66th Annual Meeting of the Louisiana Folklore Society
The Louisiana Folklore Society’s annual meeting will be on March 15-16, 2024, in Hammond. The theme is Hauntedness – Lore and Lacunae.
Annual Meeting Histories
2023 Meeting Schedule
Louisiana Folklore Society celebrated its 65th annual meeting Friday and Saturday (March 25-25) in New Orleans Louisiana.
Friday
Workshop
2:00 – 5:00 Climate Migration and Welcoming Newcomers, Maida Owens, Louisiana Division of the Arts Folklife Program. Sponsored by the Bayou Culture Collaborative.
Keynote
6:30-7:30 Constance Bailey, “ ‘I Got My Peaches Down in Georgia’ and ‘Man Catching Beignets’: Foodways & Southern Sexuality”
Saturday
Welcome Glen Pitre,
Panel 1 Preserving Material Culture for the Future
9:00-9:15 Sara Fanelli, “PYSANKY: The Art of Ukrainian Easter Eggs”
9:15-9:30 Sabina Miller, “Waxed Flower Craft: Expounding on Past Preservation Practices”
9:30-9:45 John P. Doucet, “The Rig Builders of Coastal Lafourche”
Panel 2 Art, Identity, and New Views of Louisiana Folk Cultures
10:15-10:30 Sarah Oubre, “An Analysis of the Cajun and Creole Subcultures Pertaining to Tourism Marketing, History, and Identity”
10:30-10:45 Gwennie von Einsiedel , “Interrupting The Earth”
10:45-11:00 Julie Babineaux, “The Electric Bass in Southwest Louisiana: Discovering the Bottom End”
Lunch & General Business Meeting
Panel 3 Arts, Continuity, Change, and Resilience Culture, and Humanities in Equity (ACHE) Initiative
1:00 – 1:45 Sami Haggood, Dr. Tammy Greer, and Guha Shankar, “Stories from the Houma Nation and Lao community in Louisiana”
Panel 4 New Histories: Geographical Identity and Myth-Making
2:00-2:15 Robin White, “Sex, Lies, and Legal Scrapes: New Orleans and So-Called Quadroons in Text”
2:15-2:30 Brandon Folse, “Constellations of Care: Experiencing Hurricane Ida from Afar”
2:30-2:45 Nathan Rabalais, The “United Nations” of Elizabeth Brandon
2:45-3:00 Theo Hilton, “Oakville’s Saint Paul Hall: Community Institution for Inclusive Development Theodore Hilton and Bishop Wilfret Johnson
Panel 5 The Bayou Culture Collaborative
3:30 – 4:30 Gary LaFleur, Shana Walton, Jonathan Foret, Lanor Curole, “A Model for Integrating Community Voices into the Human Dimension of Planning”
2022 Meeting 64th Annual Meeting, April 1-2, 2022, Breaux Bridge, LA
Louisiana Folklore Society celebrated its 64th annual meeting Friday and Saturday (April 1-2, 2022) at the Teche Center for the Arts in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. We partner with colleagues at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette to offer a wide variety of presentations on Louisiana folklore, folklife, and traditional arts.
