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching" (1998)
- Hughes, Sean. "Honor, Commerce, Suffrage, and Civil Rights" (2005)
- Laseter, Miles. “Beyond the Sunset: Race and Ethnicity in Cullman County, Alabama” (2009)
- McClure, Jillian. "Forward Rebels? Race and Remembering the University of Mississippi’s Integration, 1962-2008" (2014)
- McGehee, Margaret. "Beneath the Sheets: An Intellectual History of the Women of the Ku Klux Klan, 1923-1931" (2000)
- Medley, Kate. “Fear, Faith, and the Fatherland: The Complexities of Prejudice in the Civil Rights Movement” (2007)
- Morris, Robin. "Memory and Manhood: The Citadel and the Civil War centennial, 1961" (2001)
- Percy, Anne. "Rebel Land after James Meredith" (1994)
- Roberts, Judith Barlow. "C. C. Bryant: A Race Man Is What They Called Him" (2013)
- Roy, Je'Monda. “Getting to the Root: The Struggles and Resilience of Black Womanhood Through Stories of Natural Hairstyles While Attending a Predominantly White Institution” (2019)
- Schultz, David Hooper. “The Southern Front: Gay Liberation Activists In The U.S. South And Public History Through Audiovisual Exhibition” (2020)
- Schultz, David Hooper. “The Carolina Gay Association, the Southeastern Gay Conferences, and Gay Liberation in the 1970s South” (2019)
- Smith, Jonathan. “Silence Descends: Lynchings and Their Aftermath in Lafayette and Union Counties, Mississippi” (2019)
- Thomas, William. "The Meredith Event at the University of Mississippi: The Creaking of Modern America under Postmodern Stress" (1998)
- Voss, Mark. "Cataclysm and Memory: The Battle of Franklin" (1997)
- Walton, Eva. “Nothing Less than an Activist: Marge Baroni, Catholicism, and the Natchez, Mississippi Civil Rights Movement” (2012)
- Wood, Amy. "The Fiery Cross Carved upon the Breast: Sacred Violence and the Ku Klux Klan, 1915-1930" (1995)
- Alford, Sarah. "Now We Work as One: The Story of the Delta Cooperative Farm" (2003)
- Anotubby, Joe. "Seeking the Indian Legcay in the American Southeast: North Mississippi" (1997)
- Blessey, Mary Paige. "Thrill of a Billion Eyes: The Prancing J-Settes” (2016)
- Boyd, Elizabeth. "Beauty and the Belle: Pageantry, Sectional Jealousy, and the Southern Ideal of Beauty" (1989)
- Brothers, Matthew. "Fraternity Myth-Making in the Twentieth Century: Three Studies in Folk History" (1998)
- Brown, Patrick. "Stewart, Mississippi, and Old Choctaw County: Continuity with the Past" (1990)
- Cauthen, Sudye. "A Study of One Southern Place: Alachua, Florida" (1993)
- Childs, Rachel Christine. “A Body a Day: Constructing Deviance at the Mississippi State Asylum” (2018)
- Crockett, I’Nasah. “Now Watch Me: The Black Dancing Body and Southern Identity” (2009)
- Domm, Rebecca. Going to the Market: A Study of Segregationist Academies (2008)
- Dye, Edward. "Uppermost in Their Minds: Tenant Farming and Field Trial Traditions on Grand Junction, Tennessee's Ames Plantation" (1996)
- Edwards, Kari. “Six Days of Twenty-Four Hours: The Scopes Trial, Antievolutionism, and the Last Crusade of William Jennings Bryan” (2012)
- Felkins, Shawna Faye. "Fetishizing Southern Brutality: An Intersectional Analysis of Animalistic Dehumanization in Interracial Pornography" (2015)
- Fisher, Jane Harrison C. "Staying Afloat in a Global World: Reflections on Life as a Mill Worker at Inman Mills, Inman, South Carolina" (2008)
- Ford, Drew. “Black Space On A White Campus; Exploring The Relationship Between African American Students And The Physical Structure Of The University Of Mississippi.” (2017)
- Fraser, John Rory. “Locals, Scientists, and the Problem of Proof in the Search for the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker” (2009)
