South Central Indiana Culture
Copyright 1996-2006 Mark Ellsworth Hickman, PhD
With Indiana University here, Bloomington is a very transient city. In a room full of staff at work,
it is typical that only one other person and I are truly from here.
Yup. I'm a "townee." A "stonie," as shown in the movie,
Breaking Away. Born in Bloomington.
Used to work for a stone company. Still here. Several of my great-grandparents lived in Bloomington.
Heck, some of my great-great-great-great-grandparents were among the first Euro-Americans to arrive
in the Indiana Territory. And, like many descendants of the Kentuckiana pioneers, I proudly have
some Native American ancestry.
I recall when I first heard that my employer's Cultural Diversity Committee was targeting
"aboriginal Hoosiers" as a culture to understand, we had some laughs in Managers Meeting
as another townie and I defended our local roots and speculated about just what all of you immigrants
to Bloomington were implying by this aboriginal label.
As I have thought about this, I have concluded that the Committee has a very sound plan.
Introspectively, I have concluded that we do, indeed, have some local cultural factors that are
important considerations in accurate communication, therapy and cooperative work.
So, here are some thoughts that I had in regard to a south-central Indiana culture, as a result
of this issue being raised in the mental health center where I work.
But first, some disclaimers … (1) Bloomington is a transient city, with people living here from
every country on the planet – because of the university. Aboriginal Hoosiers living within the
Bloomington city limits are quite accustomed to cultural differences and may be less surprised by
different behaviors, even if the aboriginal values remain at the core of our personalities.
(2) Because Bloomington is so transient, don't presume that everyone living here is a dyed-in-the-wool
Hoosier. (3) I have concluded that there are multiple Hoosier Cultures, relating to European migration
paths in Indiana during the early 1800's. (4) Although the current south central Indiana culture is of interest
in this discussion, we should always remember that the true Aboriginal
Hoosiers are the Native Americans who lived here for centuries before Euro-Americans arrived.
The specific Hoosier culture effecting our catchment area is what I will call the "South to South Central"
Hoosier Culture. We are talking about a group of people, mostly from Great Britain and Germany,
but more recently from the Carolinas, who braved the dangerous wilderness in the 1770's to 1790's to
seek new opportunities in Kentucky. There were many casualties among these pioneers, with dangers
ranging from bears to fighting coalitions of British Soldiers and the Native Americans that the British incited
to violence against the settlers. Many of these pioneers were victims of the Kentucky Fort Massacres of the
1780's and some of the survivors of the massacres were marched northward by their captors and held captive
in Detroit, as the British used Native Americans to enact vengeance after the conclusion of the American Revolution.
However, most of these sturdy settlers eventually found their way back to Kentucky and began a steady migration
into southern Indiana, even before the Indiana Territory was formally open for settlement by Euro-Americans.
This group of explorers entered Indiana through Clark County, Jefferson County and
Harrison County (including what is now Floyd County), and fanned out into what is now
Crawford, Washington, Lawrence,
Jackson, Orange, Brown, Monroe, Greene, Owen, and
Morgan Counties. Southern Indiana was a continuous
hilly deciduous forest in those days (the rolling hills preserved because the last glacier stopped just south of
Indianapolis), so establishing farms was grueling work.
Those of us whose families have been in these counties for several generations descend directly from
those stalwart Kentuckiana pioneers. Our ancestors were at the same forts
and stations as Daniel Boone.
Understanding this history makes sense of some cultural values that are prominent among us locals.
These prominent (and I mean prominent to a fault!) values include (1) privacy, (2) egalitarianism, and
(3) work ethic. Growing up here as a descendant of those pioneers, I learned that there are some "not nice"
people in the world. Those "not nice" people were
- those who are nosey
- those who think for whatever reason
that they are better than other people
- and those who don't do their share of the work.
Again, these core values are understandable as you study the history above. Let's look at each of the three.
(1) PRIVACY -- For several generations our ancestors lived in a world where death was always just
around the corner. Every one of the pioneer families experienced untimely deaths in the Indiana wilderness.
But, being a determined people, our ancestors staked their claims to 160 acre parcels of land and depended
immensely on the resources within the immediate family. The hard-earned homes and farms were something
to be cherished and respected.
