Vernacular Regions vs. Political Boundaries

I think that the contrasts between politically determined areas, such as state or country boundaries, and vernacular regions are very interesting. Even previous to chapter two, we’ve discussed in class how people with similarities group themselves together. Because we know this, it makes a lot of sense that vernacular regions exist. If people have similarities which cause them to group themselves together, it is logical that they would consider themselves a group or a region, even if the group was not formed entirely on purpose. Vernacular regions also explain why so much variety can exist within a predetermined boundary or area. For example, I would imagine that those living in southern Illinois can probably relate more to the people in nearby Kentucky our southern Missouri than they can to people living in Chicago. After all, during the Civil War era, a significant number of southern Illinois residents supported the Confederate Army even though the state of Illinois was a Union state. People in southern Illinois do not have a Chicago accent; more likely they have a bit of a southern dialect. Illinois residents near in mid- or northern-Illinois would likely describe Illinois to be in the mid-west, but I would suspect that residents of southern Illinois, although perhaps stating that Illinois is a mid-western state because that is the way that it is labeled on regional maps, could identify more accurately with the southern region of the USA. In fact, a map in chapter two actually divides up the country into vernacular region that are not affected by state borders, and the southern-most tip of Illinois is included as part of the south.