Waterlore: Vernacular Knowledge in a State of Change
Friday, April 1
5:00 – 5:30 Informal Welcome; Registration available
5:30 – 6:20 Screening of the film King Crawfish Trailer here
6:30 – 7:00 Question and Answer Session with Local Crawfishermen, led by folklorist and filmmaker Conni Castille
Saturday, April 2
7:00 – 8:00 Registration
Cane, Crevasse, and Bend: Echoes of Louisiana Waterlore
8:00 – 8:20 Jim Delahoussaye, Atchafalaya Outdoors – 1000 Years Ago in Upper St. Martin Parish
8:20 – 8:40 Neka Mire, Chitimacha River Cane Basketry
8:40 – 9:00 Bruce Craft, What Went Under the Water of Toledo Bend Reservoir: A Digital Remediation of Lost Communities and Rural Louisiana Folklife
9:00 – 9:20 Grant S. McCall, Toxic Sand: Ethnogeological Perspectives on the Fort St. Philip Crevasse, Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana
9:30 – 10:30 Winston Ho, Rhonda Richoux, and Randy Gonzalez, St. Malo and Manila Village: The Filipino Fishermen of Coastal Louisiana
Waterlorals: Sonic, Visual, & Literary Landscapes of Aquatic Louisiana
10:40 – 11:00 Jon Donlon, Our Own Rosy Fingered Dawn: Artists Making Sense of Louisiana’s Watery Wilderness
11:00 – 11:20 Kelby Ouchley, Waterlore, North Louisiana Passages of a Resident Naturalist
11:20 – 11:40 Wade Falcon, The Role of Water in Early Commercially Recorded Cajun Music
11:40 – 12:00 Darrell Bourque, Waterlore in Making Poems: A Reading
12:00 – 12:50 Lunch and Business Meeting
1:00 – 1:50 Jason Theriot, Jacob Gautreaux, Jason Foster, Imagining the Sportsman’s Paradise
Waterlore and Whearabouts:Folklore and Place
2:00 – 2:20 Ben Sandmel, The Delta Queen and the Folklore of the Mississippi River
2:20 – 2:40 John Doucet, The Geographical Lore of Placenames in the Lower Lafourche
2:40 – 3:00 Mike Saunders, Landscapes and Folklore: Ecological Understanding and Cultural Tenacity
3:00 – 3:20 Barry Ancelet, Levées and Rice: Retentions in Waterlore from France to Acadie and from African to the Caribbean to Louisiana
Witches, Ghosts, Words, and Water
3:30 – 3:50 Niki Boudreaux and Gabrielle Chaisson, Saving the Ghosts Within, Nicholls Environmental Communications
3:50 – 4:10 Sarah E Djos-Raph, Out with Lee, In with Mami: Decentering whiteness through public art in New Orleans
4:10 – 4:30 Hali Dardar, Brittany Verdin Jimenez, (Houma Language Project), Steeping K-12 Science Pedagogy In Traditional Ecological Knowledge – the Water Glossary Project
4:30 – 4:50 Jonathan Olivier, Traiteurs in the age of climate change: How hurricanes and Louisiana’s eroding coast are disrupting access to plants used in traditional folk healing practices
4:50 – 5:10 Rachel Doherty, Witches Over Water
| Closing Talk 5:15 – 6:15 Glen Pitre, Mud Ovens & Merciful Mermaids: a half-century of collecting Louisiana Waterlore – Côte Blanche |
Optional Social Events
Saturday, 8-11 p.m. Dancing at La Poussière Cajun Dance Hall.1215 Grand Pointe Avenue, Breaux Bridge. Registration does not cover admission at La Poussière. As this is an optional social event open to the public, admission is charged by the venue upon entry.
Sunday, 9 a.m. Paddle/float down the Bayou Teche. Meet up with fans of folklore and Louisiana waterways for an informal, self-guided eight mile float from Leonville to Arnaudville, with a stop at the Little Big Cup and Bayou Têche Brewery. This is an optional BYOB event (Bring Your Own Boat Event) and is not part of the conference’s official program. Participants are responsible for their own transportation, watercraft, safety equipment, etc.
2020, 2021 Meeting – cancelled due to the COVID pandemic
2019 Meeting
Louisiana Folklore Society
63nd Annual Meeting
March 22-23, 2019
Houma, LA
Louisiana Folklore Society celebrated its 63rd annual meeting Friday and Saturday (March 22-23) in Houma, Louisiana. We are partnered with colleagues at Nicholls State University to offer a wide variety of presentations on Louisiana folklore, folklife, and traditional arts.
The meeting began on Friday evening with bayou culture demonstrations at the Bayou Terrebonne Waterlife Museum, 7910 Park Avenue in Houma. These free activities, part of the Bayou Culture Collaborative initiative begun last year, were made possible through our partnership with the Louisiana Folklife Program (Louisiana Division of the Arts) and the South Louisiana Wetlands Discovery Center. It was free and open to the general public.
Paper sessions took place throughout the day on Saturday, March 23, in the Duhé Center located at 235 Civic Boulevard in Houma, LA. From noon to 1:00 on Saturday, during our lunch break, we held the annual LFS business meeting, including the election of LFS officers. See details below.
Friday, March 22 7:00 Bayou Culture Collaborative presentation Traditions of Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes include music, food, and more will be presented he Bayou Terrebonne Waterlife Museum, 7910 Park Avenue in Houma.
Saturday, March 23 Saturday Sessions will take place in the Duhé Center, located at 235 Civic Boulevard in Houma, LA.
