William Matthew McCarter
William Matthew McCarter (born 1970 in St. Louis, MO) is a Pushcart nominated American author and scholar who has written extensively about "white trash" culture in fiction and nonfiction. His prolific fiction is influenced by such writers as Dorothy Allison and William Faulkner. McCarter is one of the few scholars who has used a cultural studies approach to understand white trash culture. His novel argument is that poor rural American whites can be considered an ethnic group facing similar prejudices as other minorities. He also explores in his fiction and nonfiction the ways class constructs social identity. Since publishing his first academic works on the subject of white trash culture, the issues of whiteness have become highly debated within sociology, literature, and other humanities in the American academy.
Bio
McCarter grew up in the small rural community of Arcadia Valley in Southeast Missouri. He returned to live in the community with his wife Melissa Miles McCarter years later. [1]McCarter has extensively addressed in his writing the experience of growing up in Southeast Missouri while poor, rural, and white. Class and race figures prominently in his fiction.
He is currently a Professor of English at Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville, IL.[2] McCarter has written extensively on how class and race are factors in the writing classroom, using the work of Paulo Freire and Mike Rose as a foundation.
Scholarship
McCarter received his PhD in English with a focus on American Literature from the University of Texas at Arlington. McCarter has produced extensive scholarship in literature from the American South,[3] economic class [4] and race.[5]
Books
Homo Redneckus: On Being Not Qwhite In America (ISBN 978-0875869216) explores class and race in American rural culture from a historical and literary perspective. He uses his own experiences growing up "white trash" as a foundation for understanding the ways in which poor rural whites are discriminated against and "othered." His work uses the frameworks of cultural studies, literature and critical theory to explore the intersection of race and class in American culture. [6] The scholarly work was nominated for the 2012 Missouri Humanities Council Award. [7]
Cornbread Voodoo (ASIN B00P8E1EGC) is a coming of age novel inspired by McCarter's own childhood in Southeast Missouri. McCarter attempted to break the traditional mold of the "coming of age novel" by creating a character who did not grow up to accept the values of mainstream culture. [8]
Trash Told Tales: An Anthology of White Trash Literature edited with Vicki Sapp (ASIN B00O51BIFY) is an anthology featuring seventeen contributors that explores white trash culture in essays, fiction, poetry and scholarship. Goals of the book include people being able to relate to content and come away with greater sensitivity to the label of "white trash."[9]
Hard Times and Empty Pockets (ISBN 978-1424103713) is a fictional "rock and roll diary" about a young Southeast Missouri band who struggles to rise above local fame. It is inspired by McCarter's experiences playing in local bands in his 20s.
Other Publications
Academic and Critical Publications
American Agrarianism in the 20th Century. the quint. 5.4. 2014.
We Are What We Sell. “The New American Spender.” Praeger. 2014.
Multicultural America. Contributor. Sage Publications. Fall 2013.
“Corporate Personhood and American Democracy: A Natural Remedy.” Infinity Journal of Studies in Social Science (Spring 2013)
“Education and Learned Helplessness.” Teaching American Literature: A Journal of Theory and Practice. (Spring 2013)
“Not Qwhite Name Calling in Appalachia.” St. John’s Humanities Review (Spring 2013)
“The Rhetorical Situation and Common Sense.” Teaching American Literature: A Journal of Theory and Practice. (Spring 2013)
“Sowing the Seeds of Fascism: An Agrarian Response to the New Deal.” Barnopoli (Spring 2013).
“There Is a White Sale at Macy’s: Reflections on Black History Month.” International Journal of Radical Critique (Winter 2012).
“A Review of Li-Young Lee’s Rose.” Ascent Aspirations. (May 2012).
Homo Redneckus: On Being Not Qwhite in America. Algora Publishing. (2012).
“A Review of Southern Frontier Humor: An Anthology” Southern Historian. (2012).
“The Tobacco Spittin’ Moonshine Runnin’ History of Early NASCAR.” American History Through American Sports. ABC-CLIO (2012).
“Perverting Good Sense: Useable Fictions as History.” The Space. Spring 2012.
“Fordism and Literacy: Where the Tin Lizzy Took Us.” FastCaptalism. Issue 8.2. 2012.
