Preliminary Program
The Louisiana Folklore Society’s 66th annual meeting will be on March 15-16, 2024, in Hammond.
The theme is Hauntedness – Lore and Lacunae. Our fascination with lore often begins with hauntedness. Missing data and mysterious origins germinate an idea. Obsessive thoughts grow into a research question. For Louisiana French and Creole speakers, the notion of being honte, (ashamed) speaks to silences about identity and language. Traditions are, in a sense, revenants – they come back. Returning to a festival, a shrine, a cemetery, or a family gathering is the other side of hauntedness. This is an invitation to confront the ghosts of the past and to weave new narratives embracing both the shadows and the light. Memories of natural disasters haunt generations, with floods, hurricanes, saltwater intrusions, and petro-chemical disasters all lending opportunities for exploration at our next conference.
Anomalies, lacunae, unanswered questions, disappearing places, silence, possession, and unearthing knowledge all have the potential to haunt us. Certain topics can only be exorcized by sharing knowledge. Whether you are haunted by the specter of our disappearing coastline, the violence of our colonial past, a mystery in a family tree, or by a predecessor’s unfinished research project, we welcome you to our meeting.
Friday: Our Lady of Tickfaw Shrine, 50275 Antioch Road in Tickfaw, LA.
Saturday: Southeastern Louisiana University Alumni Welcome Center, 500 W. University Avenue, Hammond, LA 70401
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FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2024 at Our Lady of Tickfaw Shrine, 50275 Antioch Road, Tickfaw, LA.
4:00 pm Our Lady of Tickfaw Shrine tour and presentation
5:00 pm Presentation during meal by Katheryn Laborde: Our Lady of Golden Meadow
5:30 pm Annual Business meeting
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SATURDAY, MARCH 16, 2024 at Southeastern Louisiana University Alumni Welcome Center
8:00 Registration open
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8:10 – 8:45 Deviance, Difference, and Despotism
Kellen Gilbert: Women Who Eat Dirt: Cultural and Environmental Implications of Geophagy
Barret Ristroph: A Constant Lens of Colonization
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8:50 – 9:45 – Geophysical Hauntings
Brian Marks: The BP Oil Spill, a Dispersed Legacy
Warren Perrin: Diamond Crystal Salt Mine Disaster
John Doucet: Louisiana French Folk Rock: Loanwords in the Geophysical World
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9:50 – 10:45 – Kindred Spirits: Two Perspectives on Discussing Culture and Climate Change
Teresa Parker, Keagan Lejeune and Lanor Curole
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10:45 – 11:40 – Mirrors and Monsters
Tarik Richardson: Folklore as a Mirror of Culture: Confronting Folk Epistemologies in the Study of African American History and Culture
Ray Jackson: The Loup Garou as an Environmental Steward
Barry Ancelet: Loup Garou / Rougarou: Legend, Literary Metaphor and Folk Hero
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11:45 – 12:40 – Haunted Family Trees
Sabina Miller: The Witch Riding Your Back – aka Night Terrors!
Carmin Nezat: Did We Fuel a Haunting?
Jordan LaHaye Fontenot: Home of the Happy: A Murder on the Cajun Prairie
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12:45 – 1:30 LUNCH
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1:40 – 2:15 – Legends and Lore Marker Program announcement and Mitoloji Latannyèr Exhibit
John “Pudd” Sharp, Jonathan Mayers
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2:20 – 3:15 -Specters of Justice and Possibilities
Dustin Reuther: Folklore and Environmental Justice in Coastal Louisiana
Erin Tooher, Michael Rodgers, Mark Rees: Dilemmas and Possibilities: Capturing Cultures, Voices, and Senses of Place through Collaborative Grant Research
Kathe Managan: Confronting the specter of climate change: Reflexive commentary and initial observations on the importance of place and tradition in Cameron Parish
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3:15 – 3:50 – Haunted Identities, Marginal Landscapes
Wendy Gaudin: My Grandfather Was a Union Soldier: Reconciling Family Lore with the Historical Record
Charlotte Jones: Cattle Brands in the Canebrake: Identities of Resistance and Recognition
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3:55 – 4:50 – Folklore in New Media and Practices
Lauren Hémard: Child-Led Exploration and Documentation of Local Family Cultures through “Family Folklife” Programming
Nathan Rabalais: Viral hauntings: Cajun Internet Meme Culture as Postmodern Folklore
Jennifer Morrison: “This Is What I Want Y’all to Do for Me”: John Weatherall and the Reconstruction of Acadiana’s Rural Mardi Gras
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5:00 – 5:35 – Coastal Erosion and a Haunted Future
Brandon Folse: 2074: How Bayou Natives Imagine the Future of their Communities in 50 years
Shana Walton: Meet the New Gulf Coast Cultural Research Repository
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