8:00-9:00 Session 1: Louisiana Folklore Figures 8:00-8:20 Nathan Rabalais, “Folklore Figure of French and Creole Louisiana: An American Pantheon?”8:20-8:40 Rachel Doherty, “Transforming the Rougarou? Louisiana’s Werewolf in Popular Culture and Literature”8:40-9:00 Dustin Reuther, “Treasures, Shapeshifters, and Ghosts: Folklore and Place among the Native-Pirates of a Vanishing Parish”
9:00-10:00 Session 2: Music and Mardi Gras 9:00-9:20 Lesli Rambin, “Byway Blues: A Guide to North Louisiana’s Blues History”9:20-9:40 Joyce M. Jackson, “McIlhenny’s Befo’ De War Spirituals: A Disengaged Engagement”9:40-10:00 Maria Zeringue, “When You Hear Those Bells: Establishing a Soundscape of the Gheens Mardi Gras”
10:00-11:00 Session 3: Belief and Healing10:00-10:20 Becca Begnaud, “Hold the Space: Creating Community with Healing Traditions”10:20-10:40 Liz Johnston, “Dream Interpretation and the Inevitability of Death”10:40-11:00 John Doucet, “Historical Hurricanes and the Marian Devotion of Prompt Succor in Louisiana”
11:00-12:00 Session 4 Roundtable: Franco-Louisianais, Cajun 2.0?Lindy Guidry, Christophe Landry, Jonathan Mayers, Nathan Rabalais, Clif St. Laurent, and Robin White
12:00-1:00 Lunch and business meeting (reserved buffet lunch)
1:00-2:00 Session 5: Tunica-Biloxi Culture and History 1:00-2:20 Ryan P. Lopez, “Unknown Mytho Creatures and How to Bring Them to the 21st Century”1:20-2:40 Juston Broussard, “Tunica-Biloxi Traditional Medicines and Other Holistic Healing in Relation to Our Tribe”1:40-2:00 Elizabeth P. Mora, “Strengthening Community Cultural Engagement: Tunica-Biloxi Language and Culture Revitalization”
2:00-3:00 Session 6: History, Place, and Art 2:00-2:20 Jeanne Soileau, “Camp Lore”2:20-2:40 Randy Gonzales, “Telling the Story of Filipinos in Louisiana: Folklore, History, and the Changing Significance of St. Malo”2:40-3:00 Olivia Johnson, “Persistence of the Heart: Folk Art Themes in Fine Art”
3:00-4:30 Session 7: Folklore and Education 3:00-3:20 Billie Babin, “Using the Chauvin Sculpture Garden as a High Impact Experience for Bayou Studies Students 3:20-3:40 Michelle Glaros and Michael Lafferty, “Highland Story Project: Using Folklore to Teach Experiential and Reciprocal Research and Writing”3:40-4:00 Elise Granier, “Sowing Stewardship in Islanders through Explorations of Grand Isle”4:00-4:30 Gary LaFleur, “A Hundred and Seventy Years of Science and Folklore at Lost Island”
2018 Meeting
Louisiana Folklore Society
62nd Annual Meeting
March 9-10, 2018
Houma, LA
The Louisiana Folklore Society invites you to attend its 2018 annual meeting to be held March 9-10, 2018 in Houma, Louisiana, in partnership with Nicholls State University.
The conference begins with a tour of local cultural points of interest and a dinner on Friday afternoon, March 9th.
Paper sessions and presentations will take place the morning of Saturday, March 10. Typically, presentations last 15 minutes. The afternoon of the 10th will be a Summit on a Cultural Action Plan for the Bayou Region, featuring representatives from local community stakeholders and environmental and cultural professionals.
Friday, March 9, 2018
Noon-1:30 Board Meeting
Terrebonne Parish Public Library, Main Branch
151 Library Dr., Houma, LA
$8 box lunch available
3:00-7:30 Tour of the Bayou Region
Bus departs from Courtyard Marriott
142 Library Dr., Houma, LA
$35 per person, includes dinner
Saturday, March 10, 2018
Duhe Center
235 Civic Center Blvd., Houma, LA
8:15-9:00 Folklore in the Public Sphere
Deborah Burst, Sacred Places Trail
Warren Perrin, New Acadia Project
9:15-10:15 Culture, Place and Commodity
Jon Donlon, I’ll Drink to That: Recent Changes in Beverage Foodways – A Focus on Distillation
Carter Pesson, Vernacular Medicine and the Creation of Locality: Understanding Holistic Healing Processes in Creolized Cultures
Scott Banville, Rhetorical Mapping: Oil, Land & People in South Louisiana
10:30-11:15 Stories: Telesfore and Treasure
Randall Dupont, Funny Business: The Story of a Louisiana Raconteur
John Laudun, The Pirate in the Tree: Treasure Legends as Dark History
11:30-12:15 Cajun Music: First Families and French Roots
Wade Falcon, The Life and Musical Career of Joe Falcon, Cleoma Breaux and the Breaux Family
Barry Ancelet, The Songs of Caesar Vincent
12:15-1:30 Lunch
Business Meeting $13 per person
2:00-5:00 Bayou Culture Conversation
free and open to the public
For more information on the Louisiana Folklore Society, join or renew your membership, please visit www.louisianafolklore.org.
