Living Outside History - Professor Noel Polk (28/4/10)

Professor Noel Polk delivered an account of his personal history. He discussed growing up in Picayune, a secluded town in Mississippi. Although this town lies in the Southern part of the United States of America, Polk never identified himself as Southern. Picayune is a small town on the outskirts of the woods. Not far up the highway were larger cities that had a deeply Southern heritage, such as New Orleans and Hattiesburg. However, Picayune not only offered a geographical distance from these locations of historically southern identification, but an ideological distance. For Noel Polk, the South was somewhere else. The events he learnt about in school history were fantastical stories that happened far from where he lived.

The main issue of Polk’s presentation was identity. He was framing his work by defining what it means to be a Southerner, and defying this by saying he was not Southern, despite his geographic location. Polk deals with issues of ethnography in this argument. In many cases, individuals can define themselves based on their origins. This will include geographical origins. He states that he can ‘perform’ Southern is asked, giving examples of stereotypical Southern traits and commonly Southern stories. Through his autobiographical work, Polk is able to challenge the assumptions of shared history and identity present in ethnographic theory.

Noel Polk’s studies have led him to an interest in Faulkner. Although he maintains many links with Faulkner’s texts, Polk also offers differing opinions. He brings up the viewpoint of Faulkner on deforestation. Faulkner sees deforestation as a demon destroyer and wasteful enterprise. Polk sees this differently. He notes that deforestation is a form of creation. Polk accounts for this viewpoint by discussing his upbringing. He mentions living close to the forest. When an area was logged, it would mean that the wood would be used to create. While Polk would not classify himself in some ways to his geographical identity, he would in other aspects of his life and views.

Polk has found that his peculiar sense of identification has given him an ability to see things for the first time. By doing this, he problematises identity. He depicts identity as crafting viewpoints and preconceiving opinions before they can be individually formed. The main example he uses throughout his discussion is the Southerner. Polk describes the pride of a Southerner and the defined history shared by this group. From this, Southern values are taught and learnt, disabling the capacity to view things with fresh eyes. Polk maintains this as being a major problem with identity and ethnography. Although it could apply to positive issues, it mainly raises negative problems such as racism.

Identity is a problem for Polk. Through his autobiographical account for his lack of Southern identification, moving away from Picayune and learning through a different perspective and his relationship with his father during his upbringing, he is able to deal with this issue in a personal and interesting way.