consistent sense of a Southern core, which is referred to as the Deep South
or Southern Trough.
The Southern Trough
[This] cuts across Mississippi and Alabama, embracing parts of
Arkansas, Louisiana, and Georgia at the edges. This trough appears to
most Americans as the least desirable place in the United States to
live ... The whole South appears to be a vast saucer of unpleasant
associations.
(Ayers et al. 1996: 69)The concept of an undesirable South moves in concentric rings outward
from the Southern Trough, as seen in a composite “mental map”
constructed from a study of environmental preferences voiced by students
(Gould and White 1992: 97). In Minnesota, the students found the most
desirable areas of the country to be their own native Minnesota as well as
California, with other favored points in the Colorado High region. In
contrast, they see the Southern Trough as the least desirable place to live
(Figure 11.3).