- Griffin, Angela. "Models of Motherwit, Spirituality, and Experience: Granny Midwives as Ministers to Women and Guards of Tradition." (1998)
- Grime, Elliot. “Southern Traditions: Exploring a Modern Mississippi.” (2020)
- Gunter, Jennifer Holman. “’Well, I’ll Be’: A Study of Popular Representations of Southern Women in Response to Feminism, 1970-2000.” (2011)
- Harris, Harry. "Education in Context: A Social Capital Approach to Improving Student Achievement in Tunica County Public Schools" (2001)
- Haynes, Joshua. "Identity Construction and the Cherokee Tribe of Northeast Alabama" (2001)
- Hudson, Kate. "’Fixin’ to Tell: Cultural Preservation, Multiculturalism, and a Delicate Double Commitment in Appalshop’s “Insider” Activism" (2015)
- Huff, Christina. “Queer Subculture in the Conservative South: A Study of Drag Performers in Mississippi.” (2021)
- Johnson, Derek. “Interracial Relationships in the South” (2009)
- Keith, Tyler Dawson. “Frontier Identity in Cultural Events of Holmes County, Florida” (2011)
- King, Tamara. "Citizen Activism: Impact on Surface Mining Law Enforcement" (1994)
- Langdale, John III. "Southerners Against Themselves: Modernism, Postmodernism, and the Search for Southern Identity" (1996)
- Leus, Christian. “What Remains: Telling the Story of Irene Taylor’s Murder.” (2021)
- Love, Zaire. “The Black Men I Know” (2020)
- Matthews, Kenith. "Race Relations in a Mississippi Delta Town: Indianola, Mississippi" (1997)
- Martinez, Ana Lauren. “How ghost stories shape the state of Mississippi and the people” (2019)
- McDaniel, Darren. "On the Edge of Academia: A Study of the University of Mississippi's Physical Plant and the Working-class Men of the South" (1994)
- McKnight, Laura. "Lessons in Freedom: Race Education, and Progress in a Mississippi Delta Community since 1965" (1996)
- Meacham, Ellen. "Through a Glass Darkly: Reflections of Southern Culture in South Carolina's Domestic Violence Policy" (2003)
- Miller, Mary Margaret. “From King Cotton to Custom Kitchens: Revitalization in Downtown Greenwood, Mississippi” (2007)
- Mize, Martha Grace. “Revitalization in the Alabama Black Belt: Cultivation of a New Civic Hegemony in Rural Main Street America.” (2021)
- Monroe, Sally. "Interweaving Image and Voice: Creating a Story of a Family" (2002)
- Moore, Elizabeth. "It's Not Even Past: An Oral History of Black and White Women on Equen Plantation" (1992)
- Morales, Andrea. “Roll Down Like Water.” (2021)
- Ombaba, Renee. "In a Foreign Land: Stories of African Immigrants and Their Children in Jackson, Mississippi" (2014)
- Parker, Teresa. "City on a Hill : John McCrady's Oxford, Mississippi" (2005)
- Pate, Velsie. “Searching for Black Businesses in Oxford, Mississippi” (2009)
- Prather, Paige. "I Am See-Through: Critically Examining the Process of Participatory Video Making as a Community Based Research Methodology for Social Change in the MS Delta" (2014)
- Robbins, Lori. "A Lyin' to Them Tourists: Tourism in Branson, Missouri" (1999)
- Rosen, Joel. "Toward Mound Bayou: An Analysis of the Ideology of Robert Owen and Its Legacy at Davis Bend, Mississippi" (1993)
- Schmidt, Aimee. "Down around Biloxi: Culture and Identity in the Biloxi Seafood Industry" (1994)
- Scott, Erin. "Mississippi Motoring: Mom and Pops and Entrepreneurs" (2014)
- Stamps, Amanda. "Within the Gate: Environment Keepers in the South" (1995)
- Stout, Cathryn S. “A Place of Happy Retreat: Benefiting Locals and Visitors through Sustainable Tourism Practices at Beale Street, Graceland, and the National Civil Rights Museum” (2011)
