Power of the Southern melting pot: analysis of Joel Chandler Harris’s Uncle Remus as Southern folklore and cultural appropriation

In this paper, I address the controversy of origins surrounding Joel Chandler Harris’s Uncle Remus collections. Based on James O. Young’s definitions of appropriation, I establish Harris’s work as evidence of cultural content appropriation of European, African, and Native American folklore. Harris specifically appropriates European and African folklore to further his own Post-Civil War psyche, attempting to preserve the ideal Southern past. Such preservation efforts are literally significant for they provide examples of appropriation that are done not out of an attempt to oppress European and African culture, but to integrate it into the developing Southern culture. The visible Native American appropriation, however, stands as evidence to the use of appropriation as a method of taking power and oppressing a minority group.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Author dc:creator

• Johnson, Robyn M.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Smith, Joyce
• Shaheen, Aaron; Kizza, Immaculate
• College of Arts and Sciences

• Harris, Joel Chandler, 1848-1908 -- Criticism and interpretation

Licence

• https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en

Language dc:language

English, eng

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholar.utc.edu/theses/503

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholar.utc.edu:theses-1661