“Dana Gioia: A Review.” Teaching American Literature: A Journal of Theory and Practice. Fall 2011.
“Robert Cording’s Heavy Grace.” Wilderness House Literary Review. Fall 2011.
“Introducing the Rednexican.” The Acentos Review. Fall 2011.
“The World of Work and Critical Literacy in the Composition Classroom.”The Atrium: A Journal of Academic Voices. Ivy Tech, Indiana. Fall 2011.
“Regional Othering in Hershell Lewis’ Two Thousand Maniacs!” Steel Toe Review. August 2011.
“America’s Bread and Circuses.” The Taj Mahal Review. Summer 2011.
“I Am Redneck, Hear Me Roar.” The Sociological Imagination. October 2010.
“Bein’ Broke.” Teaching American Literature: A Journal of Theory and Practice. Summer 2007,Volume 1,Issue 3.
“Conversations from Whitetrashistan: Orators in the Forum.” Your Black Eye. Vol 1. Issue 1. 2005.
“Homo Redneckus: White Trash in America.” American Popular Culture. January 2005.
“Steal This Message: A New Politics for the Working Class Left” Nebula. 2004.
Creative Publications
“Possum Holler Morning.” The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature. (Fall 2013).
“America’s Birthday Party.” SNR Review. (Fall 2013).
“Why I Didn’t Do My Homework.” F@#KFiction (Summer 2013).
“Counting Coup and Scoring Tongue.” Ishaan Literary Review. (Spring 2013).
“Her Daddy’s Money.” Fried Chicken and Coffee. (Fall 2012).
“Hee Haw Saturday Night.” Gemini Magazine (May 2012).
“Annie Batiste’s New Orleans Nights.” Octave. Spring 2012.
“The Ride.” The Lowestoft Chronicle. Spring 2012.
“Piankashaw.” Stellaria Literary Journal. Fall 2011.
“The Next First Day of the Rest of My Life.” Midwestern Gothic. Fall 2011.
“The Shot Heard Round The County.” Glasschord Magazine. Fall 2011.
“Gram’s Cornbread Voodoo.” Deep South. Fall 2011.
“On The Road in ‘94” A Few Lines Magazine. Summer 2011.
“The Bottle That Lay Before Me.” Brew City News. 2007.
Hard Times and Empty Pockets. Publish America. 2006.
Cornbread Voodoo. Publish America. 2005.
“The Roller Skating Lobbyists” SNReview. 2004.
“A Sunday Kind of Love” Ascent May 2004.
“Coming Home” EWG Presents. June 2001.
“A Day Without The Sun.” Bell’s Letters Summer 2001.
“Sandlot Superman.” ShortStoryProse.com Summer 2001.
“Thinking About Her.” The Writer’s Hood October 2000.
“A Prelude to Seduction.” Moondance. Fall 2000.
References
- ↑ Gail Pennington May 4, 2014. ""Arcadia, Mo., looks for a boost from TV series set there" St. Louis Post-Dispatch Accessed April 29, 2014".
- ↑ ""Contributor Spotlight: William Matthew McCarter" Accessed April 29, 2014".
- ↑ Winter 2004. ""Homo Redneckus Redefining White Trash in American Culture" Accessed April 24, 2014" (PDF).
- ↑ March 27, 2012. ""The Squidbillies: Continuing a Tradition of Othering Rural Americans" Accessed April 24, 2014".
- ↑ 2012. ""There is a White Sale at Macy's: Reflections on Black History Month" Accessed April 24, 2014".
- ↑ Vicki Sapp March 2013. "Book review: Homo Redneckus: On Being Not Qwhite in America, by William Matthew McCarter Accessed April 29, 2014" (PDF). line feed character in
|title=at position 13 (help) - ↑ August 2012. "Lake Killarney author nominated for MO Humanities Council award Accessed May 13, 2014".
- ↑ "Breaking the Mole of Coming of Age Novels". Amani Jackson. April 23, 2015. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
- ↑ "Book Buzz: Trash Told Tales". NC Writers Network. December 14, 2014. Retrieved May 1, 2015.