- Taylor, Kieran. "I Done Made My Mind Up: The Legacy of the Providence Cooperative Farm” (1998)
- Taylor, Mary Amelia. “’Can’t You See the Sun’s Settin’ Down on Our Town?’”: Decline, Space, and Community in Frisco City, Alabama” (2011)
- Thomas, James G. “The Lebanese In Mississippi: An Oral History Documentary Project” (2020)
- Trollinger, Elizabeth. “’The hard work is done in the looking': Analyzing Representations of and Responses to Appalachia in Popular Culture” (2015)
- Ulmer, Amy C. “Place, Race, and Religion in the Local Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Movement in Memphis, Tennessee” (2012)
- Vogt, Kaitlyn. “’Being Nice is Lethal': Disciplining and Subverting Southern Femininity in Contemporary Southern Popular Culture (2015)
- Walker, Rachael. “Exploring Acculturation and Intercultural Identity Building of International Students at the University of Mississippi” (2014)
- Walton, Becca. "Imagining the Unimaginable: Witnessing Trauma in the Post-Segregation South” (2008)
- Way, Albert. "Converting Nature: People, Environment, and Production in the Antebellum Mississippi Delta" (1999)
- Weatherford, David. "Route of the Aristocrats: The Regional Identity of Southern Airways, Inc." (1993)
- Weaver, Michelle. "Echoes of Indigeneous Southern Culture: The Oral and Material Culture of the Mississippi Band of Chocktaw Indians in East Centeral Mississippi" (1993)
- Wilkins, Lynn. "Fannye Mae's Salon: The Old-Time Beauty Shop and a Community of Women in Jackson, Mississippi" (1996)
- Wogan, Hicks. "Having Made Cents of Sense of Place: Literature, Tourism, and the Commodified Myth of New Orleans (2008)
- Abbott, Franky. "Part of My Internal Landscape: Religious Ideology as a Construction of Place in Randall Kenan's 'Let the Dead Bury Their Dead' and Crystal Wilkinson's 'Water Street'" (2006)
- Attaway, Anna Katherine Walraven. “Vagina Dentata and the Glorified South in Tennessee Williams” (2011)
- Bortolami, Maria. "Issues of Race in Carson McCullers's The March, Hush Little Baby, and The Man Upstairs" (1990)
- Bright, Michelle. "Disciplining the Body: Societal Controls of Gender, Race, and Sexuality in Tennessee Williams’s Delta Plays" (2013)
- Bryan, Eugenia. "Tennessee Williams: The Search for God and Absolution" (1994)
- Caldwell, Richard. "Willie Morris: Toward a Literary Biography" (2005)
- Coker, Cristen. "The Funeral Ritual and the Grotesque in William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying and Eudora Welty's The Optimist's Daughter" (1996)
- Cornish, Purvis. "Dwelling in the Annals: Black South Carolinian Poets and Meditations on Place" (2015)
- Evans, Anne. "Sacred Rupture: Bataillean Concepts in the Short Stories of Flannery O'Connor" (2000)
- Free, Jodie. "Southern Bestsellers in the Twenty-First Century" (2014)
- Flucker, Turry. "Turning Arts and Humanities Towards the People: A Brief History of the Mississippi Arts Commission." (2014)
- Gortemiller, Maury Michael. "The Allure of Nature: The Poetry of James Applewhite" (1999)
- Hagood, Elizabeth. "The Doom Outside the Door: Faulkner's Rosa Coldfield and Quentin Compson" (1995)
- Hairston, Joe. "Jack Burden's Children: Out of History into History" (1995)
- Henley, Micajah. “The South According to Quentin Tarantino.” (2015)
- Holder, Sarah. “Sookie's Place(s): New Roadways Into The South Of The Southern Vampire Mysteries” (2016)
- Knight, Mary Stanton. “Dear Hubert Creekmore: An Archival Search into the Life of a Queer Mississippi Writer” (2019)
- Li, Haipeng. "Another Version of Pastoral: Zora Neale Hurston's Short Stories" (1990)
