Is the Rural American South Part of Western Civilization?

[Music] thank you [Music] I was fortunate to hold an honorary teaching fellowship at the University of Dundee in Scotland a couple of decades ago while conducting my first lecture in a course called Scotland and the Americas a student asked me if white Americans came from Europe upon hearing the question which frankly surprised me I surveyed the room looking at the expressions of the 100 plus faces staring at me fully expected the smiles of incredula if not cries everywhere but instead I saw looks of curiosity as students sat motionless waiting for my answer couldn't believe it and thinking of a response to students question I remembered a situation that occurred to me or with it involved me back in Oklahoma a few years earlier when a waitress in a cafe asked the folks sitting at my table a question she asked are Young's ready to order I recalled hearing that and I said well I blurted out actually you said Youngs which was a word commonly used in my my part of Southern Appalachia to which she replied yes that's an Oaky word taking that event uh in Oklahoma as an opportunity to use as a teachable moment I returned to the Scottish student who had asked the question and I said well yes white people in America have roots in Europe I then told the class about my experience in Oklahoma and the ladies used to the word Youngs which they call yins sometimes are UNS this had relevance to them because uh it was something that they had heard before in their history uh in their country's history and words also words like hankering were used in Scotland during the time of the Scottish migrations to Ireland and the formation of the Scots Irish or a Protestant Irish Community in the 17th century later migration flows from Northern Ireland or Ulster carried the word across Pennsylvania and the American South and into rural Oklahoma where my waitress defended the word as a quintessentially Oklahoman word in origin both the students and the waitress shared at least one cultural trait but they had no idea that others living across the Atlantic shared it with them clearly the waitress had no idea that the word was commonly used in East Tennessee in Eastern Kentucky let alone West Virginia North Carolina and Pennsylvania she probably knew that it was used in Northern Arkansas in southern Missouri as this situation shows people taking part in rural to rural relocations as was certainly the case among hunters and gatherers and even subsistence farmers who settled the American South did not often have strong communication ties with their old Community or Village let alone country all the world material and immaterial aspects of culture however do survive wide expansions of time and space associated with this type of migration in the formation of civilizations it's so hard for some folks to realize how short life is in a geological and Global scheme of time the term civilization can easily be viewed as a political unit that governs people and lands but that's not necessarily always the case civilization is more about cultural traits shared over a swath of space that includes language and symbolic meanings like in the use of the word Jens architecture art music farming and other things that people do in their day-to-day lives on this episode of the vantage point I want to go back in time to see how civilizations form and answer the question of whether Appalachian and Southern cultures in America are connected to Western civilization I hope you'll join me Scholars have long held that the Agricultural Revolution and the Neolithic Age were born in Mesopotamia that's the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern day Iraq that happened around 8000 BC consistent with the prevailing view planting predictable crops and raising cattle sheep goats and horses gave humans a justification to live in permanent settlements the theory goes on to suggest that agricultural practices were carried by migrants to other lands it's also possible that trade and modest communication lines stretched along migration routes also helped to diffuse agriculture in Europe genetics and Archeology show that later Commerce or newcomers from the near East brought farming knowledge and domesticated plant seeds and animals with them the Neolithic Age replacing older way of life centered around hunting and gathering in the use of organic and rock materials in their construction and and their tools farming enabled people to move further away from the copious shallows of coastal settlements and Placid lakeshores but rivers and streams are sources of fresh water and fish were always attractive places to build a village archaeological evidence shows that older Mesolithic peoples had few conflicts with their new neighbors according to Brian Sykes it's even it's more likely that Mesolithic and Neolithic peoples traded Goods with each other and as shown by genetics they certainly intermarried eventually the distance between Inland farms and Coastal sediments diminished as each population grew toward each other over time powerful Invaders in Britain and Ireland use these Coastal Villages as ports and Residences forming cities like Dublin Waterford Wexford and London while the Vikings built the former the Romans established London on the Thames as a major port of entry for their ships armies and Merchants these Iron Age conquers rather quickly dominated the inhabitants of Southern Britain but in other parts of the world including sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas open spaces allowed hunting and Gathering to continue as a way of life as populations continued to move across uninhabited or sparsely settled spaces as nature provided