Introducing an annual collection of essays devoted to South Carolina history and culture.
From the Piedmont to the Lowcountry, South Carolina is the site of countless engaging stories. Carolina Currents seeks to share those stories, broadening our understanding of the state's unique histories and cultures. A venue for public-facing interdisciplinary scholarship, and the only such series dedicated to South Carolina, each volume brings together scholars with diverse disciplinary expertise, whose essays illuminate the complicated interactions between the state's past and present and highlight regions and populations that have received little scholarly attention. Providing context and perspective, the contributors remind readers that although our current challenges may be unique, the struggle to create a more equitable, just, and humane society is not. This inaugural volume includes nine essays addressing a range of subjects including race and genealogical history; culinary history; nineteenth century theater; Charleston's German communities; the civil rights movement; LGBTQ+ identity; and the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on South Carolina, as well as reviews of recent books about the state.
Christopher D. Johnson is professor of English and Trustees' Research Scholar at Francis Marion University, where he has worked since 1996. A specialist in eighteenth-century literature and culture, Professor Johnson has published more than one hundred books, essays, and reviews. His most recent books are Samuel Richardson, Comedic Narrative, and the Culture of Domestic Violence: Abused Pamela, and A Political Biography of Sarah Fielding. He has served as book review editor for XVIII: New Perspectives on the Eighteenth Century and is a past president of the Southeastern Association for Eighteenth Century Studies, the Philological Association of the Carolinas, the Georgia/Carolinas College English Association, and the South Carolina Association of Departments of English.