- Lindsey, Odie. “Industrial War, Unattainable Manhood, and the Homosocial Dynamic in Works by William Faulkner, James Dickey, and Larry Brown” (2007)
- Mueller, Anne. "Looking Inside: Autobiographical Reflections of Five Mississippians" (2003)
- Muller-Hartmann, Andreas. "Race in Southern Literature during the 1920s" (1989)
- Pike, Alan. “Natural Born World Shakers: Southern Prisoners in Popular Film” (2009)
- Romines, Emily. “Soulless Bodies and Bodiless Souls in Escapade, Beloved, and Light in August” (2007)
- Saunders, Steven. “The Darker Angels of Our Nature: The South in American Horror Film” (2013)
- Schmidt, Amy. “‘a little hat dyed precisely to match’: Identity, Performance, and Parody in Frances Newman’s The Hard-Boiled Virgin and Dead Lovers Are Faithful Lovers” (2007)
- Torian, Sarah. "Writing One's Self in Black and White: Racial Identity Construction in the Autobiographies of James Weldon Johnson, Jean Toomer, Mary Church Terrell, and Walter White" (1997)
- Wang, Guilan. "Tradition or History: A Comparison between George Washington Cable and Thomas Nelson Page" (1988)
- Williams, Brandy. “How To Find What's Lost When What's Lost Is You: The Presence of Disappearing Bodies in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq War Literature” (2016)
- Word, Hilary. “Post-Soul Speculation: An Exploration Of Afro-Southern Speculative Fiction” (2020)
- Ysaguirre, Angel. "Movement toward Community: The Bobdy's Ordeal in the Novels of Harry Crews" (1996)
- Bryant, Jennifer. "Tula, Mississippi, and the Dogtrot House: A Study of a Community and Its Built Environment" (1995)
- Davis, Megan. "William Turner: A Builder's Legacy in Lafayette County, Mississippi" (2001)
- Gerlach, Cynthia. "Pentecostalism in Paint: The Life Story of Reverend Benjamin Franklin Perkins, 1904-1993" (1993)
- Malloy, Amanda Katherine. “William Eggleston's Guide To The Suburban South” (2016)
- McGuire, Melissa. "Jesus Says Buy More Folk Art: Evangelicalism and Economics in Contemporary Southern Self-Taught Art" (1999)
- Miller, Joyce. "In the Handiwork of Their Craft Is Their Prayer: African-American Religious Folk Art in the 20th-Century South" (1992)
- Moorehead, Martha. "Just What We Did: Conversations with the Quilting Ladies of Harmontown" (1990)
- Morishita, Mayumi. "Florence Hedlestone Crane: A Mississippi Woman Painting in Korea" (2005)
- Perry, Dannal. "Special Messages from God: The Life and Art of Joe Light" (1996)
- Rees, John. "A Rib from Britain's Side: Material Culture, Class, and the High Architecture of the Colonial Virginia Tidewater" (1992)
- Smith, Stacey E. B. “Woodie Long: Memory Painter” (2009)
- Aiken, Camilla. “We Didn’t Get Famous: The Story of the Southern Music Underground, 1978- 1990” (2012)
- Bennett, Kyle. "Junior Kimbrough's Juke Joint: A Story to Be Told" (1996)
- Bittler, David. "The Man and His Music: Sam Cooke's Public and Personal Immanence to the Black Community" (1994)
- Boland, Mary. "The Man Sitting Down Is Playing a Mountain Dulcimer: The Changing Face of the Appalachian Mountain Dulcimer" (2002)
- Campbell, Ellie. "'Daddy, Tell Me Another Story': The Drive-By Truckers, Southern History, and Popular Culture" (2006)
- Cheseborough, Steve. "Mashing That Thing: Meaning and Eroticism in the Music of Bo Carter" (1999)
- Colbeck, Christopher James. “Southern Sound And Space: An Exploration Of The Sonic Manifestation Of Place” (2016)
- Cusack, Bernadette. "Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield" (1992)
- Dye, Charlene. "What Comes Around, Goes Around: A Defense of African American Burlesque Performance from Minstrels to Jug Bands" (1998)
- Frede, Ari. "The Delta Blues Education Program" (1996)
