About the Book
Who am I? Where did I come from? What is a family? How do families of choice develop?
These questions permeate the pages of Scarecrow wherein a bisexual, nonbinary trans feminine person named Erin seeks to make sense of her life in relation to the places, people, and events she has seen and left behind over time. As the novel begins, Erin tells us that “39 funerals, 35 years, and too many lovers to bother remembering brought me to this point.” From this opening statement, Erin reflects on three-and-a-half decades of experiences growing up working class, white, and queer in the southeastern U.S.; navigating sexual, gender, classed, racial, and religious meanings and relationships; surviving varied types of love, trauma, kindness, and violence; and joining the upper-middle class world of the professoriate. As the novel progresses, she shows us how these experiences intertwine, create opportunities, and leave scars that together fashion who she has become over time and in relation to others.
Scarecrow could be utilized in the teaching of sociology, social psychology, Symbolic Interactionism, narrative, families, gender, sexualities, race, class, geography, biography, Southern Studies, LGBTQIA studies, trauma recovery, courses about aging and the life course, or of course, it could be read entirely for pleasure.
Table of Contents:
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Suggested Class Room or Book Club Use
About the Author
About the Author :
J.E. Sumerau, Ph.D. (2012), is an Associate Professor and the Director of Applied Sociology at the University of Tampa as well as the co-founder and editor of www.writewhereithurts.net. Her writing focuses on sexualities, gender, religion, and health related to societal patterns of violence and inequality. She is also the author of seven previous novels and novellas: Cigarettes & Wine, Essence, Homecoming Queens, That Year, Other People’s Oysters, Palmetto Rose, and Via Chicago. For more information, please visit www.jsumerau.com or follow her on Twitter @jsumerau.
Review :
Advance praise for Scarecrow
“Questions of identity, belonging, family history, and regional imprint permeate the pages of Sumerau's latest novel. Scarecrow brings together the strands of a life, told through the memories that give it meaning and form. Through evocative first person accounts that blur the lines between auto/ethnographic storytelling and narrative fiction, this work encourages us to think sociologically about the innermost workings of our personal lives. It requires us to see the structural and institutionalized threads that weave the world as we know it over decades of experiences. This book would be useful for students in courses related to sociology, American studies, gender studies, and cultural studies; and for anyone interested in exploring the contents of their own life course.” - Austin Johnson, Ph.D., Kenyon College
“In a fictional story about a working-class, white, queer person growing up in the Southern United States that is worthy of reading for pleasure alone, J.E. Sumerau provides us with a gothic novel that many social scientists will find valuable for courses in social psychology, family, gender, sexualities, race, life course, and more. Scarecrow encourages us to think about the complexity of how we become who we are through our interaction with others over time. It is a true sociological novel!” - Kim Davies, Ph.D., Augusta University, author of The Murder Book
“In Scarecrow, Sumerau provides an eye-opening experience for readers and students, especially those unfamiliar with hardship; an experience that affords them a new lens to appreciate the diversity and difference in the world around them. Through the storytelling of the narrator, Erin, an adopted, queer, trans, white, and working-class person in the South, Sumerau adds to the limited fiction work that explores the lives of queer people in the South struggling to make sense of ourselves and our worlds. Scarecrow is a novel that explores many issues of our humanity that some would prefer to remain hidden, but that are vital to understanding society and addressing social inequality.” - Baker A. Rogers, Ph.D., Georgia Southern University, author of Trans Men in the South: Becoming Men
“Rarely do novels provide the clear sociological lens we need to connect an insightful read with deeper critical thinking. In walking through slivers of memories of their relationship, education, and work trajectories, Erin, the narrator of Scarecrow by JE Sumerau, does just that. Taken together, Erin’s life stories present a narrative perfect for use in gender, sexuality, inequalities, family, or social psychology courses, as the ambiguity we feel surrounding our identities, where we came from, and who plays a part in our lives resonates with their experiences. Their perspectives on race and death scattered throughout the text also provide relatable snapshots of how these factors frame the life course of working class, white Southerners.” - Summer Roberts, Ph.D., University of South Carolina Beaufort
“From the start of Scarecrow, Sumerau grabs readers by the hand and leads them on an endless, breathtaking journey of heart, hope, and all the emotions we are capable of manifesting. Whether reading about individuals like Erin for the first time or experiencing a personal sense of deja vu in her narrative, you become deeply invested in Erin’s journey. Sumerau’s writing style cuts deep, making you laugh and cry in the same sentence; leaving readers shocked when they realize how much time has passed while being part of Erin’s life. As with all of Sumerau’s novels, I find myself drawn back in over and over, discovering new joys and cheering alongside Erin, crying and yelling into the pages, and – ultimately – recommending its heartfelt and important messages about life, love, and sense of identity to all readers.” - Lacey J. Ritter, Ph.D., Wingate University, author of Sexual Deviance in Health and Aging
“Sociology courses inevitably lead us, as instructors, to help students connect their personal experiences to the increasing mass of demographic data we are flooded with on a near-constant basis. This connection with personal experiences helps students relate to the experiences of others. Of all the courses I teach, connecting students to the abstract, and the other is often the most difficult part of my Sociology of the South course. This is because the region is so unique in so many ways, yet often described as quintessentially more “American” than the rest of the United States. In a way that neither the sociologist nor the artist in me can fully explain, the literary story combined with the social scientific approach of Scarecrow in, and of the south, enables both students and the casual reader a way to assess and understand their own, and others’ experiences regardless of where they are from, where they are or where they are going.” - Jason Eastman, Ph.D., Coastal Carolina University
“Scarecrow is a fresh, intoxicating read you will not want to put down. Following the story of Erica, a bisexual nonbinary trans feminine person, the reader learns what has made her uniquely complex: her pain and joy. Scarecrow tells an important—and often ignored—story of a queer southerner. Sumerau weaves together social psychological concepts of identity development without losing the fascinating narrative. The novel Scarecrow would be a great addition to an academic course on social psychology, sexualities, the South, and gender studies.” - M.C. Whitlock, Ph.D., University of North Georgia
“Scarecrow is a beautifully written novel that captures the complexities of navigating life’s traumas and what it means to be human. Sumerau weaves together a series of reflections throughout the narrator’s life in a non-linear fashion – much like the stages of grief or processing trauma, love loss, or our own gender and sexual identities are not linear. Scarecrow reminds readers that our bodies, both mentally and physically, are imprinted by these life events and sometimes we end up forming decoy personas to protect ourselves in different spaces. More than ever, individuals need to see themselves reflected in a contemporary novel like this to know they are not alone. Scarecrow would make a great addition to undergraduate courses addressing trauma, body and embodiment, mental health, sexualities, gender identities, families, aging, or human development.” - M.N. Barringer, Ph.D., University of North Florida
