Testament: Form of Self-Expression of Southern Americans

Last will or testament in America is a unique document. In Southern America, testament is not only a legal document dealing with inheritance, but it has wider significance as a tool to totally express personal will and source of information about particular cultural dynamics in their life. That was delivered by Dra. Tatit Hariyanti, M.Hum., a lecturer of Yogyakarta University of Technology.
 
She said that testament in southern America has significance related with personal interest, family and socio-cultural life for the testament writer. It is a symbolical building which individually is a form of self-expression of the makers about individual freedom, message, expectation, and value that they want to pass on to their family. “For the white community in the South, the significance of testament is always based on sacred principles of personal property and dignity,” she explained in open examination of doctoral program in American Studies Program, Tuesday (27/4) at UGM Graduate School.
 
According to the lady born in Tegal, 30 March 1960, testament in the South is used as preserver of family and religious values. Through conditional giving, they nurture responsibility value to keep the family safe, have offsprings and respect to others. By giving the Holy Book, instruction on Christian funeral rites, and the will to leave the world unburdened by worldly matters, Americans in the South hope to implicitly and explicitly keep and pass on religious values to their offsprings.
 
Further Tatit said that the testament  will avoid government’s intervention relating to intestacy regulations, particularly in the way to divide inheritance and appoint persons in charge. She added that collectively, the testament shows the dynamics of property, gender, and racism values. Change from agricultural culture to industrial one affects their way of thinking on particular property value. Heritage house that formerly had the value to unite the family, status and control, has changed into cultural preservation which has historic and economical values. Besides, slaves who were formerly considered as economical property no longer received wage along with the abolition of slavery.
 
The wife of Prof. Dr. Sujito, S.H. also mentioned in her dissertation entitled “Testament in Culture of Southern White American” that the testament shows gender inequality that happened up to the 20th century. Masculinity and patriarchal power of men was more powerful than the prevailing government’s regulation. Gender equality there fluctuated according to men’s want through property right arrangement.
 
Since the Old South era in 1865, the testament has shown racial views and action. Afro-Americans were considered as uneducated people and only deserved to become slaves, thus no inheritance. However, when slavery was broken and the Afro-Americans became  free, their rejection was more based on hard-lined slavery supporters who considered the black people as immoral and sexually dangerous. “They thought that inheritance occurred because of their using sexual attraction to influence the testament writer. Therefore, the rejection of the white family to the will of testament writer to give inheritance to black people developed in line with the position and image of the black people in the view of the white,” explained the 1,198th doctor of UGM who was granted cum laude distinction in the exam.