- Fussell, Jacob. "Out of this World: Hearing Indigenous and Immigrant Music in the American South" (2013)
- Gill, Katherine. “Representation of the American South in Marvel Comics, 1963-2016” (2016)
- Gray, James. "The Yocona River Inn Bluegrass Community" (1998)
- Hartlieb, Steffen. "Feeling the Pulse: A Portrait of Junior Kimbrough" (1996)
- Hawkins, Robert. Fretting over Faith : Protestantism and the Southern Musician" (2005)
- Hermann, John. “The Life and Art of Vic Chesnutt” (2014)
- Hollister, Jamison. “Mississippi Breakdown: A New Look at Mississippi Old Time Fiddle Music” (2012)
- Keith, Tyler. “North Mississippi Hill Country Blues: How the Last Genre of the Blues Came To Be, Through Family Tradition and Documentation, in a Place Called the Hill Country.” (2020)
- Kossen, Pieter Frank. “Native Music And Regular Gigs: A History Of The Maple Leaf Bar” (2017)
- Kosub, Nathan. "1+1+1+1=5: San Antonio, the 1950s, and the Sir Douglas Quintet without Doug Sahm" (2005)
- Lasseter, Mary Beth. "'That's Alright Mama, Any Way You Do': Elvis, Sexuality, and Changing Southern Womanhood" (2002)
- Lasseter, Mary Beth (Mel) . "Chasing That Ghost on Stage: The Haunted Continent and Andrew Bird’s Apocrypha" (2013)
- Lauterbach, Preston. "Professionalizing the Blues: The Economic Thrust of an Indigenous Art Form in Mississippi, 1920-1945" (2003)
- Mills, Frank. "The Room That Shook (Rattled and Rolled) the World: The Memphis Recording Service and Sun Records at 706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee" (2000)
- Nelson, David. "Trouble in Mind: Black and White Musical Exchange in the American South" (1990)
- Osteen, Katharine Duvall. “The Blues Is Alright: Blues Music as a Root of Cultural Tourism and Public History” (2011)
- Phillips, Jimmy. "It's Dancing Naked in that High Hill Country Rain: Austin Music Culture in the 1970s" (1993)
- Radishofski, Kathryn. "Last (Un) Fair Deal Goin’ Down: A Case Study of the Racial Perspectives and Projects of Blues Tourism Superintendents in Clarksdale, Mississippi" (2013)
- Sahagian, Jacqueline. “The Same Old Blues Crap: Selling The Blues At Fat Possum Records” (2018)
- Sanders, Sarah. "The Vaughn Movement: The Musical Transformation of the Southern Rural Landscape, 1912-1963" (1997)
- Slade, Peter. "Singing a New Song: The Gospel Choir at the University of Mississippi, a Prophetic Paradigm of Integration" (1999)
- Stevens, William. "Sincere Forms of Flattery: Patterns and Precedents in the Evolution and Early Export of American Popular Music" (2002)
- Takada, Yaeko. “Bluesman, Guitar, And Migration” (2016)
- Thompson, Joseph. "I won’t be reconstructed”: Good Old Rebels, Civil War Memory, and Popular Song" (2013)
- Veline, Lauren. “Object Of Your Rejection: The Symbolic Annihilation And Recuperation Of Queer Identities In Country Music” (2017)
- Vinroot, Kathryn. "Pride and Prejudice: African Americans in Contemporary Country Music" (2003)
- Walburn, Sally. "How Come Hee Haw? An Exploration into the Hows and Whys of Hee Haw's Success" (2002)
- Watkins, Angela. "Sing Me Back Home: Picking Country Music and Memories in Hernando, Mississippi" (2005)
- Wood, Gretchen Labudde. “Down Under Punks And Dixie Rock: Reflections On Making The Documentary Film Chinese Whispers - Southern Roots In The Australian Swampy Sound” (2018)
- Xu, Xiang. "When the Counterculture Picked Up Southern Twang: A Cultural Analysis of Late Sixties and Early Seventies Country Rock Movement" (2014)
- Young, Melanie. "A Historical Analysis of Living Blues Magazine” (2013)
- Campbell, Audrey. "The Power of Pentecost Brings Peace to a Sanctified Church in the South" (1998)