2017 Meeting
61st Annual Meeting of the Louisiana Folklore Society
March 10-11, 2017
Sliman Theater, New Iberia and McIlhenny Archives, Avery Island
The Louisiana Folklore Society conference begins with a keynote address on Friday evening, March 10th. This year’s keynote address will be delivered by John Shelton Reed, who will present on the history of Southern barbecue. The keynote is free and open to the public.
Paper sessions will take place throughout the day on Saturday, March 11.
FRIDAY, March 10 (Sliman Theater, 129 E. Main Street, New Iberia, LA 70560)
7:00 John Shelton Reed, keynote address
SATURDAY, March 11 (McIlhenny Archives, Avery Island, LA 70513)
Papers and Presentations
8:30 Registration (can also be done online here)
8:45 Welcome and Announcements
9:00 Session One: Outside/Insider Narratives
“An Enduring Legacy: Louisiana’s Croatian Americans”
27-minute film and discussion with Carolyn Ware
“The Chinese Tomb at Cypress Grove”: Winston Ho
10:15 Coffee Break
10:30 Session Two: Ethnography, Regionalism, and Louisiana Literature
Mary Ann Wilson, Professor of English, UL Lafayette
Shelley Ingram, Assistant Professor of English, UL Lafayette (forum chair)
Lizzy Oxler, PhD candidate, UL Lafayette
Jessica Doble, PhD student, UL Lafayette
12:00 Business Meeting and Lunch
1:30 Session Three Southwest Louisiana Folkways
“Louisiana Children’s Folklore and Play”, Jeanne Soileau
“An Essay on Folkways of Acadiana: Those Lost, and Those That Persevere”, Susan Plauche
2:15 Coffee Break
2:30 Session Four: Folklore in Practice
“Our Stories Told By Us: Public Art, Indigenous Expression & Cultural Documentation”,
Dr. Michelle Glaros & Professor Michael A. Laffey, Centenary College
“Documenting the Folklife of Contemporary Black Creole Culture in New Orleans at
Dillard University”, Mona Lisa Saloy, Ph.D.
3:30 Coffee Break
3:45 Session Five: Body and Soul Folkways
“Commodifying the Gift: Two Ethnic Braiding Salons in Baton Rouge, Louisiana”, Sylviane Greensword
“McIlhenny’s Befo’ De War Spirituals: A Disengaged Engagement”, Joyce Marie Jackson, Ph.D.
“Afro-Creole Movement and Bounce Fitness w/Moe Joe”, Marissa Joseph
Conclusion
**** Saturday Sessions will take place at the McIlhenny Archives on Avery Island
2016 Meeting
60th Annual Meeting of the Louisiana Folklore Society
April 8-9, 2016
McNeese State University, Lake Charles
The Louisiana Folklore Society conference begins with a keynote address on Friday evening, April 8th. This year’s keynote address will be delivered by Henry Glassie. The keynote is free and open to the public.
Paper sessions will take place throughout the day on Saturday, April 9.
FRIDAY (Sliman Theater, 129 E. Main Street, New Iberia, LA 70560)
7:00 John Shelton Reed, keynote address
SATURDAY (Stream Alumni Center) ______________ April 9
8:30 Registration (can also be done online here)
8:45 Welcome and Announcements
9:00 Session One: Outside/Insider Narratives
“An Enduring Legacy: Louisiana’s Croatian Americans”
27-minute film and discussion with Carolyn Ware
“The Chinese Tomb at Cypress Grove”: Winston Ho
10:15 Coffee Break
10:30 Session Two: Ethnography, Regionalism, and Louisiana Literature
Mary Ann Wilson, Professor of English, UL Lafayette
Shelley Ingram, Assistant Professor of English, UL Lafayette (forum chair)
Lizzy Oxler, PhD candidate, UL Lafayette
Jessica Doble, PhD student, UL Lafayette
12:00 Business Meeting and Lunch
1:30 Session Three Southwest Louisiana Folkways
“Louisiana Children’s Folklore and Play”, Jeanne Soileau
“An Essay on Folkways of Acadiana: Those Lost, and Those That Persevere”, Susan Plauche
2:15 Coffee Break
2:30 Session Four: Folklore in Practice
“Our Stories Told By Us: Public Art, Indigenous Expression & Cultural Documentation”,
Dr. Michelle Glaros & Professor Michael A. Laffey, Centenary College
“Documenting the Folklife of Contemporary Black Creole Culture in New Orleans at
Dillard University”, Mona Lisa Saloy, Ph.D.
