While Louisiana Studies can range from prehistorical archeology to contemporary popular culture, two specific tranches have especially preoccupied scholars: 1) the study of colonial Louisiana; and 2) Cajun and Creole studies. Moreover, European historians have largely dominated the study of the French and Spanish colonial era of Louisiana, which has evoked, for some, a form of colonial nostalgia (Vidal 2019; Havard and Vidal 2019; Hall 1992). The non-English literature of this era has garnered less attention. Later on, in the 1980s and 90s, the subfield of Cajun and Creole Studies emerged in the wake of the ethnic and cultural revival of the late 1960s and has been influential in establishing (and arguably exaggerating) the importance of the Acadian presence in Louisiana as a key distinguishing factor of Louisiana’s cultural identity (Ancelet et al. 1991; Brasseaux 1992).

In literature, popular English-language writers such as Anne Rice and James Lee Burke have gained national notoriety by utilizing the décor of Creole or Cajun dialect and culture and incorporating elements of a Southern Gothic esthetic. However, the French-language writings of mostly Cajun poets invariably treat questions of language, identity, and the stakes of Americanization.

Furthermore, portraying Louisiana as either a colonial remnant or an object of folklore, or “folklure” (Denby 1971) occludes the complexities and intersections of Louisiana’s diverse communities and how the state has adapted to regional and national trends. And while critics have rightfully demystified common stereotypes (e.g. jazz, “spice,” or the belle créole trope), we argue that a more substantial recentering of Louisiana is necessary. In short, we argue that the field of Louisiana Studies has yet to be framed as a coherent interdisciplinary academic field.

We propose four carefully selected papers, strictly limited to 12 minutes each, that speak to each other in meaningful ways.

Adele Okoli’s paper, “Creolizing La Marseillaise,” reframes our understanding of Creoles during the American Civil War by shedding new light on music and print culture during the period. While they may have defined freedom quite differently, Franco-Creole soldiers and songwriters on both sides of the conflict situated Louisiana’s struggle for liberty within a romantic trajectory of French republican ideals. The popularity of multiple versions of the Marseillaise in urban public parades and on the battlefield signaled the self-perception of Franco-Louisiana as a nation apart, harkening back to French culture as their chief source of identity and inspiration.

Katie Nunnery’s “Decadent Double Dealer: New Orleans’ Role in the History of Transatlantic Literary Decadence,” questions previous perceptions of the New Orleans 1920s literary magazine The Double Dealer as the first foray into Modernism for Louisiana’s literary scene. What has been ignored by scholars is the strong influence of the 1890s Decadent movement and its flurry of literary magazines in the themes, authors published (Lafcadio Hearn, Arthur Symons, Ernest Dowson), and even the art style employed. These are particularly timely questions in light of Robert Azzarello’s 2019 book 300 Years of Decadence which traces ideas of “decadence” across the New Orleans’ history.

In “Defining Civic Trauma in Late-20^th Century New Orleans,” Leslie M. Harris argues that Civil Rights Era New Orleans was "not as violent as..." other cities and rural areas in the South has silenced the narratives of violence that do exist. She discusses New Orleans in the 1960s and particularly the1970s as a period in which civic trauma came through violence, and was deepened through the migration of those who fled the city’s desegregation: middle-class and working-class whites. Even as Black people gained entry into the middle class and into city leadership, whites—some no longer resident in the city--continued to control Black entry into economic and political power of all kinds.

John Doucet, with “Cultural Protection and Restoration During Coastal Protection and Restoration,” explores how bayou communities of Indigenous and Wetlands Cajuns develop grass-roots museums that tell survival stories of their hurricane-torn communities only to see their efforts ironically destroyed by those same cyclonic forces—most recently by Ida in 2021. A lens that recognizes the inextricable link between history and culture and the environment and positions ecology and ecocriticism as a sine qua non of a reframed field of Louisiana Studies. Rather than being relegated to climate science, this ecocritical approach has already been impactful in museology, oral history, literature, and folklore by the Bayou Culture Collaborative working groups supported by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities.

This panel brings together scholars from diverse backgrounds (including three women, an African-American, Cajun, and one presenter from outside of the university setting).