- Cully, Miranda. "Hooray for prohibition!": Evangelicals and the Southern Temperance Movement" (2008)
- Darby, Kimberlyne. "Faith Will Lead Us Home: The History of Bethel AME Church and an Analysis of the Efforts for Empowerment by the AME Church" (1993)
- Glisson, Susan. "Life in Scorn of the Consequences: Clarence Jordan and the Roots of Radicalism in the Southern Baptist Tradition" (1994)
- Graham, Sally. "Right Now Lord!: Pastor Carolyn King and the Noah's Ark Holiness Church" (1993)
- Loy, Travis. "The New Americans: Soviet Jews in Memphis" (1996)
- Martinez, Xaris. “Minds in Place: Thornwell, Palmer, Dabney, and Breckinridge in Fast Day Sermons: Or, The Pulpit on the State of the Country” (2011)
- Porter, Catherine. "L. C. Manning: Remembering the Night" (1998)
- Schuy, Irmgard. "Phillip Georg Von Reck and the Salburger Protestants of Ebenezer in Georgia" (1993)
- Wright, Jesse. “The Crescent and the Cross: Muslim Influence in African American Quilts” (2010)
- York, Joe. "1 Cross + 3 Nails = 4-Sale: Religion on the Southern Roadside" (2007)
- Glynn, Karen. "Mule Racing in the Mississippi Delta, 1938-1950" (1995)
- Hawks, Robert Bryan. “Boxing Men: Ideas Of Race, Masculinity, And Nationalism” (2016)
- Hedglin, Christopher. "Common Ground: Looking at the Culture of Oxford High School Athletics" (2004)
- McCool, Traye. "Community Baseball in North Mississippi" (1998)
- Myers, Kendra. "DRIVE: A Season in the Life of a Sprint Car Racer or Confessions of a Dirty Girl" (2004)
- Small, Christopher. "Beneath the Shadow: The Impact of the Confederate Flag on Football Recruiting at the University of Mississippi" (1999)
- Yarborough, Charles. "A Way out of No Way: African American Culture and Empowerment at the Ichauway Baseball Diamond" (1995)
- Blessey, Mary Paige. “Truth Marching On: Documenting the Plan to Bring Robert F. Kennedy to the University of Mississippi in 1966.” (2019)
- Lefever, Grant Burnette. “Furling The South Carolina Confederate Flag: Political Expediency Or Cultural Change?” (2016)
- Russell, Andrew. "The Hobbesian Transformation of America as Seen through the Eyes of Three Southern Conservatives: John C. Calhoun, Robert L. Dabney, and Donald Davidson" (1997)
- Whitley, William. "Shades of White: Party Politics in Mississippi, 1870-1896" (1996)
- Wilson, Brian. “Only Nixon Could Go to China: L.Q.C. Lamar and the Politics of Reconciliation” (2012)
- Zwiers, Maarten. “The Paradox of Power: James O. Eastland and the Democratic Party” (2007)
- Brown, Novelette. “Starved: Examining Food Deserts in the Mississippi Delta” (2011)
- Burns, Keon. “Black Grocers, Black Activism, and the Spaces in Between: Black Grocery Stores during the Mississippi Freedom Struggle Movement.” (2021)
- Butler, Brooke. "Greens: A Cultural Text of the South" (2004)
- Button, Roy. "Growing Communities: Urban Agricultural in Post-Katrina New Orleans" (2013)
- Chapman, Georgeanna Milam. "Craig Claiborne: A Southern-Made Man" (2008)
- Cleary, Rebecca Lauck. "How Sweet It Is: Swamp Pop Soda and Modern Day Sugar" (2018)
- Crosby, Carlynn. “Potato Capital: Agriculture, Labor, and the (Un) Making of Hastings.” (2020)
- De Leone, Victoria. “Small Batch: Women's Positions In Southern Craft Beverages” (2018)
- Edge, John T. "The Potlikker Papers: An Explication and Rumination on the Potlikker and Cornpone Debate of 1931 with Illustrative Asides" (2002)
- Hamilton, Anna. “Bottling Hell: Myth-Making, Cultural Identity, and the Datil Pepper of St. Augustine, FL” (2014)
- Holmes, Meghan. “Plants and Animals as Saviors and Invaders: Changing Perspectives on Invasive Species in North America From The Colonial Era to the 21st Century” (2012)
