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Education & Research

English 482:
Folklore Studies

LA Tech Regional
Folklife Program

LA Regional
Folklife Program

Projects:

LA Quilt Documentation Project

In the Wake of the Hurricanes

Dubach Dogtrot Project

Education & Research (Selected)

Education 

Ph. D. in Anthropology (Folklore), Supporting work (minor): English, University of Texas at Austin, August 1986.  Dissertation:  The Traditional Quiltmaking of North Louisiana Women:  Form, Function, and Meaning. (Committee:  Richard Bauman, chair, John Vlach, Beverly Stoltje, Joel Sherzer, Jane Young).

Ph. A. in English, with a concentration in poetry, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Ark., August 1973.

M. A. in English, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Ark., August 1971.

B. A. in English, Magna cum laude, Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, La., May 1969.

Publications:  Monographs and Articles in Books and Periodicals (Selected)

 “The Cox Family.”  In Shreveport Sounds:  Ark-La-Tex Music in Black & White. Ed Tracey Laird and Kip Lornell.  University Press of Mississippi.  2008.  

Louisiana Quilt Documentation Project <www.louisianafolklife.org/quilts>.  A searchable database with over 2000 quilts and includes online essays “Documenting Quilts,” “Project History,”  “About Quilts,” “Exhibiting Quilts,” and Feature essays “African American Quilters in Louisiana: A Photographic Essay.” Posted May 2006.

Review of Coming Home, Western Folklore, 65:3 (Summer 2006).

Our Hats, Our Crowns: An Exhibition of Community Historic and Contemporary Hats, virtual exhibition, Lincoln Parish <www.latech.edu/tech/rural/folklife/index.php?section=28>, Claiborne Parish, <www.latech.edu/tech/rural/folklife/index.php?section=33> Posted Nov. 2006.

“In the Wake of the Hurricanes Research Coalition: Development and Implementation.” Louisiana Folklore Miscellany. 16/17 (2006) forthcoming.

“In the Wake of the Hurricanes: Introduction and Fieldwork Forms.” (Co-authored with Shana Walton).  Online publication: <www.louisianafolklife.org/katrina.html>, posted October 2005.  

“Making Music: The Art of Hand-built Stringed Instruments.” Louisiana Folklife Festival Program Book, Monroe, La., Sept. 2005.

“Places They Remember: Clementine Hunter and Sarah Albritton.” (co-authored with Peter Jones). In Louisiana Folklife Festival Program Book, Monroe, La., Sept. 2004.

“Quilts as Women’s Documents: The Louisiana Quilt Documentation Project” (co-authored with Laura Westbrook). In Louisiana Folklife Festival Program Book, Monroe, La., Sept. 2004.

"The Threads of Tradition: Quilts as Multi-Valent Symbols” (co-authored with F. A. deCaro and Rosan Jordan).  In Re-Situating Folklore: Folk Contexts and 20th Century Literature and ArtKnoxville, TN: U. of Tennessee Press, 2004.

On My Way:  The Arts of Sarah Albritton (104-page color exhibition catalog). Ruston:  Louisiana Tech University (distributed by University Press of Mississippi), 1998.  Editor and author.  Received Elli Kongas-Maranda Award from American Folklore Society, Women’s Section, October 1999.

"West of the Ouachita:  Conserving the Heritage of the Pine Hills and River Valleys of Northwest Louisiana."  In 1998 Louisiana Folklife Festival Program Book. Monroe, La., Sept. 1998: 8-9.

"Quilting." In Encyclopedia of Folklore and Literature. Ed. Mary Ellen Brown and Bruce Rosenberg.  Santa Barbara, Ca.: ABC-CLIO, 1998.

"`Willing to Take a Risk': Working in the Delta." In The Festival of American Folklife Program BookWashington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1997. 21-25. Reprinted in 1997 Louisiana Folklife Festival Program Book. Monroe, La., Sept. 1997: 16-20.  Also posted on the Smithsonian Website:  http://160.111.7.240/organiza/offices/folklife/97fest/willing.htm

"Quilting." In Encyclopedia of Feminist Literary Theory. Ed. Elizabeth Kowaleski-Wallace.  New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1997.  330-332.

