Social Anthropological Study of Caste and Class in the Deep South

A landmark work of anthropology, "Deep South" is a classic examination of the lived realities of American racism, now with a new foreword from Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson. First published in 1941, this seminal work documents in startling and nuanced detail the everyday realities of American racism. Living undercover in Depression-era Mississippi, groundbreaking Black scholar Allison Davis and his White co-authors, Burleigh and Mary Gardner, delivered an unprecedented examination of how race shaped nearly every aspect of twentieth-century life in the United States.

Their analysis notably revealed the importance of caste and class to Black and White worldviews, and they anatomized the many ways those views are constructed, solidified, and reinforced. This reissue of the 1965 abridged edition, with a new foreword from Pulitzer Prize winner Isabel Wilkerson, who acknowledges the book's profound importance to her own work, proves that "Deep South" remains as relevant as ever, a crucial work on the concept of caste and how it continues to inform the myriad varieties of American inequality.

Wilkerson's foreword underscores the enduring significance of this landmark work, which has only grown more vital in the decades since its initial publication. In her words, "Deep South" is a "pivotal document" in the ongoing struggle to understand and dismantle the systems of oppression that have long plagued American society. Through their meticulous research and unflinching analysis, Davis, Burleigh, and Mary Gardner laid bare the complex web of social, economic, and political forces that sustain the caste system in the United States.

The book's relevance is undeniable, as the issues it grapples with – the persistent legacy of slavery, the stratification of society along racial lines, the myriad manifestations of structural racism – continue to shape the lived experiences of millions of Americans. Wilkerson's foreword situates "Deep South" within the broader context of the current racial reckoning, highlighting its essential role in informing and inspiring the ongoing struggle for racial justice.

Through their groundbreaking fieldwork and meticulous documentation, the authors of "Deep South" created a work of enduring importance, one that has only grown more vital with the passage of time. This reissue, with Wilkerson's insightful foreword, ensures that this landmark study will continue to be read, studied, and grappled with by scholars, activists, and all those committed to understanding and dismantling the entrenched systems of racial inequality in America.

product information: