Ethnography of Performance and Identity In New Orleans and French Louisiana

Adapted from Tulane University ANTH 3395/6395

This course focuses on symbolic meaning in the vernacular expressive culture or folkloric forms of community groups in New Orleans, French Louisiana, the Gulf South region and selected out migrant locations. It addresses differential identities of tribal, ethnic, regional, religious, linguistic, occupational, class and gender affiliations – and examines aesthetic forms as a primary means to do so. Some of these are largely intangible such as music and dance, ritual and festival, narrative and jokes; others are tangible or material culture to varying degrees such as the built environment (houses, boats, landscape use), crafts, costumes and cuisine. All are examined via ethnographic and historical writing, oral histories and documentary media as to how shared cultural knowledge is performed in an array of contexts. These include dancehalls, Carnival parades, second lines, work settings, festivals, neighborhood museums, sacred spaces and so on.

  • Nick Spitzer

    Nick Spitzer

    Anthropology and American studies

    Nick Spitzer is a renowned folklorist, creator and voice of the public radio program American Routes, and a professor of American studies and anthropology at Tulane. He received his B.A. in anthropology cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, and his M.A. and Ph.D. with distinction in anthropology (folklore) from the University of Texas.

    Spitzer created the Louisiana Folklife Program in 1978 and served as the first State Folklorist until 1985. His work helped bring new understanding and respect of Louisiana’s traditional cultures.

Course Chapters

  • 1 Folklore

    Folklore

    About This Chapter:

    The course begins by discussing keywords and concepts like vernacular culture, expressive culture, folklore, cultural region, performance, identity, Creoles and creolization,…

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    • Introduction

    • Readings

    • Photos

    Chapter 1 Folklore

    The course begins by discussing keywords and concepts like vernacular culture, expressive culture, folklore, cultural region, performance, identity, Creoles and creolization, intangible culture, material culture, and public cultural discourse. The film Always for Pleasure (1978) by Les Blank will be screened and discussed as well as extensive discussion of folklore and folklore theory. Assorted audio selections played.

    Readings:

    • “Folklore” and “What is Folklore,” by William Thoms, The Study of Folklore, edited by Alan Dundes (1975)
    • “The Complex Relations of Simple Forms” by Roger Abrahams, Genre 2 (1970)
    • “Toward a Definition of Folklore in Context,” by Dan Ben-Amos in Toward New Perspectives in Folklore (1975), eds. Richard Bauman and Americo Parades, pp 3-15.
    • “Differential Identity and the Social Base of Folklore,” by Richard Bauman, in Toward New Perspectives in Folklore (1975), pp 31-41, 1975
    • “Introduction to the Third Printing,” by Nick Spitzer and Robert Baron in Public Folklore, pp. vii-xx, 2007;
    • Nick Spitzer, “Cultural Conversation: Methods and Metaphors in Public Folklore” in Public Folklore (1992), pp.
    • Folklore: Ethnography of Performance and Identity In New Orleans and French Louisiana
  • 2 New Orleans Traditional Jazz…

    New Orleans Traditional Jazz and Brass Bands

    About This Chapter:

    New Orleans traditional jazz and brass bands are discussed in detail by guest speakers Bruce Raeburn, Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University;…

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    Chapter 2 New Orleans Traditional Jazz and Brass Bands

    New Orleans traditional jazz and brass bands are discussed in detail by guest speakers Bruce Raeburn, Hogan Jazz Archive, Tulane University; and Matt Sakakeeny, Dept of Music, Tulane University.

    Readings:

    • Lawrence Gushee, “The Nineteenth-Century Origins of Jazz,” Black Music Research Journal, vol. 14, no. 1 (Spring 1994), 1-24
    • Thomas Fiehrer, “From Quadrille to Stomp: The Creole Origins of Jazz,” Popular Music, vol. 10 (January 1991), 21-38;
    • Sakakeeny, Matt. 2010. “Under the Bridge”: An Orientation to Soundscapes in New Orleans. Ethnomusicology 54(1); 2011.
    • “New Orleans Music as a Circulatory System.” Black Music Research Journal 31(2): 291-325.
    • King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band
  • 3 New Orleans Colonial History…

    New Orleans Colonial History and Carnival

    About This Chapter:

    In this section of the course, New Orleans’ colonial history, especially French and African relationships, is discussed in depth. Carnival in…

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    Chapter 3 New Orleans Colonial History and Carnival

    In this section of the course, New Orleans’ colonial history, especially French and African relationships, is discussed in depth. Carnival in its varying forms along the Gulf Coast is explored and Cajun Mardi Gras is shown in the film Dance for a Chicken (Pat Mire).

