The AfroTraditonalist has been interested in starting a regular fireside chat with interesting people from the various political & cultural “spheres” I interact with on the internet.
Sam Burnham is a blogger and media personality from North Georgia with roots across the South, who’s purpose is “the celebration and preservation of Southern history, culture, and agrarian ideals.” He will be the first to pull up the chesterfield and have a chat.
He can be followed on Twitter @C_SamBurnham and be found writing at his website
http://www.allthebiscuitsingeorgia.com/.
AfroTrad: Hello, Sam I happy to have you as my first fireside chat. I have known you on Twitter for quite a while and have always enjoyed your tweets, disposition, and point of view.
Sam Burnham: Hello and thank you for graciously inviting me to be a part of this chat. I’m honored to be a part of it.
AfroTrad: You are a Southerner but not only in a geographical sense but it is a part of the foundation of your identity. I too consider myself a Southerner, but culturally as I’ve spent much of my life as part of the Black Southern diaspora.
How does your identity as a southerner inform how you approach the world?
Richard Weaver, a great Southerner & traditionalist, said:
“The man of culture finds the whole past relevant; the bourgeois and the barbarian find relevant only what has some pressing connection with their appetite.”
The chivalric, anti-industrial mores of the South’s past seem to be on the run in our current age. Places like Atlanta and Charlotte have been colonized by the most vulgar consumerist types, killing most of the character that one would associate with the old South, not only in the superficial sense but even spiritually. How can we use the South’s history and traditional culture; its folklore; literature; folkways; music and cuisine, the things that make the South a full culture, to fight this tide? Is it possible in your opinion?
But looking at what a Southerner is, we think about the Old South. So much of the “New South” movement is just a version of the ideology of the North using the word “y’all” and sipping sweet tea during breaks at a factory. It’s industrialized, it’s modernized, and its sanitized. The real South is none of that. Southerners care about the land they’re emotionally tied to, the traditions that live there, and they know there are skeletons in our closet. We know our history has ugly parts. But we also know that, without the whole picture, there’s just not a South, not as we know it.
If you were directing someone, completely ignorant of the South and its culture and history, to learn about the South what would you suggest to them? Where would you suggest they visit? What literature and poetry would you tell them contains the soul of the South?
Then places like Savannah, Chattanooga, and Charleston, all have their own history to offer. But I’d say if you want to understand the South, you have to risk getting a little of it on you. Get out of the cities. Go find the real South.
Look for forts, battlefields, agritourism, local restaurants, local musical performances, etc.
You mentioned food. Which is always one of my favorite topics. As one of Geechee heritage red rice, perlo, and other Gullah dishes are staple foods in my house. I also really enjoy the stereotypical, but sublime, foods associated with the South like fried chicken, grits, collard greens, biscuits etc. Of course, BBQ is good. I really enjoy whole hog BBQ, I am a fan of South Carolina style most.What are your favorite dishes? Was your region known for a particular style of cuisine or dish?
How do you think the relationship between the two group will go in the future? Do you think the influence of liberal northerners and racists has severed any for unity that could be had beyond repair?
As far as home, I grew up in the Appalachian foothills of North Georgia. While my history is in the mountains, I feel at home anywhere in the Peach State or the rural areas of Florida. I attended college just over the line in Alabama. My blog, and all the media that accompanies it, is based mainly on the experiences in these states but also on my travels throughout the South.
Food is one of those most Southern of things. I think I was in college before I realized that there was something known as “black food”. So many of the items labeled “soul food” were commonplace on the tables of my mother and grandmothers. Any kind of beans or peas with a thick slice of cornbread. I’ve yet to meet a cut of pork that I did not like. Yes, the stereotypical BBQ. I don’t have a preference between Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, if it’s a pig and it’s been properly smoked, I’m going to eat it. I love fried chicken and any kind of greens. Obviously, I love biscuits and sausage gravy. And I think cheese grits are best served with fried fish and hush puppies. I remember several occasions thinking “That’s not ‘black food’ that’s my food!”
AF: Thank you for participating Mr. Burnham, I appreciate you.