NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State University will host the 15th Annual Louisiana Studies Conference on Saturday, Sept. 23 in the Creative and Performing Arts Complex. Presentation sessions will begin on Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. and run until 4:45 p.m. Scholars from throughout Louisiana as well as Alabama and Texas will make presentations on aspects of Louisiana archaeology, religion, architecture, material culture, folklore, art, history and literature. Admission to the conference is free and open to the public.
This year’s conference theme is Louisiana Works. Throughout the day over 30 scholars, cultural authorities and creative writers will make presentations. Some of the many topics to be discussed include Louisiana literature, archaeology, industry, journalism, festivals, history, politics, foodways, climate change and the environment, education, class and race relations, folkways, culture and language preservation and the legendary cryptid Bigfoot. Creative writers will also address the conference theme, including poets John P. Doucet and David Middleton.
“Attendees at this year’s conference will get an increased sense of the challenges facing Louisiana today, as well as ways in which Louisianans are rising to meet those challenges with inspired solutions,” said Dr. Shane Rasmussen, director of NSU’s Louisiana Folklife Center and co-chair of the conference. “Louisiana culture reflects its people, who are creative, resilient and caring. The conference is free and open to the public, and we want to invite anyone who is interested in Louisiana culture, traditions, and history to join us and to take part in these conversations!”
The Saturday morning keynote, “Defend Corner Stores: Preserving the Vanishing Culture of Vernacular Hand-Painted Signage in the Commercial Settings of the Post-Katrina Landscape of New Orleans,” will be given by Anthony DelRosario, coordinator for research support services at Tulane University and director of NOLA ’Nacular Studio & Gallery in New Orleans. DelRosario, who goes by the name anthonyturducken in his artistic work, is a cultural documentarian from the South, originally from Memphis and now working in New Orleans,
DelRosario uses photography, printmaking and digital design to capture and interpret the culture hidden in everyday life. DelRosario writes that his presentation will invite attendees to “Ride along on a visual journey to document, preserve and interpret the uniqueness of hand-painted signs on corner stores, neighborhood bars and other places around New Orleans through the lens of a camera and the ink of printmaking.”
DelRosario’s address will be followed by the presentation of the winning essays from the 15th annual NSU Louisiana High School Essay Contest. Writing on the 2023 contest theme “Louisiana Futures,” entrants were invited to address the following prompt: “Imagine yourself in twenty years. What is your occupation? How does your work improve Louisiana?”
Several of the winning essays will be presented at the conference and all will be published in the Louisiana Folklife Journal, the Louisiana Folklife Center’s scholarly journal. This year’s Contest winners are Madison Jackson of West Monroe High School for her first-place winner “Suppressing Systemic Racism One Step at a Time: The Housing Crisis in Louisiana,” Tyron Martin of Hahnville High School in Boutte for his second-place essay “Shining a Light: The Transformative Power of Journalism” and Ryan Sinegal of Delcambre High School for her third-place essay “In 20 years….” Three students received Honorable Mention: Caroline Blanchard of Holy Savior Menard Central High School for her essay “Bridging the Gap for Children in Louisiana,” Bailey Robert of Breaux Bridge High School for her essay “Veterinarian” and Rebecca Theriot of Houma Christian School for her essay “Music Makes Change.”
“I have read the high school essays for several years now and it brings me great pride to know Louisiana high school students are thinking about topics such as financial literacy, the state housing crisis, and systemic racism,” said Jason Church, Chief of Technical Services at the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training and co-chair of the contest. “After reading this year’s essays and feeling the student’s concern for our future and their passion for wanting to be part of the change that makes this state great, I know that we are leaving our state’s future in great hands.”
A complete conference schedule can be found on the Louisiana Folklife Center’s website at https://www.nsula.edu/folklife/louisianastudies/. For more information call the Folklife Center at (318) 357-4332.
The Conference is co-sponsored by the Louisiana Folklife Center, the Department of English, Languages, and Cultural Studies and the Northwestern State University College of Arts and Sciences.
