Does the South still matter in national politics?

With a national election looming, two political scientists will come to South Carolina to debate that topic in September with Carolina history professor Walter Edgar moderating the event. S.C. ETV will produce the event as a one-hour show, which will be broadcast
in South Carolina and, possibly, across the nation before the election.

The September debate is only the first of a series of eight similar events
called Take On the South planned for the next four years. Each debate will
focus on a particular aspect of the South or Southern culture and feature
scholars from across the country. Each will be produced by S.C. ETV for
later broadcast; the project is supported by a grant from the Watson Brown
Foundation to Carolina’s Institute for Southern Studies.

“There is a hunger, a desire to know something of the history and culture
of the South both among native Southerners and those who have moved here
from other places,” said Mark Smith, a Carolina history professor who is
co-directing the project with Edgar.