- Huggins, Abigail Myers. “Before Me, After Me, Through Me: Stories Of Food And Community In Eastern Kentucky.” (2017)
- King, Katherine. “The Sweet Auburn Curb Market: Creating Contested Space in the City Too Busy to Hate” (2015)
- Penman, Susie. “Cracker Barrel’s Culture: Exporting the South on America’s Interstates” (2012)
- Robinson, Holly. “Marketing the Myth: The Racial Commodification and Reclaiming of Aunt Jemima.” (2018)
- Schofield, Kirsten. “Y’All Eat: Foodways, Performative Regional Identity, and the South in the 21st Century” (2012)
- Spivey, Kelly. “Raised in Their Mothers’ Kitchens: The Southern Evolution of Domestic Science.” (2020)
- Terenzio, Olivia. “Feijoada and Hoppin’ John: Foodways, Collective Identity, and Belonging in Brazil and the American South.” (2020)
- Van Riper, Irene. “If There Wasn’t Farming, Somebody Wouldn’t Eat: Small Scale Agriculture, Community Autonomy, And Food Sovereignty In Mississippi.” (2016)
| Abdelnour, Sarah (2008) Barlow, Judith (2006) | University Museums, University of Mississippi |
| Biagoli, Joseph (2002) | Senator Thad Cochran’s office, Jackson, Mississippi |
| Brock, Amelia (2015) Cannon, Julia (1999) | Rowan Oak |
| Coltrain, Mark (2007) Cooley, Stacy (1998) Donohue, Matthew (2005) Dooley, Shawna (1999) Finch, Allison (1998) | Highway 61 Blues radio program |
| Glisson, Richard (2006) | William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation |
| Gordon, Omar (2010) | Sounds of the South |
| Griffis, Eric (2011) | Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage |
| Hastings, Lakenji (2002) Hatch, Evan (2002) | Office of Multicultural Affairs, University of Mississippi |
| Holland, Steve (2006) | Mississippi Legislature |
| Huntoon, Katherine (2007) Jarvis, Caston (2000) | Old Dominion University Gallery |
| Kennell-Foster, Natoria (2011) | After School Education Program, Burns United Methodist Church, Oxford |
| Leonard, Meghan (2011) | Oxford Convention and Visitors Bureau |
| Leventhal, Andrew (2005) McClamroch, Susan (2001) | Office of City Planning, Davidson, North Carolina |
| McClatchy, Ferriday (2010) McCraw, Scott (1996) McIntyre, Patrick (1995) | Oxford Tourism Bureau |
| McNeal, L.V. (2008) | Greene County School System, Greene County, Mississippi |
| Moloney, Michael (1999) | Howorth and Associates Architectural Firm |
| Molpus, Nash | William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation |
| Montgomery, Blount (2010) Moore, Priscilla (1997) | William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation |
| Nicholson, Cale (2009) Nurnberg, Ron (1995) | Community garden, Boys’ and Girls’ Club of Oxford |
| O'Connell, Ford (2006) Palmer, Mitchell (1999) | District Attorney’s Office, Oxford, Mississippi |
| Petrides, Sarah (2001) Reynolds, Lindsey (2015) | Garden and Gun magazine |
| Aaron Rollins (2009) | Boys’ and Girls’ Club of Oxford |
| Sheffield, Sarah (2008) | Mississippi University for Women |
| Traffenstedt, Alison (2006) | Oxford American |
| Tuten, Renna (2006) | Georgia Historial Society, Savannah, Georgia |
| Wallance, Rana (2002) Williams, James (1999) | Southern Cultural Heritage Complex, Vicksburg, Mississippi |
About the M.F.A. in Documentary Expression
A Master of Fine Arts degree in Documentary Expression began in the fall of 2017 at the UM Center for the Study of Southern Culture. The M.F.A. is a two-year (30-hour) graduate program that combines coursework in Southern Studies and interdisciplinary fields with advanced training in photography, film, and audio production.
