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Upcoming Events

UPCOMING EVENTS 2024

JANUARY

  • Lecture - Some Design Elements for Language Vitality, a discussion with Hali DardarThursday, January 18th, 6-8 p.m., The Roy House. The 60-minute discussion, “Some Design Elements for Language Vitality,” will focus on common elements which communities encounter within language revitalization and reclamation work. The discussion will equip speakers, learners, language program designers, administrators, and supportive communities to name and discuss challenges within the field. The talk will serve as a starting point, and provide further readings and case studies around the elements of collaboration, education formats, community trauma, acquisition domains, and intangible cultural heritage. Dardar is a member of the United Houma Nation and the Project Manager for Language Vitality Initiatives and the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
  • In Your Own Backyard Workshop - Elements of South Louisiana Mardi Gras Songs with Barry Ancelet. Thursday, Janauary 25th, 6-8 p.m., The Roy House. This workshop focuses on the meanings behind several traditional Courir de Mardi Gras songs. Anyone who has run Mardi Gras knows that you cannot chase a chicken, let alone join a Mardi Gras run unless you first learn the community Mardi Gras song. Come learn from Dr. Ancelet and many of South Louisiana's most traditional Mardi Gras runners about the origins and importance of the French chants we associate with rural Carnival celebrations. You'll leave this workshop with several songs in your heart and a renewed thirst for old fashioned revelry. 

 

2023

DECEMBER

  • UL Press Bookshop sale.
  • Online sales: December 4 - 8, free shippingDecember 8 - 15, free shipping + 25% off everything.
  • In our Bookshop: Faculty, staff, and students' sale in the UL Press Bookshop – 40% ; December 4th - 14th
  • In our Bookshop: 30% off sale for everyone ; December 4th - 14th.

NOVEMBER

  • Lecture - Atakapa-Ishak Language and Culture: An Introduction by Jeffrey U. Darensbourg. Thursday, November 9th, 6-8 p.m., The Roy House. Center for Louisiana Studies Fellow Dr. Darensbourg will give a talk on a group whose history predates European contact in the area that is now Lafayette. This is a free lecture, and is open to the public. Join us in learning about the Ishak people, or share your Atakapa-Ishak heritage to honor this culture which lives on in Southwest Louisiana.
  • In Your Own Backyard Workshop - The Sportsman's Paradise in a Changing Environment. Thursday, November 16th, 6-8 p.m., The Roy House. Historian Jacob Gautreaux moderates discussions with tradition bearers and renowned sportsmen Dale Bordelon and Keith Dupuy. This event is part of the Culture and Climate Conversations Series, in partnership with the Bayou Culture Collaborative. Each hailing from Avoyelles Parish, Bordelon and Dupuy will address protecting wildlife and preserving duck hunting and boating traditions in increasingly stressed environments. An evening of pirogue restoration and duck call demonstrations, hot jambalaya, and a history of Louisiana sportsmanship is the perfect beginning to duck season. The event is free and open to the public.
  • Acadie / Acadiana Student Exchange Presentation - « Collection Acadie-Acadiana » by Esteban Quispe. Tuesday, November 28th, 4 - 5 p.m., The Roy House. Thanks to the generosity of a Louisiana donor family, the Acadie / Acadiana Student Exchange Program created a transnational, student-led project between the Center for Louisiana Studies and the Centre d'études acadiennes at the University of Moncton in New Brunswick. Graduate student in French and Francophone Studies, Esteban Quispe completed a project exhibiting a repertoire of French songs from oral tradition which exist simultaneously in both Acadie (the Maritimes of Canada) and French Louisiana. The project showcases categorized and documented materials by which researchers may investigate possible connections between the French song repertoires of both these regions. Esteban will also perform selected songs from the collection. 