3:30 Coffee Break
3:45 Session Five: Body and Soul Folkways
“Commodifying the Gift: Two Ethnic Braiding Salons in Baton Rouge, Louisiana”, Sylviane Greensword
“McIlhenny’s Befo’ De War Spirituals: A Disengaged Engagement”, Joyce Marie Jackson, Ph.D.
“Afro-Creole Movement and Bounce Fitness w/Moe Joe”, Marissa Joseph
3:30 Conclusion
**** Saturday Sessions will take place in the Stream Alumni Center, McNeese State University (located at 600 E McNeese St, Lake Charles, LA 70607)
A map of the campus can be found at https://www.mcneese.edu/campusmaps
2015 Meeting
59th Annual Meeting of the Louisiana Folklore Society
March 20-21, 2015
National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, Natchitoches
The Louisiana Folklore Society will hold its 59th annual meeting on Friday, March 20th and Saturday, March 21nd, 2015 at the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training in Natchitoches. The keynote address will occur on Friday evening, March 20th. Admission is free and open to the public.
The Louisiana Folklore Society’s annual meeting continues on Saturday, March 21st from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm on the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training campus. Papers and presentations will address topics on Louisiana folklife. Registration for the meeting is $10 ($5 for students) and begins at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday.
2014 Meeting
58th Annual Meeting of the Louisiana Folklore Society
March 21-22, 2014
Dillard University, New Orleans
The Louisiana Folklore Society will hold its 58th annual meeting on Friday, March 21st and Saturday, March 22nd, 2014 on the Dillard University campus in New Orleans. The keynote address will occur on Friday evening, March 21st. Admission is free and open to the public.
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
“There’s No Place Like Home”
Dr. Don Davis, Louisiana State University
March 21, 7:30 p.m.
Georges Auditorium (PSB 115)
Dillard University, New Orleans
The Louisiana Folklore Society’s annual meeting continues on Saturday, March 22nd from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm on the Dillard campus. Papers and presentations will address topics on Louisiana folklife. Registration for the meeting is $10 ($5 for students) and begins at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday. Pre-registration is available above.
Papers and Presentations, March 22 (PSB 131, Dillard University)
8:00-8:30 Registration and Coffee
8:30-10:15
Denise Frazier (Tulane and SUNO), Bragging and Bravado: An Analysis of African-American Male Performative Style and Self-Affirmation through Cultural Production
Mark F. DeWitt (University of Louisiana at Lafayette), Salvage Folkloristics: Reclaiming Past Song Scholarship for Future Use
Leslie Wade (University of Arkansas), Re-Situating Folklore in Post-Katrina New Orleans: Street Performance in the Neighborhoods of Treme and St. Claude
Craig Colten (Louisiana State University), Mobility as Tradition in Coastal Louisiana
10:15-10:30 break
10:30-12:15
Kelley Fisher (Louisiana State University), Ceazarnie: The Dying Art of Speaking “Carnie”
Maida Owens (Louisiana Division of the Arts), Documenting Home: The Baton Rouge Folklife Survey
Robin Ann Roberts (University of Arkansas), New Orleans Folklore on TV
Cheryl Hogan (Algiers) and Carolyn Ware (Louisiana State University), Unsung Heroes: Plaquemines Parish and the Civil Rights Movement
12:30-1:30 Lunch & Business Meeting
1:45-3:00
Greer Goff Mendy (Takrema Center for Art and Culture), Black Dance in Louisiana–Guardian of a Culture
Claire Manes (Lafayette), Who Tells the Story When the Secret is Public?
