Growing up in Tuolumne County, California (which would be included in the new state of Jefferson), I certainly did not feel like a coastal elite. As an adolescent, I did many things often associated with rural and country life. Yet, I did not consider myself a redneck or a hillbilly.
Then, one day in a community college class taught by two exceptionally (for the area and the institution) liberal professors, someone commented that only rednecks watch NASCAR. This triggered somewhat of an existential crisis. At that time, I could tell you the names of almost all current NASCAR drivers. My family had taken a vacation to tour the Daytona International Speedway home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR. Since I did not really feel like I was a coastal elite, maybe I was a redneck.
In California, could I really even be a redneck? It is one thing to be called something derogatorily. It is something else entirely to start to identify as something and then be told you are illegitimate by other members of that group. This question becomes even more important if terms such as “redneck” and “hillbilly” are being reappropriated.
According to Nora Mabie’s article “Rural Americans and the Language Too Many People Use to Talk About Them,” stereotypes for “hillbilly” include uneducated, poor, armed with rifles, abusive of alcohol, and violent. However, the term is also associated with tradition, independence and strong home and family values. “Redneck” has been used pejoratively to characterize any working-class white racist from any rural region. On the other hand, it can also be used as a badge of political pride, and a symbol of class patriotism and authenticity. I saw much of the above in my hometown, but these terms are stereotypically linked geographically to areas like the South and Appalachia.
In her blog piece, Rurality Then and Now, Here and There (Part II), Professor Pruitt compares the rural California counties Amador, Calaveras and El Dorado against her assumptions about rurality. Calaveras is a neighboring county of Tuolumne, and the two have many things in common. In considering whether these places are “rural,” Professor Pruitt suggests it matters that there are states more widely perceived as rural than California. And, while people from these California counties probably think of themselves as rural, people from states more widely accepted as rural would not see the Californians that way.
According to Mabie, in today’s political climate the urban-rural divide is more pronounced than in the past. She argues,
our geography enforces an “us vs. them” dichotomy that, for many on both sides, makes political, economic and cultural differences seem stark and simple” but “the rural-urban ‘divide’ is complex and not as stark as we may have thought.
California’s rural counties may be an example of this. From the outside they do not seem to fit into either side of the dichotomy. Those who are the “real” rural see Californian rural as “them” but the rural Californians do not feel a part of California’s “us.” Rural Californians are proud of their rifles, their traditions, their strong home values and their patriotism. They also struggle with drugs and alcohol, violence, and poverty.
In a Vice article titled, What it Means to Be a ‘Redneck’ or a ‘Hillbilly,' the author claims when “redneck” and “hillbilly” are
In a Vice article titled, What it Means to Be a ‘Redneck’ or a ‘Hillbilly,' the author claims when “redneck” and “hillbilly” are
used by people living in cities, the two terms... generally point to a sackful of red-state stereotypes: Confederate flags, guns, racism, and a kind of prideful ignorance and a not so subtle reference to another contentious term – "white trash." But within the communities where self-identified rednecks and hillbillies actually live, these words have layers of meaning.
The author interviewed central Appalachians about what these words meant to them. One interviewee said,
There’s something very middle class about people considering themselves a redneck. I went to law school with plenty of guys who considered themselves rednecks... Redneck is a state of action. You do things to be a redneck. Shoot guns, drink domestic beer, support right-wing politics. White trash, hick, etc. are states of being. You are these things because of what you are. Class, worldview, etc. Hillbilly is a state of mind, though. It’s metaphysical and ephemeral and contradictory.
Another man commented,
A true redneck don’t give a shit about nothing but putting food on the table, working, and getting drunk. A man ain’t got a job and can’t provide for himself can go to hell as far as I care... You got these yuppie rednecks who got these big fancy trucks and ain’t never hit a mudhole in their lives, ain’t never worked a day in their lives, don’t even know how to shoot a gun.Maybe the answer to, “if you are a redneck in California, are you redneck enough?” really depends on who is looking at you, and how they would classify themselves. Residents of rural, working class California counties, who may self-identify as redneck, are left in a difficult position. It is challenging to feel like an outsider in your coastal elite state and to not feel accepted by those who see themselves as the “real” rednecks and you as the yuppie middle class redneck imposter from the Golden State.