(You might wonder why Indiana is prominently a Republican state if
egalitarianism is the next value to be discussed. Well, the Democrats may be the best defenders of personal
privacy, but it is the Republicans who champion property privacy. If the Democrats ever expect to prevail
across southern Indiana, they'll have to reign in those zoning boards, city building inspectors
and micro-managing town councils!
In fact, if the Democrats ever add property rights to their focus on civil
rights -- or, if the Republicans ever fully embrace individual civil
rights along with their focus on
property rights -- the party integrating both kinds of citizen rights in their
platforms would probably sweep Indiana. That hasn't happened yet, because
both parties are afraid of upsetting their base.
It's interesting to watch how this privacy in property values played out in
letters to the editor during recent events in Bloomington when tree sitters
attempted to prevent deforestation on a private property. Those who wrote
in support of the protesters tended to be immigrants
(people from the university community, or people from families only here
for a couple of generations). Multi-generational locals (descendants of the Kentuckiana pioneers), often
wrote supporting intervention by law enforcement -- not because they were
anti-forest, but because the protesters were trespassing on private property.
Had the protesters been tree-sitting in a local, state or federal
park, many of the locals would have tended to agree with the protest.
So, the protesters' inattention to the deeply held local cultural values
in deciding where to demonstrate
cost them much of the support they had hoped to generate.)
A culture of respecting home evolved, regarding both one's own home and the homes of others.
An illustration of this can even be seen in close family relationships. My 80-year old father and I are
very close, but he always calls me before he visits, to see if it's a good time. It's not that I wouldn't welcome
him anytime – it's his way of conveying his respect for me, given the local cultural privacy value.
I recall being startled when I got my first apartment away from home and friends from this transient university
community just dropped by my apartment. It doesn't shock me anymore – I just get up at 6:00 in the morning
so I can have time to myself before I deal with people. (Don't call me then – I turn off the phone ringer at that time.) That's my local
culture showing up. But, this first apartment experience was a point when I noticed a cultural difference
between us locals and people who come here from some other places.
Another local example of this privacy value is that most locals'
best friends are not their next-door neighbors.
It's almost an unwritten rule. It would be too hard to maintain privacy if friends lived that close.
Boundaries are important. Next door neighbors are to be greeted briefly and cordially (and certainly helped
in an emergency), but you get in your car to visit friends. It's a special event – not a blurring of who lives in
the home. This, too, is not surprising when you think about the fact that cities and closely-placed housing is
a fairly recent development in the strip of Indiana counties that I listed above. Anthropologically, today's
Hoosier's friends who live a few blocks away are the same distance as the next farm was just a couple of
generations ago.
But, perhaps the biggest culture shock we locals feel regarding this privacy value occurs when we are
dealing with people from the east coast. Don't be surprised if our eyebrows rise in disbelief when you ask
us about our surgery, about our relatives, or about our political beliefs. Personal talk about oneself happens
after a trusting close friendship develops over time. Otherwise, local culture would dictate that, "if I want you
to know, I'll tell you." And, out of loyalty (because once that gradual friendship develops, it's solid), that
applies doubly to your questions about my relatives and friends.
I've been associated with I. U. long enough to not be startled by the very personal communications of my
eastern friends, but I have to admit that I still have occasions when I have a private thought that, "I can't
believe he/she just asked me that!" Perhaps the Allegheny Mountains provided enough communication
barrier until just a few years ago, that a natural selection process led to some genuine cultural differences,
based on the tribulations of our "south to south-central" Hoosier ancestors.
What does this prominent privacy value imply for a health clinic? Conveying respect for privacy is going to be
important in collegial and therapeutic relationships. If appropriate therapeutic boundaries are clarified, the
formal relationship will be a context in which personal details can be discussed as needed.
If you respect the fact that it is your local client's decision what they want to share with you, they are likely
to respond to your respect of their privacy by being more open with you. But, if your relationship with your
client feels too much like a casual friendship, or if you have difficulty respecting the client's personal decisions
about how much to tell you, you're likely to be perceived as presumptuous, intrusive and uncouth when you
start asking personal questions.
(2) EGALITARIANISM – There is no greater indicator in south-central Indiana culture that someone is
unworthy of our time and attention than for that person to act is if he/she is entitled to special privileges
based on wealth, position, heredity, education, class, accomplishment, physical appearance, etc…
I have no idea how many times in my youth I heard local Hoosiers utter the phrase, "We all wipe the
same way when we go to the bathroom." That is a blunt and coarse phrase, and it is intended to be so --
as a means of adequately expressing disdain for anyone filled with self-importance.
