Barry Jean Ancelet (pseudonym Jean Arceneaux; born 1951) is a

Cajun The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the U.S. state of Louisiana. While Cajuns are usually described as ...

folklorist in

Louisiana French Louisiana French ( frc, français de la Louisiane; lou, françé la lwizyàn) is an umbrella term for the dialects and varieties of the French language spoken traditionally by French Louisianians in colonial Lower Louisiana. As of today Louisi ...

and ethnomusicologist in

Cajun music Cajun music (french: Musique cadienne), an emblematic music of Louisiana played by the Cajuns, is rooted in the ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada. Although they are two separate genres, Cajun music is often mentioned in tandem ...

. He has written several books, and under his pseudonym Jean Arceneaux, including poetry and lyrics to songs.

Early life and education

Born in Church Point, in

Acadia Parish Acadia Parish (french: link=no, Paroisse de l'Acadie) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 57,576. The parish seat is Crowley. The parish was founded from parts of St. Landry Parish in ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

on 25 June 1951. He graduated from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now named the

University of Louisiana at Lafayette The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana System and the s ...

) with a Bachelor of Arts in French in 1974. He received a Master of Arts in

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

from

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

in 1977. Ancelet obtained a doctorate in 1984 in ''Études Créoles'' (anthropology and linguistics) from the Université de Provence, (Aix-Marseille I) in Aix-en-Provence,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Career

Music festivals

Ancelet co-founded and acted as the Director the ''Tribute to Cajun Music,'' in 1974 and from 1976 to 1980, which became the annual Festivals Acadiens. He has also served as a Director as well as the President and member of the Executive Board for the Festival de Musique Acadienne/Cajun Music Festival since 1980.

Teaching

He has taught at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, starting in 1977, first as the Director of the Center for Acadian and Creole Folklore (from 1977 to 1980), as a Professor of Francophone Studies and Folklore (1977 to 1980), and he was a folklorist at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Center for Louisiana Studies (from 1980 to 1985). Ancelet has served as Chair of University of Louisiana at 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.

Other work

Ancelet hosted the ''Rendez-vous des Cajuns,'' a live weekly music radio program on

KRVS KRVS (88.7 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a public radio format. Licensed to Lafayette, Louisiana, United States, it is currently owned by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and features programming from American Public Media, Nation ...

for more than a decade. Ancelet has served as the Chairman on the Louisiana Folklife Commission from 1984 to 1990. Ancelet is a member of many organizations, including the l' Ordre des francophones d'Amérique, in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

; a fellow of the American Folklore Society; and a fellow of the Center for Cultural and Eco-Tourism at University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Honors and awards

In 2005, Ancelet was named the Willis Granger and Tom Debaillon BORSF Professor of Francophone Studies at University of Louisiana at Lafayette. In 2008, he won the Américo Paredes Prize by the American Folklore Society. In 2009, he was named Louisiana "Humanist of the Year" by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities.

Publications

* * * * * * *

As Jean Arceneaux

* * * (published in French)

Film

References

External links

* *Video
Interview with Barry Jean Ancelet
(2018),

American Folklife Center The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. was created by Congress in 1976 "to preserve and present American Folklife". The center includes the Archive of Folk Culture, established at the library in 1928 as a repo ...

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ancelet, Barry Jean 1951 births Living people American male writers American poets in French American writers in French American folklorists Cajun writers Indiana University alumni People from Church Point, Louisiana University of Louisiana at Lafayette alumni University of Louisiana at Lafayette faculty Chevaliers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Chevaliers of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques University of Provence alumni