Coursework in cultural studies paired with advanced training in production will enable students to tell compelling and nuanced stories of a complicated region and world.
Faculty and staff at the Southern Documentary Project and the Southern Foodways Alliance play a major role in instructing and mentoring students in the M.F.A program.
History of the program
The Center for the Study of Southern Culture has a long history of engaging in documentary work, beginning with the Center’s founding in the 1970s by documentarian William Ferris, who explored southern culture through film and photography. Today, many of the Center’s interdisciplinary faculty use documentary methods in their own research and teaching, and undergraduate and graduate students have produced photography and a number of films and oral histories.
M.F.A. in Documentary Expression Graduate Program Coordinator
"Please contact me directly with any questions you might have about the Master of Fine Arts in Documentary Expression program."
Melanie Ho
Assistant Professor of Practice
M.F.A. in Documentary Expression Program Information
PREREQUISITE:
The M.F.A. program requires students to already have an M.A. degree in the humanities, social science, or journalism.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: December 7
The Center for the Study of Southern Culture welcomes student applications with the following materials. We will waive the application fee for all prospective students who apply by the preferred deadline.
- Complete the Graduate School’s Online Application.
- Pay the application fee ($60). We have scholarships for the application fee. Contact the Graduate Coordinator with questions.
- Submit official transcripts.
- International applicants whose first language is not English may be required to submit scores from an acceptable English language proficiency test.
- Upload Supplemental Application materials for the Center to the link provided by the online application.
- Statement of purpose. 500-word statement about why joining the program is the next and best step; how will this degree program help achieve your personal and professional goals; briefly outline or describe a potential project
- Writing sample
- Portfolio of previous documentary work
- Two letters of recommendation. Provide contact information for two recommenders
Students who apply by February 1 will be considered for an assistantship.
Center for the Study of Southern Culture Assistantships are 20 hours/week and pay roughly $14,625 per year (August-May). Students with a graduate assistantship funded in the Center receive a scholarship that covers some or all of the tuition and non-residency fee, if applicable, for regular semesters and subsidized health insurance.
The Graduate School’s financial aid webpage lists a variety of funding possibilities, including summer support and a recruiting fellowship program that promotes academic excellence and access to graduate education to groups who are historically underrepresented.
Christopher Fisher
M.F.A. student
Christopher Fisher is a first-year M.F.A. student who earned a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of North Carolina, a master’s degree in business administration from N.C. State, and a doctorate in business administration from Hampton University.
Lucy Gaines
M.F.A. student
Lucy Gaines returns to her native state after 12 years spent living and working in Tennessee. She earned a B.A. in English Literature and a B.F.A. in Studio Art from Rhodes College, where she began exploring evolving notions of southern identity in fiction. She began her professional career in Nashville as a writer, copywriter, and marketing strategist, and co-founded an all-female creative marketing agency that continues to support small businesses. Now based in Oxford, she narrows her focus back towards the complexities of identity within the ever-changing region of the American South. She also earned her M.A. in Southern Studies in 2023.
Areas of focus: Gender Studies, Globalization and the American South, Southern Literature and Storytelling, Visual Arts
Cassandra Hawkins
M.F.A. student
Cassandra Hawkins is a first-year M.F.A. student who earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Jackson State University, a master’s degree in English from Jackson State University, and a doctorate in Public Policy Administration from Jackson State University.
Logan Kirkland
M.F.A. student
Logan earned a B.A. in journalism from the University of Mississippi.
Greta Koshenina
M.F.A. student
Greta Koshenina is a cyanotypist, documentarian, and poet based in Oxford and Water Valley, Mississippi. She earned her MA in Southern Studies with a focus on Documentary Expression in 2023. Greta is now pursuing her MFA in Southern Studies, focusing on her academic and artistic endeavors. Her work blends archival family photos with current images, creating surreal photographs and collages using the cyanotype process. This technique imparts an antiquated aesthetic, evoking the ephemeral quality of dreams, place, childhood memories, and mythology. Koshenina is interested in the intersection of spirit and the subconscious. Her work represents these themes, as well as womanhood, biophilia, and belonging.