Tainted by (White) Trash: Class, Respectability and the Language of Waste in Dorothy Allison and Bonnie Jo Campbell
This article addresses the depiction of class, whiteness, dirt and respectability in the short stories “Meanest Woman Ever Left Tennessee”, by Dorothy Allison, and “Boar Taint”, by Bonnie Jo Campbell, from the perspective of waste studies and whiteness studies. Characters in these stories erect dis...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Universidad de Zaragoza
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://papiro.unizar.es/ojs/index.php/misc/article/view/10514 |
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| author | Sara Villamarin-Freire |
| author_facet | Sara Villamarin-Freire |
| author_sort | Sara Villamarin-Freire |
| collection | DOAJ |
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This article addresses the depiction of class, whiteness, dirt and respectability in the short stories “Meanest Woman Ever Left Tennessee”, by Dorothy Allison, and “Boar Taint”, by Bonnie Jo Campbell, from the perspective of waste studies and whiteness studies. Characters in these stories erect discursive barriers between themselves and others, deemed ‘white trash’ — a pervasive stigmatype connected to the working poor experience in the US. By enforcing hierarchies that conflate cleanliness and respectability, these characters seek to prove their adherence to unmarked forms of whiteness while resisting assimilation into the white trash category. The negotiation of (intra-)class divisions, especially between middle and working classes, exposes the malleability of social hierarchies predicated on relationships of waste. In the end, the protagonists’ rejection of white respectability re-signifies their association with waste and leads them to find pride and community in their working-class occupations, without necessarily embracing a purported white trash identity.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c6a0c8d83092403693ea5d0ee2624149 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1137-6368 2386-4834 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Universidad de Zaragoza |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-c6a0c8d83092403693ea5d0ee26241492025-08-20T02:35:57ZengUniversidad de ZaragozaMiscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies1137-63682386-48342025-06-017110.26754/ojs_misc/mj.202510514Tainted by (White) Trash: Class, Respectability and the Language of Waste in Dorothy Allison and Bonnie Jo CampbellSara Villamarin-Freire0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1287-0754Universidade de Santiago de Compostela This article addresses the depiction of class, whiteness, dirt and respectability in the short stories “Meanest Woman Ever Left Tennessee”, by Dorothy Allison, and “Boar Taint”, by Bonnie Jo Campbell, from the perspective of waste studies and whiteness studies. Characters in these stories erect discursive barriers between themselves and others, deemed ‘white trash’ — a pervasive stigmatype connected to the working poor experience in the US. By enforcing hierarchies that conflate cleanliness and respectability, these characters seek to prove their adherence to unmarked forms of whiteness while resisting assimilation into the white trash category. The negotiation of (intra-)class divisions, especially between middle and working classes, exposes the malleability of social hierarchies predicated on relationships of waste. In the end, the protagonists’ rejection of white respectability re-signifies their association with waste and leads them to find pride and community in their working-class occupations, without necessarily embracing a purported white trash identity. https://papiro.unizar.es/ojs/index.php/misc/article/view/10514Waste studiesWhitenessWorking classWhite trashRespectability |
| spellingShingle | Sara Villamarin-Freire Tainted by (White) Trash: Class, Respectability and the Language of Waste in Dorothy Allison and Bonnie Jo Campbell Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies Waste studies Whiteness Working class White trash Respectability |
| title | Tainted by (White) Trash: Class, Respectability and the Language of Waste in Dorothy Allison and Bonnie Jo Campbell |
| title_full | Tainted by (White) Trash: Class, Respectability and the Language of Waste in Dorothy Allison and Bonnie Jo Campbell |
| title_fullStr | Tainted by (White) Trash: Class, Respectability and the Language of Waste in Dorothy Allison and Bonnie Jo Campbell |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tainted by (White) Trash: Class, Respectability and the Language of Waste in Dorothy Allison and Bonnie Jo Campbell |
| title_short | Tainted by (White) Trash: Class, Respectability and the Language of Waste in Dorothy Allison and Bonnie Jo Campbell |
| title_sort | tainted by white trash class respectability and the language of waste in dorothy allison and bonnie jo campbell |
| topic | Waste studies Whiteness Working class White trash Respectability |
| url | https://papiro.unizar.es/ojs/index.php/misc/article/view/10514 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT saravillamarinfreire taintedbywhitetrashclassrespectabilityandthelanguageofwasteindorothyallisonandbonniejocampbell |