them with abundant Food Supplies and comparatively moderate weather there was little need for them to change or innovate indeed a similar process of cultural conservation is detectable among Irish and Scottish immigrants arriving in America's Colonial Back Country during the 18th century and they formed most of the culture of Southern Appalachia and the upper South they created a rural to rural migration flow across the upper South so the agrarian lifestyle changed little until migrations ceased to offer opportunities to continue with their way of life this fact partly explains existence of comparatively poor economic conditions found in more remote areas of Southern Appalachia and the Ozarks through Westford expansion the unfolding environment continued to supply them with ample food and water again until they ran out of similar places to hunt fish and cultivate crops there was little reason for them to change their culture interestingly some Scholars have argued that overpopulation during the Mesolithic era encouraged the rise of Agriculture and the birth of cities which would clearly require a sedentary population indeed sedentism predates the practice of intensive agriculture from the near East no doubt localized agricultural revolutions took place in many parts of the world as hunters and gatherers shared information about local flora and fauna some Native American tribes along the Missouri River like the Manda Wichita Pawnee and arikra were already practicing farming when they first met Europeans this was also the case with Mesolithic Villages like Amesbury in England Scott abree in Scotland and hamudu in China semi-permanent settlements established during the Mesolithic age continue to attract others until their carrying capacity was reached early on Villages brimming with people typically send out groups to colonize similar places but when that option was no longer the most efficient means of coping with having too many mallets to feed they began to domesticate local plants and animals those environmental pressures are sometimes exacerbated by oppressive governments who pick groups of their own people against each other I contend that the accumulation of knowledge about the animals and plants on which they depended as well as ideas picked up by trading with other Villages helped Usher in agriculture in a variety of places that were independent of near Eastern Farmers or contact with near Eastern farmers however this does not mean that those farmers were not assimilated into existing populations they certainly were mixed look at my own deep ancestry the labeling of 13 as metal age Invaders could be missed named by Family Tree DNA but that's for another show to discuss if you're interested in a deeper dive into ancient DNA I recommend you checking out survive the Jive on YouTube it's standing as the University of Arkansas sociologist Bill Schwab Milo Professor points out in his book on the sociology of cities the work of archaeologists and anthropologists suggests that agriculture is an undesirable alternative to hunting and Gathering which as a way of life requires less labor than farming and caring for bovines camels horses sheep and so on studies conducted among the few remaining hunting and Gathering societies demonstrate that leisure activities abound there's a surplus of time and personal energy because the people do not have to work very hard so clearly a hunting Gathering way of life is is really preferred no wonder uh Native Americans when they were encountering people like the Shawnee that's like in the Cherokee they were still they weren't even practicing any kind of Metallurgy when they met Europeans they had they were continuing to move from their homelands in Canada and before that all the way from Asia so they were a moving population now this interpretation for the rise of clustered settlements is a mere reflection of my own notion that many pre-industrial migrations which followed a rural to rural pattern were done so for survival reasons now think about that for survival reasons people simply moved where there was less competition for the Flora and Fauna that sustained them if you think about it people today do the same thing jobs and the opportunity to live life is safer and more comfortable surroundings still lie at the heart of those decisions to migrate as folks migrated they took their culture with them just as they did the luggage in their hands whether they realize it or not it's important to see that they created a commonly shared way of life along great expanses of space that is a civilization and it's one that's shared by many people that they have never met you might be thinking van you're delusional I don't speak Greek or Romanian nor do I use the word Youngs well I don't speak Greek or Romanian either however all but a few European and South Asian languages have root words that show that their native speakers descend from a people who spoke a proto-indo-european language the subject of the geography of language is an interesting topic if you'd like to see a video on that subject or two please let me know in the comments section I look forward to reading your comments well folks until I see you again may the good Lord bless and keep you may he make his face shine on you and give you peace bye-bye [Music]

Channel: The Vanntage Point

Views: 13,824

Keywords: culture, society, Appalachia, Ireland, Scotland, England, Western Civilization, cultural diffusion, emigration, immigration, Mesopotamia, China, Hemudu, Greek, Latin, You'nz, Yunz, Yinz, Shawnee, Cherokee, Arikara, Mandan, Wichita, Pawnee, Agricultural Revolution

Id: 77mpGpd9aW4

Length: 12min 0sec (720 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 18 2023