Southern Spaces has adopted the following policies regarding usage.

South: Southern Spaces prefers writing that treats "the South" as an imagined geography that has had important political and historical consequences but that rarely exhibits cultural homogeneity. Discussions of "the South" on Southern Spaces should attempt to recognize the constructed nature of the South as well as regional and local variations within the South.

Region, regional: Southern Spaces prefers to reserve the terms region and regional for smaller geographical units within the area commonly understood as "the South." The nineteenth-century term for a large geographic division within the United States, "section," may be used to refer to the entire South. The easiest way to avoid "the region" or "regional" to refer to the South as a whole is to simply use "the South" or "southern" whenever possible.

Subregion, sub-region: Southern Spaces does not designate any part of the country as a subregion. Therefore, submissions should refrain from the use of this term.

African American, black: Southern Spaces prefers African American and/or black (lower-case "b") for both the noun and the adjective.

American Indian: Southern Spaces prefers the term American Indian to refer to indigenous people of the United States.

Southern Spaces has also adapted the following policy regarding usage from the style guidelines of American Literature as a benchmark.

U.S., American: Southern Spaces prefers U.S. rather than American for political and historical contexts.

Southern Spaces has adopted the following policies regarding capitalization, as designated in the Chicago Manual of Style.

South, southern, southerner: Southern Spaces capitalizes such references as "South" and "North" but does not capitalize such references as "southern" or "southerner" or "northern" or "northerner."

Civil rights movement: Southern Spaces does not capitalize "civil rights movement."

If you have questions regarding this style guide, please contact us.