- Barry Jean Ancelet
Barry Jean Ancelet is a
Cajun folklorist and expert inCajun music andCajun French . He has written several books, and under the pseudonym Jean Arceneaux he has written Cajun Frenchpoetry and lyrics to Cajun French songs.Education and career
Born in
Church Point, Louisiana , he graduated from the nearbyUniversity of Louisiana at Lafayette (then named the University of Southwestern Louisiana) with a bachelor's of art in French in 1974.He received a master's of art in
folklore fromIndiana University in 1977, when he began teaching French at the University of Southwestern Louisiana. Later he also taughtfolklore andFrancophone studies at the university.Ancelet obtained a doctorate in "Études Créoles" (anthropology and linguistics) from the
Université de Provence (Aix-Marseille I) in 1984.He co-founded the Tribute to Cajun Music in 1974, which became the annual
Festivals Acadiens .Ancelet has served as chair of UL-Lafayette's Department of Modern Languages and as the first director of the university's Center for
Acadian and Creole Folklore — regarded as the largest compilation of media resources pertaining to these two south Louisiana ethnic groups.He hosted the "Rendez-vous des Cajuns" live weekly music radio program on
KRVS for more than a decade.Honors and awards
In 2005 Ancelet was named the Willis Granger and Tom Debaillon BORSF Professor of Francophone Studies at UL-Lafayette.
The French government awarded Ancelet the title of "
Chevalier " in l'Ordre des Palmes académiques , an honor reserved for those whose scholarly pursuits are deemed to contribute significantly toFrench culture .In 2006, Ancelet was made a "Chevalier" in l'
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres de la République Francaise, which honors those who have made important contributions to art and literature. On receiving the award, Ancelet noted, "I thought it was a very lovely honor, but I was also sort of intrigued by the irony of being knighted apparently for spending my whole career trying to honor the culture of ordinary folks. . . . I feel it's an honor not only for myself, but the entire Cajun and Creole society that I have always been interested in exploring and celebrating and validating. I feel like I'm going to be wearing this award in the name of an awful lot of people.""UL's Ancelet to Be Inducted into Elite Organization," "Daily Advertiser" (Lafayette, La.), 22 November 2006.]Ancelet is also a member of the l'
Ordre des Francophones d'Amérique , inQuebec ,Canada , a fellow of theAmerican Folklore Society , and a fellow of the Center for Cultural and Eco-Tourism atUL-Lafayette .Publications
* "The Makers of Cajun Music / Musiciens cadiens et créoles" (1984)
* "Cajun Music: Its Origins and Development" (1989)
* "Cajun Country (Folklife in the South Series)" [contributor] (1991)
* "Cajun and Creole Folktales: The French Oral Tradition of South Louisiana" (1994)
* "Capitaine, Voyage Ton Flag: The Traditional Cajun Country Mardi Gras" (1989)
* "Cajun and Creole Music Makers: Musicians Cadians Et Creoles" [contributor] (1999)
* "One Generation at a Time: Biography of a Cajun and Creole Music Festival" [contributor] (2007)
* "Cadiens D'Asteur - Today's Cajuns" [contributor] (1984).As Jean Arceneaux
* "Je suis cadien" (1994)
* "Suite du loup" (1998)Footnotes
External links
* [http://www.brown.edu/Research/Equinoxes/journal/issue2/eqx2_bruce_ang.html Betraying the Betrayed: Towards a Translation of Cajun Poet Jean Arceneaux]
* [http://www.brown.edu/Research/Equinoxes/journal/issue2/eqx2_bruce_tr.html Translations of Jean Arceneaux]
* [http://www.theadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061122/NEWS01/611220304/1002/NEWS01 "UL's Ancelet to Be Inducted into Elite Organization," "Daily Advertiser" (Lafayette, La.), 22 November 2006.]
* [http://ccet.louisiana.edu/ Center for Cultural and Eco-Tourism]
* [http://ccet.louisiana.edu/91.0%20Folklore_Archives/%20Historical_Background.html Historical Background of the Center for Acadian and Creole Folklore]
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