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Thesis
Parallel Identities: Southern Appalachia and the Southern Concepts of Gender During the American Civil War
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Degree Name
MA (Master of Arts)
Program
History
Date of Award
8-2014
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
Steven E. Nash
Committee Members
Tom D. Lee, Victoria N. Meyer
Abstract
Southern concepts of gender influenced Appalachian society throughout the antebellum and Civil War eras. Concepts of masculinity and femininity, including “the cult of true womanhood” and Southern manhood, shifted and broaden throughout the South due to wartime stressors. Appalachians adjusted these gender roles in order to survive chaos and turmoil in their region. The brutal political and community divisions, high rates of desertion, guerilla warfare, and threats of invasion in the mountain regions intensified these concepts of gender. Southern constructions of gender molded the Appalachian experience of war but the high level of conflict strengthened these new roles as a means of survival.
Subject Categories
Document Type
Thesis - unrestricted
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.
Citation Information
Maegan K. Harrell. "Parallel Identities: Southern Appalachia and the Southern Concepts of Gender During the American Civil War" (2014) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/maegan-beale/2/