WUNC has launched a new podcast highlighting current events with a southern focus. It’s called “The Broadside” and is hosted by Anisa Khalifa.
The first two episodes are available now. One explains how “y’all” is spreading way beyond the south, and the second explores how a basement in the mountains of North Carolina might hold the keys to the climate crisis.
Khalifa talked with WUNC host Eric Hodge recently to preview the podcast and the topics it is exploring.
This is an excerpt of an edited transcript of that conversation. You can hear the full interview by clicking the LISTEN button at the top of this post.
Before we get to y’all, can you explain the origin of The Broadsides’ name?
“You might have heard the name broadsheet. They were theses single pages, originated around the time that the printing press was first invented, and they would cover a single topic. It could be a political topic, could be a song, news, and they were topics that would be relevant to people’s daily lives — something that they were talking about, something that was important to them. And so, we just thought, bring that proto newspaper to the 21st century.”
I’ve been living in North Carolina for 23 years. I’m still not sure I’ve earned the right to use y’all, but it’s on the move without my help. What role does hip-hop music and culture play in that process?
“I have also been in North Carolina for 25 years and I have a similar relationship to y’all — didn’t start using it until very recently. But we talked to Dr. Antonia Randolph, who’s a sociologist at UNC-Chapel Hill, and she specializes in the topic of hip-hop.”
“So, because hip-hop is ambient, you might have heard y’all and heard your young people using it. And I think it’s unavoidable to pick up y’all as one of the words that’s you might use in everyday life.”
Dr. Antonia Randolph, UNC-Chapel Hill
Is it also…
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