Marie-Laure Boudreau (University of Louisiana at Lafayette), Different “Jam” Venues, Contrasting Ways: A Comparison of Cajun Music Jams in and around Lafayette, Louisiana
Rachel Carrico (University of California, Riverside), Do Watcha Wanna, Show Me Your Footwork, Roll with It: Second Line Dancing as a Folk Tradition
3:00-3:15 break
3:15-5:30
Marion P. Martin (Lafayette), The Busy Bees
Jon G. Donlon (Donlon and Donlon Consultants), reading from his “Bayou Country Bloodsport: The Culture of Cockfighting in South Louisiana”
Bart Wild (producer/director), Mojo (executive producer), Documentary Premiere: The Mervine Kahn Legacy (film, a production of the Rayne Historic District)
Shelley Ingram (University of Louisiana at Lafayette), with Jennifer Morrison, Disha Acharya, Laura Lege and Amanda Ewoldt, How To Do Things with Popular Culture: A Forum on Folklore, Media, and Regional History (panel discussion)
2013 Meeting
57th Annual Meeting of the Louisiana Folklore Society
March 15-16, 2013
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge
The Louisiana Folklore Society will hold its 57th annual meeting on Friday, March 15th and Saturday, March 16th, 2013 on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge. The meeting begins with a Friday evening lecture, “From Belizaire to Beasts: Louisiana Folklife and Filmmaking” hosted by LSU’s Department of English, the Program for the Study of Film and Media Arts, the School of the Coast and Environment, and the Louisiana Folklore Society. Award-winning filmmakers Glen Pitre (Belizaire the Cajun, Haunted Waters, Fragile Lands) and Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild, Glory at Sea) will discuss their work. Both Zeitlin’s and Pitre’s films draw inspiration from Louisiana’s rich regional and ethnic folk cultures, depicting communities whose traditional ways of life are threatened by coastal erosion or other forces. Their informal lecture will take place from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. in the Dalton J. Woods Auditorium (Room 1001) in the Energy, Coast, and Environment Building, located on the corner of Nicholson Drive and Nicholson Drive Extension on the LSU campus, next to Campus Federal Credit Union. Admission is free and open to the public.
The Louisiana Folklore Society’s annual meeting continues on Saturday, March 16th from 9:00 to 4:45 in Room E134, Howe-Russell Building, on the LSU campus. Papers address topics such as rural and urban Mardi Gras traditions, Michael Jackson’s influence on children’s folklore, shrimp fleet blessings, cultural adaptation in a Native American bayou community, New Orleans ghost legends, material culture in the Atchafalaya Basin, and representations of Louisiana culture in American television shows and Japanese restaurants. Registration for the meeting is $10 ($5 for students) and begins at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday. Pre-registration is available above.
Louisiana Folklore Society meeting schedule
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Room E134 Howe-Russell Bldg., Louisiana State University
8:30 Registration
8:55 Welcome
Session 1 9:00-10:30
9:00 Jim Delahoussaye, “Material Culture in Bed”
9:20 Audriana Hubbard, “Traditions in Shrimping Communities: Blessing of the Fleet Festivals in Coastal Louisiana”
9:40 Maria Zeringue, “Beg, Borrow, Paint: Communal Cooperation in the Gheens Mardi Gras Parade”
10:00 Giselle Theriault, “The Necessity for Cultural Adaptation Down the Bayou: The Native American Community of Pointe au Chien, Louisiana”
10:30-10:45 BREAK
Session 2 10:45-12:30
10:45 Frank de Caro, “The Lalaurie House: Ghost Legends and Slavery in New Orleans”
11:10 Robin Roberts, “New Orleans Food and Music in Frank’s Place”
11:30 Les Wade, “New Incarnations of Skull and Bones: Women Artists Honor the Gang Tradition”
11:50 Jocelyn Donlon and Jon Donlon, “Seeking the Exotic, Finding the Familiar: Bourbon Street Food in Tokyo”
12:30-1:45 Lunch and business meeting
Session 3 1:45-2:50
1:45 Danielle Klein, “Mahjong Histories: Exploring Cultural Circles of Jewish Women in the Northeast”
2:10 Eric Mayer-Garcia, “Narrating Nation Aloud: Oratory, Embodied Reading Practices, and the Cuban Imaginary in Villaverde and Marino’s El Independente”
2:30 D. Pete Richardson, “Going Home Again: A Cajun’s Reflections on Re-Visiting a Cultural Identity”
2:50 Jeanne Soileau, “Michael Jackson: From the Playground to the Internet”
3:15-3:30 BREAK
Session 4 3:30-4:45
3:30-4:45 Discussion Panel: Folklorists’ Responses to Beasts of the Southern Wild
Barry Ancelet, Ray Brassieur, Charles Richard, and John Sharp
2012 Meeting
56th Annual Louisiana Folklore Society Meeting
March 16th and 17th, 2012
Lake Charles, Louisiana
McNeese State University is hosting the 55th Annual Louisiana Folklore Society Meeting in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The meeting theme is Tradition and Innovation in Louisiana Cultures.
