Nathan Rabalais

Nathan Rabalais headshot
  • Faculty
  • Associate Professor
  • Graduate Coordinator
  • Editor in Chief
Dr. Nathan Rabalais is a Graduate Coordinator and an Associate Professor of Francophone Studies.

Biography

Nathan Rabalais is the Joseph P. Montiel Endowed Professor of Francophone Studies. He specializes in the folklore, literature, and popular culture of francophone North America, particularly in Louisiana and Acadian communities of maritime Canada. He currently serves as a Fellow of the Center for Louisiana Studies and Editor in Chief of the scholarly journal, Études Francophones.

His most recent articles and feature-length documentary Finding Cajun (2019) focus on the intersection of language and identity in Louisiana and the Acadian diaspora. With the support of an NEH fellowship, he recently published Folklore Figures of French and Creole Louisiana (2021) with LSU Press. Nathan is also active in creative writing; his poetry can be in a number of literary journals as well as in his book of poetry, Le Hantage: un ouvrage de souvenance (2018) with Éditions Tintamarre. His current projects include a chapter on meme culture and Acadian/Cajun identity in the edited volume Repenser lСAPPAcadie dans le monde; a book project on the folklore of Avoyelles Parish; and an ecocritical approach to the intersection of identity and food in Louisiana.

Education

B.A. in Music (Theory/Comp. and Guitar performance), 2007
СAPP

M.A. in French, 2011
СAPP

Ph.D. in French Studies, 2015
Tulane СAPP

Doctorat en lettres et langues, 2015
Université de Poitiers

Student Research/Collaboration

Dr. Rabalais's research interests include:

  • French and Creole in Louisiana
  • Literature and culture of Acadia
  • North American French
  • Folklore
  • Translation
  • Creative writing

Opportunities for Student Research/Collaboration:

Multiple opportunities are available through publications with graduate students through co-writing articles and regular opportunities for collaboration on our two journals:

  • Études Francophones (a scholarly journal)
  • Feux Follets (our creative writing journal in French)

Publications

Books 

  • Folklore Figures of French and Creole Louisiana 2021  Louisiana State СAPP Press, Single-author monograph Baton Rouge: Louisiana State СAPP Press, 2021
  • Le Hantage: un ouvrage de souvenance 2018 Creative work, original French-language poetry Shreveport: Éditions Tintamarre, 2018 

Peer-Reviewed Publications

  • СAPPElizabeth Brandon (1913-2002): de Volkovysk à VermilionСAPP, for Rabaska journal, vol. 21, 2023: 177-185.
  • СAPPFranco-Louisianais: Quels contours?,СAPP co-written with Sara Le Menestrel, in Études francophones, 35 (2023 for fall 2022): vii-xxii. 
  • СAPPFranco-louisianais ? Identifications plurielles et déclinaisons contemporaines,СAPP special issue of Études Francophones, guest edited with Sara Le Menestrel, issue 35, fall 2022 (published in February 2023 by UL Press).
  • Three articles in the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities encyclopedia 64 Parishes: СAPPLouisiana Folktales,СAPP СAPPCajun Folklore,СAPP and СAPPCreole Folklore.СAPP Published on February 9, 2023.
  • СAPPIntroductionСAPP co-written with Emma Harlet  Mercier, Alfred. LСAPPHabitation Saint-Ybars. Shreveport: Éditions Tintamarre, 2022. (pp. 7-28).
  • СAPPLСAPPidentité dans la littérature franco-louisianaise : une troisième ère ?СAPP, Jonathan Livernois (ed.), Écrire pour gouverner, écrire pour contester, Québec, Presses Université Laval, coll.  « CEFAN », 2021: 7-28. 
  • СAPPFrancophone LouisianaСAPPs Cultural Flows/Les flux culturels de la Louisiane francophoneСAPP, co-written with Clint Bruce and Robin WhiteСAPP. Introduction to special issue. Quebec Studies, 70 (2020): 3-6.
  • СAPPPortrait: Barry Ancelet, un ambassadeur de lСAPPAcadie tropicaleСAPP Rabaska, 18 (2020) : 231-244.
  • СAPPLa Fête-Dieu du Vermilion en LouisianeСAPP Rabaska, 17 (2019): 189СAPP196.
  • СAPPReprésentations de Jean-le-Sot dans le contexte francophoneСAPP Port Acadie, 31 (2018): 7-22.
  • СAPPFebruary is no bastard child: Jules ChoppinСAPPs Entretien sur les 12 mois de lСAPPannéeСAPP Louisiana Folklife Journal, vol. 39 (2015 for 2018): 23-32.
  • СAPPRoquelaure: A New Perspective on Louisiana FolkloreСAPPs Master ThiefСAPP Louisiana Folklore Miscellany 27 (2017): 29-52.
  • СAPPAcadie(s) divergente(s): langue, identité et poésie en Louisiane et au Canada maritimeСAPP Sites, Contemporary French and Francophone Studies, 21:4 (2017): 431-439.
  • СAPPLe Grand réveil acadien: une nouvelle mise en relief de la présence acadienne en LouisianeСAPP Rabaska, 14 (2016): 7-22.
  • СAPPMasques of Conquest: A Comparative Analysis of LescarbotСAPPs СAPPLe Théâtre de Neptune en la Nouvelle FranceСAPP and ChapmanСAPPs СAPPMemorable MasqueСAPPСAPP.  Equinoxes, Brown СAPP, Providence, RI 

