Resumen de Reckoning with the “Redneck”: Duck Dynasty and the boundaries of morally appropriate whiteness
In this essay, I use viewer response to the “redneck” reality program Duck Dynasty as a way to illustrate the intersecting identities of place, class, and race. Rather than labeling the Robertson family in the series as “working-class” or “white,” participants favor the “redneck” moniker, which serves as a euphemistic way to speak about rural, white working-class identity without explicitly naming it as such. Although “redneck” has historically been used as a pejorative term, participants suggest that “redneck” culture functions as one way to articulate the morally appropriate working-class whiteness of family values, faith, and hard work. Understanding the “redneck” in this way works to further uphold the dominance of whiteness.