"Sarah Albritton:  Memory and Vision:  The Paintings of Sarah Albritton." Co-authored with Peter Jones.  Louisiana Cultural Vistas 7 (Fall 1996): 8-19.

"`Take Me to the Water':  African American River Baptism."  Co-authored with Annie Staten." 1996 Louisiana Folklife Festival Program Book.  Monroe, La., Sept. 1996: 12-14.

"Willing to Take a Risk":  The Folklore of Cropdusting." Co-authored with Janet Ryland.  1994 Louisiana Folklife Festival Program Book.  Monroe, La., May 1994: 9-12.

"The Delta Folklife Project:  An Overview."  Co-authored with H. F. Gregory and Maida Owens.  1994 Louisiana Folklife Festival Program Book.  Monroe, La., May 1994: 33-35.

"African American Quiltmakers in North Louisiana:  A Photographic Essay."  Louisiana Folklife.  (Spring 1994):  1-16.

"The Divine Call:  Primitive Baptist Preachers of North Louisiana."  Cultural Vistas 4 (winter 1993): 55-59.

"`You Gotta Go Crazy First Before You Can Be a Minister': Accessing a Speaking Role in the Primitive Baptist Church," Louisiana Folklore Miscellany 8 (1993): 1-15.

"`Keep Your Mind and Your Hands Busy': Expressive Dimensions of the Lone Quilter."  Louisiana Folklore Miscellany 7 (1992): 81-88.

"The Journey of David Allen: Transformations through Public Folklore."  In Public Folklore. Ed. Robert Baron and Nicholas Spitzer.  Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1992.  159-182. 

Photographs of North Louisiana Folk Traditions.  In DeCaro, Frank. Folklife in Louisiana Photography: Images of Tradition. Baton Rouge: La. State University Press, 1991. 94-101.

 Review of The Art of Queena Stovall:  Images of Country Life, by Claudine Weatherford, Southern Folklore Quarterly  47.1 (1989): 86-88.

"Quilts."  In Decorative Arts and Household Furnishings In America 1650-1920:  An Annotated Bibliography.  Ed. Kenneth Ames.  Winterthur, Delaware: Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, 1989. 257-264.

"Quilting, Anglo-American." In Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Ed. C. R. Wilson and W. Ferris.  Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989.  518-519.

"Regional Folklife of North Louisiana." In Louisiana Folklife:  A Guide to the State.  Ed. Nicholas Spitzer.  Baton Rouge:  La. Division of the Arts, 1986.  86-101.

"Louisiana Folk Crafts."  With DeCaro, Jordan, and Spitzer.  In Louisiana Folklife:  A Guide to the State.  Ed. Nicholas Spitzer.  Baton Rouge:  La. Division of the Arts, 1985.  133-149.

"The `Kinship Quilt':  An Ethnographic Semiotic Analysis of a Quilting Bee."  In Women's Folklore, Women's Culture.  Ed. Rosan Jordan and Susan Kalcik.  Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1985. 54-64.

"Regional Folklife of North Louisiana:  A Cultural Patchwork." In The Festival of American Folklife Program Book.  Ed. Thomas Vennum, Jr., Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1985.  26-32.

Gifts from the Hills:  North Central Louisiana Folk Traditions.  Ruston, La.: La. Tech Art Gallery, 1984.

"The North Louisiana String Band:  The Development of an Old-time String Band."  Louisiana Folklife 6.1 (March 1981): 1-28.

Patchwork Quilts:  Deep South Traditions.  Alexandria, La.:  Alexandria Museum, 1980.  

"Quiltmaking in America:  A Selected Annotated Bibliography."  Co-authored with Lorre Weidlich.  Folklore Women's Communication 3 (Spring 1974).

Professional Presentations:  Refereed Papers at National and Regional Conferences

“Re-presenting  the Quilts of African Americans in the South.” Southern Quilt Conference. Ruston, March 23, 2007.

“In the Wake of the Hurricanes Research Coalition,” Plenary Address, Oral History Association annual meeting, Little Rock October 27, 2006.

“Developing and Implementing a Research Coalition” on Forum In the Wake of the Hurricanes III: Responses from the Gulf Coast, American Folklore Society Conference, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October 19, 2006.