Poetry

  • СAPPCongrès à mon gré (Hub City duet)СAPP and СAPPCoucher de soleil sur SunsetСAPP Feux follets: Chemins et cheminements, 2020, СAPP (pp. 29 and 70)
  • СAPPAcadies parallèlesСAPP Ancrages, 21 (2019), special issue Acadie24
  • СAPPJean sait rienСAPP, СAPPA is for PommeСAPP, and СAPPKrewe de vousСAPP Feux follets: Relever, 2019, СAPP (pp. 15, 36-37, and 69)
  • СAPPSors ta langueСAPP and СAPPElle est partie, elle est partoutСAPP  L'Année francophone internationale, 27 (2019): 104-105.

Documentary Film

  • Finding Cajun, dir. Nathan Rabalais 2019 Currently distributed by Amazon Prime and Louisiana Public Broadcasting

NON-PEER-REVIEWED

  • СAPPThe Life and Work of Elizabeth BrandonСAPP 64 Parishes magazine, Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, Winter 2023, pp. 34-40.
  • Back cover texts for recent publications such as Bayou Zen (David Cheramie, Shreveport: Tintamarre, 2022) and Parcours louisianais (ed. Evelyne Bornier and Meg Marshall, Lafayette: UL Press, 2022)
  • СAPPLa LouisianeСAPP - a brief overview of the French-language literary production of Louisiana for the digital library Bibliothèque des Amériques sponsored by the Centre de la Francophonie des Amériques. 
  • Guillorel, Eva, Patrice Nicolas, Nathan Rabalais. СAPPDu patrimoine musical aux mèmes sur Internet. Blog: Repenser l'Acadie dans le monde.  https://www.repenserlacadie.com/post/guillorel-nicolas-rabalais-du-patrimoine-musical-aux-m%C3%A8mes-sur-internet
  • СAPPLe français louisianais : mythes et mouvements

Awards & Recognition

  • Advance Faculty Award Grant for new audio studio in Modern Languages ($5,000)
  • Friends of the Humanities grant for Louisiana French oral history project ($750) 2023
  • 1-month Faculty residency at Université de Poitiers 2023
  • Faculty Research Travel Grant ($1,000) 2023
  • Outstanding Graduate MasterСAPPs Mentor Award 2023
  • Friends of the Humanities grant for Louisiana literature course development ($300) 2023
  • Friends of the Humanities grant for Louisiana French course development ($1,000) 2022
  • Jamie and Thelma Guilbeau Special Collections Research Fellowship ($500) 2022
  • Author of the month СAPP Centre de la Francophonie des Amériques 2019
  • Richard Guidry Cajun and Creole Language Fund ($1,320) 2019
  • Director's Choice Award at Cinema on the Bayou for Finding Cajun documentary 2019
  • NEH Fellowship (12 months) СAPP $50,400 2018
  • Summer faculty research grant (William & Mary) 2016 and 2017
  • Fulbright-Chateaubriand Dissertation Fellowship (8-month award) 2014-2015
  • Selected for an exchange program between Tulane СAPP
  • and the École normale supérieure, Paris (declined) 2014-2015
  • Travel grant, Department of French and Italian, Tulane СAPP 2013
  • Research grants, Modern Languages Department, UL Lafayette 2010-2011
  • Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship, Strasbourg, France 2007-08
  • Theodore Presser Award, monetary award ($4,000) for excellence in music studies 2007
  • Outstanding Graduate, College of the Arts, СAPP 2007