This value, too, is understandable from our history. It took intense cooperation for people to survive in the
early Hoosier farm communities. Living in a world of having to clear dense forests in order to farm (with the
other option being starvation), death by wild animals being all too common, massacres that continued long
after the revolutionary war was formally ended – having a person around who thought he or she was above
the grueling tasks was, in fact, a dangerous liability.
This doesn't mean that locals don't respect accomplishment. Accomplishment is great. But, a sense of
entitlement is seen as arrogant and uncivilized.
Accordingly, the most respected people in local societies are those who make great accomplishments,
but minimize them, with their modesty demonstrating that they understand their good fortune doesn't make
them better than anyone else.
I'm not denying that some Hoosiers have embodied the opposite of
egalitarianism, such as Ku Klux Klan activities that existed in
some Indiana communities. But, there has always been a substantial
rejection of those extremes among most locals.
Most Hoosiers would have told you that prejudice is wrong,
even if they were unaware of their own remaining
biases. It's not the style of most "south to south central" Hoosiers
to carry placards or attend protest rallys,
but evidence of the enduring egalitarian value of many locals is
there if you look for it. For example, our own
Blair House (i.e. one of our group homes) has two basements because
it was a stop-over for the underground
railroad in the 1800's.
Implications for a health clinic? If you want a high no-show rate, be sure to be patronizing or condescending.
Locals will have no patience for such behavior. Instead, approach your local clients by respecting the
expertise that they bring to the appointment. You are the expert on therapeutic technique, while your clients
are the experts on what they feel, what they believe, what they want and what they know. They are also the
experts in determining whether or not your treatment is working for them. It behooves you to remember that
your fine techniques won't work unless the local client brings their expertise in these areas to the session.
(3) WORK ETHIC – Arising out of the same survival realities that made self-important people a dangerous
liability in early local communities, lazy people were also a threat to the survival of the group.
Although the dangers from bears and massacres from Native Americans incited by British Soldiers is past,
it is very recent that hard work on the farm was the only way to eat. There remains entrenched in the local
culture a strong work ethic value. The value of one's work is central to the value of the individual – whether
that be work on a job, or work in the home.
I have noted that many of our seriously disabled clients feel shame about accepting "welfare," such as
Medicaid or Social Security. Such clients need reassurance that their eligibility for disability does not
reflect any decisions that they made. And, they need for you to understand how very painful this dilemma
may be for them as they have been reared in a culture where their work was going to define their value.
For some of them, the solution may be in vocational services. For others, the answer may lie in helping them
find a non-vocational way to feel a sense of contributing value to the community.
Regarding the work ethic value among co-workers: If you want to experience alienation from the locals, all you
have to do is spend your time trying to look like your working, instead of working. Or, develop a pattern of
getting your co-workers to do some of your work. These behaviors are intolerable to the descendants of the
Kentuckiana pioneers. Conversely, workers who embrace responsibility for their own jobs, and seek opportunities
to help or support others in their work, are highly-valued colleagues.
There are other elements of local culture that you may have thought
I would address. Why, for example, was religion not on the list of
core values?
Well, in identifying core values of south to south-central Indiana, I was looking for
opinions that are held by almost all of the locals. While religion is important in the life of
many Hoosiers, most Hoosiers also credit themselves with having the brains to ponder
their own beliefs, so there are a variety of religious expressions here. Some locals are
involved in religious communities. Some aren't.
Like many parts of middle America, there are crusaders here ranging from a
militant religious right to militant environmental activists on the left. But, although vocal,
these are small minorities in the Hoosier cultures, and most locals aren't comfortable with
extremists on either end of the political continuum – because they violate two of the core
beliefs described above – privacy ("What I believe is my business") and egalitarianism
("No one has the right to think they know what's best for everyone else").
I'm proud of my south-central Indiana heritage, and the strong-will
of my Kentuckiana pioneer ancestors that helped them to survive.
The values of the survivors – such as privacy, egalitarianism and
work ethic – have been passed down through
the generations, serving different purposes in different eras.
But your respect of these values will facilitate your
relationship to we "aboriginal south to south-central Hoosiers."
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