On Thursday, March 15 at 7:00 pm, T-Galop: a Louisiana Horse Story by Conni Castille will premiere at the Central School Arts and Humanities Center, 809 Kirby Street in Lake Charles. No admission fee. Donations accepted to benefit the Louisiana Folklore Society.
On Friday, March 16th at 7:00 p.m., Dr. Nick Spitzer will deliver a keynote address entitled “Tradition and Creativity: From Louisiana Creole Expressive Culture to American Routes” at Stokes Auditorium in Hardtner Hall, 550 Sale Road on the McNeese campus in Lake Charles. Dr. Spitzer is a folklorist, Professor of Anthropology and American Studies at Tulane University, and host of NPR’s American Routes. This event is free and open to the public.
On Saturday, March 17th, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. presentations on the conference theme and on other folklore topics and Louisiana folk traditions will be delivered by scholars, tradition bearers, folk artists, musicians, students, community leaders, community scholars, and others interested in local Louisiana cultures throughout the state and elsewhere at Stream Alumni Center, 600 East McNeese Street. A small registration fee is required. Pre-register to join us for lunch.
We encourage and welcome the general public to these events.
Submissions for presentations are accepted until February 10, 2012. For the Call for Presentations, click here – 2012 LFS Call for Presentations.
Visit us at LFS on Facebook.
Contact Keagan LeJeune at 337-475-5312 or email clejeune@mcneese.edu for more information.
Sponsors include McNeese State University, The McNeese Banners Series, and the Arts and Humanities Council of Southwest Louisiana.
The 2011 Annual Meeting
The 55th meeting was held March 25-26, 2011 in Lafayette, Louisiana, and the conference theme was “Solastalgia: Longing for Home Without Ever Leaving.”
Friday night, the keynote address was “Solastalgia and the Landscape of the Mind: Reuniting Language, Emotions and Place in the Twenty-first Century” by Dr. Glenn Albrecht, Murdock University in Perth, Western Australia.
The 2010 Annual Meeting
The 54th meeting was held April 16-17, 2010 in Wallace, Louisiana, and the conference title was “The Mississippi River Road Corridor: Cuisines, Cultures and Communities from the Black Atlantic to the Plantation Belt.”
Friday night, the keynote address was “Three is a Magic Number: Culinary Cultures in the Making of a Southern Louisiana Cuisine” by cultural historian Dr. Jessica Harris, Endowed Professor and Professor of English at Queens College in New York. She presented the three matrix culinary cultures of southern Louisiana: Indian, African, and European using images and texts of the period. She also placed the Louisiana experience in hemispheric context and make comparisons with other creolized New World culinary cultures.
The cultural tour on Friday afternoon featured Evergreen Plantation, the River Road African American Museum, Historic Donaldsonville, and Whitney Plantation.
The 2009 Annual Meeting
The Louisiana Folklore Society’s 53st annual meeting for 2009 was held at Northwestern State University’s Leesville campus on March 27-28, 2009 with the meeting theme of Louisiana Frontiers, Margins, and Psychological Boundaries. The meeting began on Friday, March 27, at 1 p.m. with a tour of the Neutral Strip region and a reception hosted by Five Parishes West Tourism Bureau. The free bus tour, courtesy of Five Parishes West, included Ft. Polk Archaeology Lab known as the Rock Shop (Native American and Pioneer artifacts), Little Cypress Recreation Complex (a local legend, The Money Tree), and the Talbert-Pierson Cemetery (traditional grave houses and storytller).
The conference continued on Saturday, March 28 with fourteen presentations. The conference theme highlighted the emergence of culture on the frontier, at the margin, at the edge, and on the fringe. Topics included the Neutral Strip, wedding traditions, fiddling, and more. All events were open to the public. This program was funded in part by a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities.
The keynote address on Friday, March 27, 8 pm was Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier by Dr. Alan Jabbour, folklorist, American Folklife Center former director, and fiddler. Jabbour discussed and demonstrated the creative cauldron of Southern fiddling. Local fiddlers joined in on a jam session following the presentation. Jabbour is a noted authority on Appalachian fiddling. He has published widely on subjects related to folklore and folklife, including many publication on American instrumental folk music, and he is a frequent lecturer. His publications include both print publications and a number of docuementary recorded publications.