    Readings:

    • Building the Devil’s Empire: French Colonial New Orleans. Shannon Lee Dawdy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press 2009. “Part I: The French and African Founders Johnson and Hall”, includes “Introduction”” by Arnold Hirsh and Joe
    • Logsdon, pp 3-11; Colonial New Orleans: A Fragment of the Eighteenth Century
    • “French Ethos” by Jerah Johnson, pp. 12-57; and “The Formation of Afro-Creole Culture” by Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, pp 58-90 in Creole New Orleans: Race and Americanization. Edited by Arnold Hirsh and Joseph Logdson, 1992.
    • Canal Street Maskers: Ethnography of Performance and Identity In New Orleans and French Louisiana
  • 4 Cultural Geography of French…

    Cultural Geography of French Louisiana

    About This Chapter:

    French Louisiana and its cultural geography are discussed in class having read French, Cajun, Creole, Houma: A Primer on Francophone Louisiana,…

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    • Readings

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    Chapter 4 Cultural Geography of French Louisiana

    French Louisiana and its cultural geography are discussed in class having read French, Cajun, Creole, Houma: A Primer on Francophone Louisiana, by Carl Brasseaux, as well as articles about Louisiana folklife. Immigration and settlement patterns of French Louisiana are noted and folk crafts in Louisiana are examined.

    Readings:

    • French, Cajun, Creole, Houma: A Primer on Francophone Louisiana, by Carl Brasseaux, Baton Rouge: LSU Press.
    • Three articles from Louisiana Folklife–A Guide to the State (edited by Nick Spitzer, 1985): “Louisiana Folk Houses” by Milton Newton, “Folk Boats of Louisiana” by Malcolm Comeaux, and “Louisiana Folk Crafts” by Frank deCaro, Rosan Jordan, Susan Roach and Nick Spitzer.
    • Cultural Geography of French Louisiana: Ethnography of Performance and Identity In New Orleans and French Louisiana
  • 5 Cajun and Zydeco Music,…

    Cajun and Zydeco Music, The Culture of Work/Culture of Play

    About This Chapter:

    New Orleans Building Trades and Cajun Women’s Domestic Labor French Louisiana is further explored in the realm of music and Cajun…

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    • Introduction

    • Readings

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    Chapter 5 Cajun and Zydeco Music, The Culture of Work/Culture of Play

    New Orleans Building Trades and Cajun Women’s Domestic Labor French Louisiana is further explored in the realm of music and Cajun and Creole Zydeco music are differentiated. Cajun and Creole work cultures like Creole cowboys are examined and seemingly mundane tasks like ironing are given meaning by Cajun women in the film I Always Do My Collars First: Cajun Women’s Ironing, by Conni Castille (viewed in class).

    Readings:

    • Barry Ancelet and Elemore Morgan Jr .Cajun and Creole Music Makers University Press of Mississippi: Jackson. Spitzer, Nick.
    • “The Aesthetics of Work and Play in Creole New Orleans,” in Raised to the Trade: Creole Building Arts of New Orleans, pp.. Edited by John Ethan Hankins and Stephen Maklansky, New Orleans: New Orleans Museum of Art, 2002.
    • Negro Ironworkers of Louisiana 1718-1900. Marcus Christian.
    • Cajun and Zydeco Music, The Culture of Work/Culture of Play: Ethnography of Performance and Identity In New Orleans and French Louisiana
  • 6 Creoles and Cultural Creolization

    Creoles and Cultural Creolization

    About This Chapter:

    Creoles of Louisiana, whose complexities regarding identification are endless, function as an example of the broader process of cultural creolization. Creolization…

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    Chapter 6 Creoles and Cultural Creolization

    Creoles of Louisiana, whose complexities regarding identification are endless, function as an example of the broader process of cultural creolization. Creolization is discussed on a macro level from a more theoretical perspective in addition to focusing on the Creoles of Louisiana. A field trip is taken to Backstreet Museum and African American History and Culture Museum in the Treme neighborhood to complement class discussion.

