What we have done here is research particular issues in local contexts that we thought signified or embodied the various changes the South has been through as a region. We recognize that our research has obvious limitations in terms of scale applicability. What happens in Charlotte or Wilmington, NC cannot necessarily be taken to represent changes in the larger context of the entire region. However, what we are hoping to achieve is a multi-faceted approach to understanding the way that the US South interacts with globalization and how the South as a place is understood through the histories and present workings of religion, trade, architecture and education. By shedding light on these individually, we hope to see the primary effects that each field has on constructing a strictly Southern identity. By examining them holistically, we provide a wider lens through which we can see how various policies, movements and images have been ingrained into the Southern identity and sense of place and examine how they construct a regional culture and society that makes the South unique.
