Article Title
Camoface: Performances of Ruralism in Duck Dynasty
Abstract
In recent years, portrayals of the supposedly “real” exploits of rural persons in the United States have proliferated across the mediasphere. This paper examines the first season of the television show Duck Dynasty as an exemplar of this genre of entertainment. Using the concepts of ruralism, rurality, and rusticity the particular performances of rural life evidenced within the show are traced out. Ultimately, I argue that these performances of the rural constitute a strategic rhetoric that seeks to control what counts as authentic rurality. I term these sorts of strategic performances of rural authenticity as “camoface.”
This paper has been withdrawn.