Posted: The Campaign Sign Landscape, Race, and Political Participation in Mississippi

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

7-23-2009

Department

Geography and Geology

School

Biological, Environmental, and Earth Sciences

Abstract

Cultural landscapes offer potential insights into cultural processes. As a cultural/political landscape element, the domestic campaign sign is linked to a variety of socio-cultural and political processes. Examination of the geographical distribution of 2004 presidential election campaign signs posted throughout the town of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, illustrates that race is a factor in understanding who chooses to post signs. Historically, limitations on political participation in the South would have included use of landscape for communication, imposing a sort of metacommunicative landscape hegemony. Further, patterns of sign postings and voter turnout indicate that both activities are forms of political participation that are embraced differently by different social groups.

Publication Title

Journal of Cultural Geography

Volume

26

Issue

2

First Page

223

Last Page

241

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