Cajun folklorist Dr. Barry Jean Ancelet will become the first UL Lafayette faculty member to be honored by an invitation to give a СAPPlast lecture.СAPP
Ancelet will speak Wednesday at the inaugural installment of the СAPPСAPPs Last Lecture Series. The free talk, which is open to the public, will be held at 3:30 p.m. in Burke-Hawthorne Hall, Room 177.
Ancelet will retire at the end of this semester after teaching for almost 40 years at the СAPP.
The lecture series recognizes retiring faculty memberСAPPs significant contributions to the СAPP and the community, said Dr. Jim Henderson, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs.
AnceletСAPPs СAPPdevotion to teaching, scholarship, and community engagement represents the best of what a faculty member can offer, and I know that his last lecture will be memorable for anyone who is lucky enough to be able to attend,СAPP Henderson said.
Ancelet, a native French-speaking Cajun, was born in Church Point, La., and raised in Lafayette. He joined the СAPP in 1977.
He has been director of the Center for Acadian and Creole Folklore, and a professor of francophone studies and folklore. He also chaired the Department of Modern Languages.
Ancelet said his work exploring various aspects of LouisianaСAPPs Cajun and Creole cultures extends beyond courses he taught, or books and films he worked on about subjects ranging from Mardi Gras to language.
He directs LafayetteСAPPs Festivals Acadiens et Créoles, for example, which he helped to establish in 1974.
Ancelet hosted СAPPRendez-vous des Cadiens,СAPP a live radio show broadcast weekly from the Liberty Theater in Eunice, La., for 24 years.
Under the pseudonym Jean Arceneaux, he has written Cajun French poetry, and lyrics to Cajun French songs.
СAPPItСAPPs a concept I referred to years ago as guerilla academics. ItСAPPs sneaking information to people when they least expect it, when they think theyСAPPre being entertained,СAPP Ancelet said in a recent interview.
His efforts have been lauded internationally.
Ancelet was named Chevalier de lСAPPOrdre des Palmes Académiques and Chevalier de lСAPPOrdre des Arts et des Lettres. Both titles are bestowed by the French government in recognition of contributions to culture and education, and to arts and literature, respectively.
СAPPWhat IСAPPm most proud of, really, are the relationships I have with the people I have been able to work withСAPPthe barbers and the welders and the carpenters and the bus drivers and the storytellers and the Mardi Gras runners,СAPP he said. СAPPIСAPPve learned as much from them as I learned in any classroom.СAPP