| The lyrics of Drive By Truckers (DBT), a contemporary Southern Rock band, were critiqued to better understand the concepts of current constructions of Southern white masculine identity. The methodologies used as a lens to critique the lyrics were Kenneth Burke's theory of dramatism and Michael Calvin McGee's notion of the ideograph. The critique found that DBT offers a counter-cultural resistance to dominant "Old South" and "New South" ideologies that have traditionally and historically been adhered to the prototypal Southern white <man>. The band's response -- one that challenges typical constructions of a Southern white <man> as racist, individually-motivated, and imbricated in Southern mores (such as states' rights) -- can be considered a part of what the author deems the "Progressive South." Ultimately, the Southern white <man>, as envisioned in the lyrics of the DBT, protects his family, opposes racist political and ideological positions, views oppression based in class struggles instead of ethnic differences, and problematizes dominant Southern culture through a newly-fashioned rebel figure. |