Click here to see the 2009 Program Schedule.
The 2008 Annual Meeting
The Louisiana Folklore Society’s 52st annual meeting for 2008 was held at University of New Orleans on March April 4-5, 2008 with the meeting theme of Where is Home and What Is It Like? Reconstructing Louisiana Material and Psychological Landscapes. The meeting highlighted assessment of Gulf Coast traditions and the concept of home, be it the Gulf Coast, the hill country, the Delta, or a home away from home. Over twenty presentations and displays consider occupations such as shrimping, barkeeping, and bakeries; ethnic traditions including Vietnamese, Muslim, Latino, Czech, and Celtic; material culture from shotguns to houseboats; and Mardi Gras, All Saints’ Day, and disaster tourism. The meeting began on Friday, April 4, at 2 p.m. with presentations and continued on Saturday, April 5th with a full day of presentations. All events were open to the public. This program was funded in part by a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities.
The keynote address on Friday, April 4, 7 pm was Shotgun Houses: Their Future 35 Years Later by John Michael Vlach, Professor at George Washington University, and noted authority on folk and vernacular architecture. He returned to New Orleans to give an update on the 35th anniversary of his first visit to research the history of the shotgun house. Dr. Vlach has concentrated his scholarship on aspects of the African Diaspora by conducting field research in Africa (Ghana, Nigeria), the Caribbean (Haiti, Jamaica), and across the southern regions of the United States. Author of ten books, his titles include such seminal texts as The Afro-American Tradition in Decorative Arts, Common Places: Readings in Vernacular Architecture (with Dell Upton), By the Work of Their Hands: Studies in Afro-American Folklife, Plain Painters: Making Sense of American Folk Art, Back of the Big House: The Architecture of Plantation Slavery, and Barns (winner of the 2003 Kniffen Prize for Best Book on North American Material Culture). Dr. John Michael Vlach spoke on the history and future of the shotgun house in New Orleans. He is completing the definitive work on the shotgun house and has written widely on folk and vernacular architecture.
Saturday’s program also presented invited presentations from Nicole Eugene and Shari Smothers, two interviewers from The Surviving Katrina and Rita in Houston Project. The goal of this project is to voice, as intimately as possible, the experiences and reflections of those displaced to Houston by the two major hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast. Trained as interviewers in special Library of Congress field schools, Shari Smothers and Nicole Eugene, African American women who were living in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina and then evacuated to Houston, their new home, will make presentations on their experiences as interviewers for the project.
Click here to see the 2008 Program Schedule.
The 2007 Annual Meeting
The Louisiana Folklore Society’s 51st annual meeting for 2007 was held at Louisiana State University on March 9-10, 2007.
The meeting began on Friday, March 9, at 7 p.m. with a keynote address titled “Carnival Traditions and New Orleans” by Roger D. Abrahams and Nick Spitzer. Abrahams and Spitzer are co-authors of the recent book Blues for New Orleans: Mardi Gras and America’s Creole Soul. Roger Abrahams is Hum Rosen Professor of Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania, and Nick Spitzer is producer and host of the public radio series American Routes. Their talk was free and open and the public, and took place in the Grand Salon at the French House on the LSU campus. The lecture and meeting wase supported by a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities and by funds from LSU’s Department of English and Program in Louisiana and Caribbean Studies.
The meeting continued at the French House on Saturday, March 10th with a full day of presentations by folk artists, folklorists, community organizers, and filmmakers. Special this year was a panel of artists documenting their own cultural traditions such as Acadian weaving, old country dances, boat building, and herbal medicine, and a panel discussion on documenting Mardi Gras. Also new was a community panel presentation titled “After the Flood: A New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian Tradition Status Report,” featuring Cherice Harrison-Nelson, Chair (Guardians of the Flame), Littdell S. Batiste (Queen, Creole Wild West), Clarence Dalcour (Big Chief, Creole Osceolas), Eugene Thomas (Big Chief, Whiter Eagles), Markeith Tero (Big Chief, Trouble Nation), Nadia Robinson (Queen, Young Guardians of the Flame), and Kevon Colley, Jr. (Big Chief, Young Guardians of the Flame). The program ended with a reception and screening of the films By Invitation Only and All on a Mardi Gras Day from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday.