Digital Commons Network^™

Time, Place, & Purpose: The Performance Of Creole Identity In Louisiana, Rachel N. Aker

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Though much of the early development of Louisiana Creole culture can be found in New Orleans, the culture spread and continued to grow throughout the rest of South Louisiana in both similar and different ways. Expanding beyond Joseph Roach’s treatment of Creole cultural performances in New Orleans in Cities of the Dead (1996) and journeying across land and water, this project identifies more Creole cultural performance as they emerge across place and time. I present Louisiana and the Gulf South as a kind of inland archipelago, with the currents of culture-creation moving in and around distinct community enclaves. The flow …

Falling On Deaf Ears: Social Workers’ Attitudes About Deafness, Hearing Loss, And Deaf Cultural Competence, Esperanza J. Garibay

LSU Master's Theses

D/deaf and hard of hearing people have lower health literacy and higher rates of misdiagnosis of serious illnesses than their hearing counterparts (Sheier, 2009). This is, in part, a result of the inaccessible and culturally incompetent care provided to d/Deaf and hard of hearing individuals (Kuenburg, Fellinger & Fellinger, 2016; Hoang, LaHousse, Nakaji & Sadler, 2010 Sheier, 2009). Inaccessible and culturally incompetent care may be byproducts of human service providers’ attitudes towards d/Deaf and hard of hearing people (Ulloa, 2014; Cooper, Mason & Rose, 2005), and providers’ level of competence with properly caring for d/Deaf and hard of hearing clients …

Francolouisianais In The 21st Century: Redrawing Identity Lines In A Community Experiencing Language Shift, Marguerite L. Perkins

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The francophonie of south Louisiana today is characterized by a great deal of diversity - in terms of ethnicity, language practices, cultural practices, geography, and experience. The academic literature does not always reflect this diversity, however. Some ethnic groups are overshadowed by others in academic study, and the lines between them are often uncritically blurred. Discussions of language shift are regularly mired in assumptions of individuals’ complete linguistic and cultural assimilation based solely on their native use of English.

In this dissertation, I seek to problematize traditional accounts of assimilation and collective ethnic identity by highlighting the ways in which …

Teachers' Experience Of A Flood In Their School Community: Their Beliefs, Perceptions, And Thoughts About Practice, Caroline Tolentino

LSU Master's Theses

The increasing number of flooding incidences in Louisiana exposes a significant number of children to the possible traumatic effects of this natural disaster. Flooding takes a toll not only on families and children, but on teachers as well. While the effects of other types of disasters on children have been considered in previous studies, research has not thoroughly addressed the effects of flooding on children and on early childhood teachers. Teachers can be very instrumental in helping young children cope and making sure their needs are met after the experience of a traumatic event (Perry & Szalavitz, 2008; Le Brocque, …

Educating The "Miseducated": A Case Study Of Middle School Teachers’ Experiences Providing Culturally Responsive Practices For Black Male Adolescents, Latrisha Yvette Dean

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This case study explored eight middle school teachers’ experiences working with Black adolescent males at different Louisiana schools. The selected participants represented various identities and shared their perceptions of their teaching and management practices. This case study also examined the teachers’ mindsets and beliefs about teaching Black male students. Finally, the teachers discussed how they perceive their own racial identity, gender, socioeconomic class, and other identities when working with Black males. I explored their experiences by conducting face-to-face semi-structured interviews. A comparative within-case and cross-case analysis was used to review the data and connect it to the research questions that …

Va-Et-Vient, The Goin' And Comin' Of Infinitival 'To': A Study Of Children With And Without Specific Language Impairment In Cajun English, Andrew Mandell Riviere

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine Cajun English (CE)-speaking children’s marking of infinitival TO. To do this, CE-speaking children’s marking of infinitival TO was compared to the marking of infinitival TO by Southern White English (SWE)- and African American English (AAE)-speaking children. Marking of infinitival TO also was examined as a function of the children’s clinical status (i.e., Specific Language Impairment, SLI, or typically developing, TD) and by the verb contexts that preceded the infinitival TO forms.

The data came from 180 kindergarteners who lived in four rural towns in Assumption Parish, Louisiana. The children’s dialect classifications were …

Framing Theory And Its Application To The Fracking Controversy In St. Tammany Parish, Lindsay Colleen Rabalais

LSU Master's Theses

When Helis Oil & Gas Company announced it was interested in drilling for oil in Louisiana’s St. Tammany Parish, it ignited a firestorm. The proposed drilling project would use hydraulic fracturing – or “fracking” – causing some residents to voice their concerns for the parish’s wellbeing. My thesis looks to framing theory to analyze how local media covered the issue, as well as the effects those frames might have on public policy and the lawsuits that arose out of the proposed drilling operation. I performed quantitative and qualitative content analyses of local media coverage of this issue from April 2014 …

Sense Of Place, Place Attachment, And Rootedness In Four West Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana Bars, John Winsor Mcewen

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores place and the relationships that people have with place: sense of place, place attachment, and rootedness. These three concepts have each been researched and discussed on their own in journal articles, books, and book chapters, but the terms rarely appear in the same sentence let alone the same research article. In the United States, places of drink are historically linked to community and social interactions, and such establishments often possess a solid core of loyal patrons for whom going to their bar is a natural and routine part of their daily and weekly life. This research brings …

Can You Hear The People Sing: Community Theater, Play And The Middle Class, Heather Marie Moats

LSU Master's Theses

Over the last century community, or “little”, theaters have popped up all over the United States as a way for amateur actors to perform. Academic research in both anthropology and theater studies have greatly overlooked and dismissed these theaters. Using data collected via ethnographic methods over the course of two musical productions, approximately seven months total, at a community theater in Baton Rouge, Louisiana I hope to demonstrate both why individuals, predominately within the middle class, with limited leisure time choose to spend it volunteering at a community theater as well as some of the social and interpersonal benefits it …

An Acoustic Description Of Vowels Spoken By Speakers With Cajun Ethnicity In Southern Louisiana, Ali Beslin

LSU Master's Theses

This study aimed to provide selected acoustic data for vowels of one portion of the southern region (Southern LA) in recognition that a variety of Southern dialects have not been recognized on the American English dialect map. To examine dialectical variations in vowel acoustics, this study included a relatively greater number of acoustic parameters including: vowel duration, F1 and F2 from the temporal midpoint of the vowel, trajectory length, and F2 slope. Ten participants between the ages of 18 to 24 were selected from the Southern Louisiana dialect region. Speech stimuli, which have been used in prior research regarding dialect, …

The Blessing Of The Fleet : Heritage And Identity In Three Gulf Coast Communities, Audriana Hubbard

LSU Master's Theses

Annual Blessing of the Fleet festivals are held throughout communities all along the Gulf Coast; each year boats parade down local waters to receive the blessing of the priest before the opening of the shrimp season. The shrimping industry has a long history in the area and has become intrinsically tied to local individual and community identities. This thesis investigates three festivals held in Chauvin and Morgan City, Louisiana, and Biloxi, Mississippi to understand how the festival is used by participants as a way of negotiating their shrimping identities in a changing socio-economic environment. The tourism and the oil industries …

Literary Expressions Of Creole Identity In Alfred Mercier's L'Habitation Saint-Ybars And Johnelle, Mary Florence Cashell

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines nineteenth-century Louisianan author Alfred Mercier’s novels and their roles as emblems of Francophone Creole cultural identity. During the nineteenth century following the Louisiana Purchase and subsequent anglophone influx, the French-speaking Creole population faced a cultural upheaval. Unable to completely identify as either French or American, Creoles occupied an uncertain space. This study demonstrates that Alfred Mercier’s works articulate a hybrid identity that is neither French nor American but rather a multicultural construct. The first chapter examines the nineteenth-century Creole community’s problematic positioning between French and American cultures. Chapters two, three, and four center on two of Mercier’s …

The Louisiana Alternative Career Diploma As Institutionalized Cultural Capital: High School Principals' Perceptions Of Its Value, Marcil C. Seals

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In an effort to address dropout, the Louisiana state legislature mandated an initiative in 2009 which required all school districts to offer an alternative vocational high school diploma. Because this alternative diploma, known as the Career Diploma, is being implemented in all high schools throughout Louisiana, this research was designed to ascertain high school principals’ perceptions regarding the Career Diploma’s value. Participants were principals of traditional four-year high schools located within the state of Louisiana. A researcher-designed survey instrument was disseminated to 258 high school principals throughout the state. Findings of the data analysis indicated differences in perceptions of value …

Revolutionary Republics: U.S. National Narratives And The Independence Of Latin America, 1810-1846, James Weldon Long

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Revolutionary Republics analyzes how U.S. literature depicted the independence of Latin America, focusing on the period from the beginning of the Spanish American revolutions in 1810 to the outbreak of the U.S.-Mexican War in 1846. During this brief timespan, the nation’s literature featured a radical transition in which the independent republics of Latin America shifted from being viewed as “southern brethren” of the United States, a term used by such prominent public figures as Daniel Webster and John Quincy Adams, to hostile enemies allegedly in need of assistance from their northern neighbor. This reversal exposes a contradiction between the imperialist …

Nonverbal Communication Among Pointe Coupee Creoles, Elsie Angelique Bergeron Gardner

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Interactions are understood through the filter of language and culture. Because of this when people of different cultures interact, miscommunications often result. As both verbal and nonverbal aspects of communication are culturally specific, this paper examines trends in the nonverbal communication patterns of generations of Pointe Coupee Creoles undergoing language shift from Creole French in the older generation to English in the younger. The data demonstrate that nonverbal patterns are decoupled from verbal language to some extent in the degree to which they are maintained down the observable generations of Pointe Coupee Creole participants. This study analyzes videos of naturally …

Acadiana And The Cajun Cultural Landscape: Adaption, [Sic] Accommodation Authenticity, Joseph Jerome Mckernan

LSU Master's Theses

The following points are important for this discussion of Acadiana and the Cajun Cultural Landscape: First, in order to fully understand the Cajun nature and what makes the Cajuns distinct, we must explore their history from the time they arrived on the shores of North America to the present. Without doing this, we cannot truly understand their way of life and where it came from; Second, what and where is Acadiana--the Cajun homeland--and what are its socioeconomic and demographic characteristics; Third, how have folk culture and celebration of heritage mediated Cajun culture; Fourth, why are these traditions manifested in what …

Louisiana's Hope For A Francophone Future: Exploring The Linguistic Phenomena Of Acadiana's French Immersion Schools, Albert Sidney Camp

LSU Master's Theses

Cajun and Creole French are thought of by scholars and lay-people alike as the two varieties of French spoken in Louisiana. While this may have been true to some extent in the past, the linguistic landscape of Louisiana is constantly evolving. As in other parts of the world, globalization, higher education, and an ever expanding media presence are changing the linguistic reality for Louisiana’s French speaking community. The twentieth century has seen a complete shift in the status of the French language in relation to public schools in Louisiana. In the early twentieth century, many children learned French at home …

Turn-Taking And Gaze Behavior Among Cajun French And Cajun English Speakers In Avoyelles Parish, Andrew Mandell Riviere

LSU Master's Theses

Languages are the verbal and non-verbal codes of a culture. A culture houses a language(s) and is comprised of the gaze and distance/use of personal sphere. Linguists and anthropologists have long since argued over which takes priority: culture or language. French and Louisiana are synonymous: it is unimaginable to picture Louisiana without French because French constitutes the culture in Louisiana. Since linguists have debated the priority of language or culture, looking at Louisiana within the confines of this debate proves informative.

The language shift forced upon the residents of South Louisiana by the 1921 State Legislature made English the sole …

The Virgin's Daughters: Catholic Traditions And The Post-Colonial South In Contemporary Women's Writing, Elizabeth M. Beard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes the texts of contemporary women writers who consciously engage dominant Catholic, American, and southern ideologies in their narratives and who posit Louisiana as a liminal, hybrid space. Building upon postcolonial concepts of hybridity and performance of cultural memory, I trace a “pathway” to feminist recovery and reclamation of ancestral memory and spirituality in Valerie Martin’s A Recent Martyr, Rebecca Wells’ Little Altars Everywhere and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Brenda Marie Osbey’s All Saints, and Erna Brodber’s Louisiana. The authors enact spiritual and cultural reclamation through the written expression of key components of postcolonial reconstruction of …

Nueva Orleans: Hispanics In New Orleans, The Catholic Church, And Imagining The New Hispanic Community, Katie Judith Berchak

LSU Master's Theses

New Orleans, Louisiana, is a city with a rich Hispanic history which is often overlooked. Likewise, the role the Catholic Church has played in assisting the immigrant groups that have settled in New Orleans in the building of their communities has also often been ignored. The first part of this work will seek to trace the different Hispanic groups that have come to the city, their often unacknowledged legacies, and examine what role the Catholic Church played in their communities and history. During Spanish rule of colonial Louisiana from 1762 to 1803, Spanish colonists and recruits from the Canary Islands …