    Readings:

    • “Introduction” in Creolization: History, Ethnography, Theory. Edited by Charles Stewart. Walnut Creek CA: Left Coast Press 2007. Kein, Dunbar-Nelson, and Martin in Creole: The History and Legacy of Louisiana’s
    • “Free People of Color”. Edited by Sybil Kein. Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 2003
    • Felipé Smith “Coming of Age in Creole New Orleans: an Ethnohistory”
    • Virginia R. Dominguez “White By Definition: Social Classification in Creole “
    • “Louisiana,” in American Ethnologist. Nick Spitzer.
    • “Monde Créole: Louisiana Creoles and the Creolization of World Cultures” in Creolization as Cultural Creativity, edited by Robert Baron and Ana Cara. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press 2011
    • Creoles and Cultural Creolization: Ethnography of Performance and Identity In New Orleans and French Louisiana
  • 7 New Orleans Jazz (and…

    New Orleans Jazz (and Beyond)

    About This Chapter:

    The course resumes a discussion of New Orleans Jazz with a focus upon one of its originators and arguably jazz’s first…

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    Chapter 7 New Orleans Jazz (and Beyond)

    The course resumes a discussion of New Orleans Jazz with a focus upon one of its originators and arguably jazz’s first great composer and arranger, Jelly Roll Morton. Having read the book Mr. Jelly Roll, the class will discuss and listen to audio segments about Morton. R&B and jazz bandleader Deacon John Moore will be a guest lecturer and the class will discuss the book Up from the Cradle of Jazz as well as hearing selected audio samples of New Orleans R & B, soul, and funk.

    Readings:

    “Mr. Jelly Roll: The Fortunes of Jelly Roll Morton”, “New Orleans Creole,” and the “Inventor of Jazz.” Up from the Cradle of Jazz. Jason Barry, Jon Foose, and Tad Jones, Lafayette: University of Louisiana Press 2009 (1983).

    • New Orleans Jazz (and Beyond): Ethnography of Performance and Identity In New Orleans and French Louisiana
  • 8 From Second lines to…

    From Second lines to Cultural Festivals: Community Agency, Aesthetics, Power and the Cultural Future of New Orleans.

    About This Chapter:

    The course concludes with a discussion of second lines and of the pivotal role music and other forms of cultural creativity…

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    Chapter 8 From Second lines to Cultural Festivals: Community Agency, Aesthetics, Power and the Cultural Future of New Orleans.

    The course concludes with a discussion of second lines and of the pivotal role music and other forms of cultural creativity played in post-Katrina New Orleans recovery (socially, economically) and into the future. In class media includes a screening of “No Waterline on Culture.”

    Readings:

    • “Second Lines, Minstrelsy, and the Contested Landscapes of New Orleans Afro-Creole Festivals,” by Helen A. Regis in Cultural Anthropology 1999: 14(4): 472-504.
    • “Second Lining Post-Katrina: Learning Community from the Prince of Wales Social Aid and Pleasure Club” by Joel Dinerstein in American Quarterly pp. 615-637 61 (3) 2009.
    • “Producing the Folk at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival,” by Helen A. Regis and Shana Walton in Journal of American Folklore 2008: 121 (482) pp. 400-440.
    • “Introduction” selected profiles in One Generation at a Time: Biography of a Cajun and Creole Music Festival, by Barry Ancelet Lafayette: University of Louisiana Press, 2007.
    • “Rebuilding the Land of Dreams with Music” by Nick Spitzer in Rebuilding Urban Places After Disaster: Lessons from Hurricane Katrina. Eds. Eugenie Birch and Susan Wachter, University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia, 2006; “Epilog: Cultural
    • “Creativity, Return and Recovery in New Orleans” by Nick Spitzer in Creolization as Cultural Creativity, edited by Robert Baron and Ana Cara. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press 2011.
    • Future of New Orleans: Ethnography of Performance and Identity In New Orleans and French Louisiana