The view point of people in Appalachia seems to vary widely as to the definition of the term redneck. The first person interviewed associated the term with actions such as shooting guns, drink domestic beer, and supporting right-wing politics. The second person interviewed seemed to associate the term with struggle and hardship. Perhaps similar differences exist among urban residents as to who can be considered a "yuppie". One person may associate the term with actions such as supporting socially conscious business and voting for liberal political candidates, while another may associate the term with living in a upper class neighborhood and working in a professional position. It seems to me that there is no established definition of group associated terms such as redneck or yuppie. And some people may even fall into both categories. Would a gun shooting, domestic beer drinking, right-wing political supporter who happens to be a billionaire be considered a yuppie or a redneck?
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ReplyDeleteReading your post my mind kept coming back to country music. In class I mentioned that many rappers have appropriated the use of the “n word” and almost wear it as a badge of honor. 2pac even included the word in an album title. Country musicians have similarly appropriated pejorative terms such as redneck, hillbilly, hick and even white trash.
ReplyDeleteFour-time CMA entertainer of the year Kenny Chesney has a song titled “From Hillbilly Heaven, to Honky Tonk Hell” where he glorifies a man’s simple life as a hillbilly in the country, which is later spoiled by temptation located in the nearest town. Fifteen-time CMA vocal duo of the year Brooks and Dunn even released an entire album called “Hillbilly Deluxe.” A Southern rapper even boasted about being low-class “before it was cool to be white trash.”
I think the appropriation of redneck culture by yuppies is similar to the fugazi gangster culture triggered by rap music and witnessed in suburban environments. Neither group actually aspires to be rednecks or gangsters. Rather each group relates to certain aspects of the music and latches onto them. For example, suburban white kids like when rappers talk about smoking weed and getting chicks. They might incorporate some urban lingo in their dictionary, take style cues from rappers and even adopt more liberal political stances. However, they are not fully committed. They are not usually selling crack on the avenue or toting a .45 in their waistband when they hit the club.
I think the same applies for yuppie rednecks. The yuppies come for the lyrics about the sun, girls, drinking beers and patriotism. They might start wearing camo and trucker hats. They might buy a truck. The boldest might even purchase a Confederate flag. However, they still show up to work every morning clean cut and clean shaved. They can’t build a fire or shoot a deer. They work in an office and would never dream of working with their hands. Most importantly they would never move out of the city.
I’m not sure if this means that yuppies are not rednecks and merely “imposters.” Maybe they are just a different kind of redneck.
Nice post! It's interesting that someone would consider "redneck" to be "a state of action," and "white trash, hick, etc." to be states of being. Perhaps these labels are amorphous enough to function somewhat like the once derogatory term "queer." Today, for example, "queer" denotes non-hetero- and non-homonormative sexual and gender identities. But the term is also used to describe an action—it's used as a verb—as in to queer a space, or conduct a queer textual analysis. I wonder if the same could be said of the terms redneck, white trash, hick, etc.?
ReplyDeletePrior to taking this course I didn't know the history and meanings of the terms redneck, white trash, and hick. I figured they referred to a group of people that existed more in the national imagination and in movies, than in reality. But I did—and do—consider "white trash" to be particularly harsh because it seemed to be used to disparage very low income whites. I gather from your post, however, that some of these terms describe identities that some happily ascribe to themselves, particularly in the case of "redneck." In this way, these terms remind me of the numerous terms available to describe Latinx folks.
Latinx folks have an abundance of terms to choose from to describe themselves. As someone who was born in Mexico, my choices include, Mexican, Latino/a/x, Hispanic, Mexican-American, or Chicano/a/x. Although the terms may overlap and may all apply to a given person, they each have very different connotations, primarily because some are more politicized than others. Some also connote class or cultural privilege. For example, there's a presumption that persons who outright identify as Latinx are educated on the political reasons for the change from Latino/a to Latinx. Additionally, forging a coherent identity from these various terms can be complicated. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLLCHbCgJbM] And it seems that some white people may see benefits to referring to themselves by a certain term depending on the context, which also probably makes it difficult to forge a coherent identity.
The dream of the State of Jefferson seems to embody perfectly the tension you describe. If rural Californians aren't part of the "us" of liberal California nor that of "really rural" Middle America, it is not surprising that the best option in the eyes of many is to make their own "us." I wonder, were the State of Jefferson to exist as a political body, would be accepted by the "us" of rural Middle America? Would being divorced from the label "California" be enough for rural Middle America to see the cultural similarities of rural Californians? And if so, how long would that take? Or are there aspects of "Californian" culture that exist and would persist in the State of Jefferson to the point that those communities would still remain othered?
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