 

OCTOBER

  • Screening of Les Blank's film Hot Pepper (1973) - Wednesday October 11th, 6-8 p.m., Clifton Chenier Center, 220 W. Willow Street. In honor of Clifton Chenier's spotlight at this year's Festivals Acadiens et Créoles, the Center for Louisiana Studies presents a screening of Les Blank's 1973 documentary film about the King of Zydeco. Join us for this free cinematic look at Clifton's early career. There will be a discussion following the film. Those who remember Clifton and his performances are especially welcome to contribute.
  • Book Launch - Josette & Friends Cook a Gumbo by Elista Istre. Thursday, October 12th, 6-8 p.m. the Roy House. Join us on National Gumbo Day to celebrate the release of UL Press's newest children's book by Creole cultural expert Elista Istre. This event is the perfect way for kids to kick off celebrating Acadian and Creole heritage before Festivals Acadiens et Créoles. Children are welcome to bring their favorite grown-ups for an interactive reading, coloring and activities, and of course a bowl of gumbo.
  • Atelier Stage - Festivals Acadiens et Créoles - October 14th and 15th, Girard Park. The Center for Louisiana Studies and Lafayette Parish Bicentennial present musical performances and panel discussions on Lafayette's musical history, the stories behind our city's famous places and their future, and an intimate look at Acadian and Creole musicians' processes and greatest inspirations.
  • Louisiana Cane Syrup Heritage Expo - In Your Own Backyard on the road! - October 28th, downtown Franklin, Louisiana. Vintage farm gear, music, syrup cooked on site, demonstrations and panel discussions on all things related to Cane Syrup heritage.

SEPTEMBER 

  • In Your Own Backyard Workshop Series - Cajun Harmonica with Jerry Devillier and Chad Huval. September 14th, 6 - 8 p.m., the Roy House. This Fall, we are reviving the In Your Own Backyard free monthly workshop series. This workshop will be our first in a decade, with the original series lasting from 2009-2013 and consisting of 60 installments. Don’t miss this evening of music, culture, and storytelling.
  • Presentation - Greg Guirard: Capturing Life inside the Atchafalaya Basin. September 18th, 3 p.m., the Roy House. Emily LeBlanc, the 2022-2023 recipient of the Martin Family Undergraduate Research Assistantship presents an ARCGIS story map that displays the various creative mediums Greg Guirard used throughout his life as an Atchafalaya Basin resident. Greg Guirard’s interesting perspective touches on the amazing sense of community and culture in the Basin. Guirard’s work continues to educate readers and spread awareness for the preservation of the Atchafalaya Basin.
  • Book Launch - Settling St. Malo by Randy Gonzales. September 21st, 6 - 8 p.m., the Roy House. Settling St. Malo brings readers back to a time when Louisiana had the largest Filipino population in the United States — when Filipinos fished out of St. Malo, dried shrimp on Barataria Bay, and designed Mardi Gras floats in New Orleans. A native New Orleanian of Filipino descent, Randy Gonzales is a poet, writer, and community historian who researches and shares the stories of Filipino Louisiana.   
  • Book Talk / Conférence - L'accoucheuse de Scott's Bay, traduction de Sonya Malaborza. September 28th, 4 p.m., the Roy House. (The talk will be in French.) Sonya Malaborza porte plusieurs chapeaux sur la scène littéraire au Canada Atlantique. À titre de traductrice, on lui doit notamment L’accoucheuse de Scots Bay d’Ami McKay (Prise de parole, 2020), finaliste aux Prix littéraires du gouverneur général. Son premier livre, Prendre racine, vient tout juste de paraître chez Prise de parole. Il y a de ces livres qui permettent à leur traducteur de cibler un public précis en travaillant. The Birth House d’Ami McKay est de ceux-là. Sonya Malaborza, qui a signé la version française du roman en s’adressant avant tout à un lectorat acadien, nous montrera un peu comment The Birth House est devenu L’accoucheuse de Scots Bay et nous expliquera pourquoi elle a tenu à procéder comme elle l’a fait.        
  • Errances Nord / Sud, Rendez-vous littéraire - September 29th, 1:30 p.m. the Roy House. Venez nombreux pour écouter un magnifique ensemble de poètes louisianais et canadiens qui partageront des textes autour du thèmes "Errances Nord/Sud". Tout ça dans les nouveaux locaux sublimes du Centre d'études louisianaises.Ce sera aussi l’occasion de fêter la sortie du dernier numéro de Feux Follets : Été. Avec Sonya Malaborza de Moncton (qui sera de passage à Lafayette), Jean Arceneaux, Gaëtan Brulotte, Darrell Bourque, Ashlee Michot, Deborah Clifton, Brenda Mounier, Rachel Doherty, Jonathan Mayers, Mélissa Bonin, Esteban Quispe, Colby LeJeune, David Cheramie et Nathan Rabalais.