Louisiana and the Hurricanes: folklorists’ Responses to Katrina and Rita–A Round Table Discussion of Where We Are and    
            Where We’re Going.”
Louisiana Folklore Society Meeting, Lafayette, March 25, 2006.

“Re-presenting  the Quilts of African Americans in Louisiana and Beyond.” American Folklore Society Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, October 2005“Representing Their Louisiana Cultural Landscapes: Clementine Hunter and Sarah Albritton.” American Folklore Society Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 2004.

“Folklorist-Teacher Partnerships: Implementing Louisiana Voices On-line Units in the Classroom” at American Folklore Society Conference, Albuquerque, NM, October 2003.

“Southern Folk Culture vs. Popular Culture in Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use,” American Culture Association/Popular Culture Association Conference, New Orleans in April 17, 2003.

 “Food and Power in the Personal Narratives of an African-American Cook.” American Folklore Society Conference, Rochester, New York, October 2002.

“Making the Biggest Tin Man; A Folk Artist-Folklorist’s Partnership.” American Folklore Society Conference, Anchorage Alaska, October 2001.

“Developing Local/Regional Folk Arts Programs” Forum Presentation, American Folklore Society Conference, Columbus, Ohio, October 2000.

Louisiana Regional Folklife Program: Public/Academic Folklore,” panel presentation at the Louisiana Folklore Society Conference, Baton Rouge, April 15, 2000.

"Folk Artists and Folklorists: On the Air, On the Road, and at Home." paper  presented at the American Folklore Society Conference, Portland, Oregon, October 1998.

"Remembering and Re-presenting Narrative in the Louisiana Storytelling Project," paper presented at the American Folklore Society Conference, Austin, Tx., October 1997.

"Representing A Life through Visual and Verbal Narratives," paper presented at the American Folklore Society Conference, Pittsburgh, Pa., October 1996.

"The Louisiana Delta Folklife Project:  Creolization of Public and Academic Folklore," paper presented at the American Folklore Society Conference, Lafayette, La., October 1995.

"Regional Folklore in Alice Walker's `Everyday Use,'" paper presented at the American Folklore Society Conference, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October 1995.

"Reading the Writing and the Walls:  An Intertextual Study of a `Defaced' Dogtrot," paper presented at the American Folklore Society Conference, Eugene, Oregon, October 1993.

"Ritual Discourse in Social Drama:  Susan Glaspell's `A Jury of Her Peers,'" paper presented at the South Central Modern Language Association meeting, October 16, 1993.

"`Things Begun--and Not Finished': Liminality in Susan Glaspell's  `A Jury of Her Peers.'" paper presented at the Modern Language Association Convention, New York, December 1992.

"`Seeing Through a Thing to Something Else':  Susan Glaspell's  `A Jury of Her Peers' as Social Drama," paper presented at the American Folklore Society Conference, Jacksonville, Florida, October 1992.

"The Symbolic Language of Quilts in Women's Fiction," paper presented at the annual meeting of the Philological Association of Louisiana, Ruston, La., March 28, 1992.

"Quilt as Multivalent Boundary in Women's Fiction," paper presented at the American Folklore Society Conference, San Francisco, October 1990.

"`You Gotta Go Crazy First Before You Can Be a Minister': Accessing a Speaking Role in the Primitive Baptist Church," paper presented at the American Folklore Society Conference, Philadelphia, October 1989.

"Options of the Bricoleur:  Toward a Grammar of Quiltmaking," paper presented at the American Folklore Conference, Boston, October 1988.

"Effects of Public Presentation on the Art of Walking Stick Carver:  The Journey of David Allen," paper presented at the American Folklore Conference, Albuquerque, October 1987.

"For Fancy and `Everyday Use': Quilt Function in North Louisiana," paper presented at the American Folklore Society Conference, Baltimore, October 1986. 

"Ethnoaesthetics of Anglo-and Afro-American Quilters," paper presented at the American Folklore Society Conference, Cincinnati, October 1985.

"`Keep Your Mind and Your Hands Busy':  Expressive Dimensions of the Lone Quilter," paper presented at the American Folklore Society Conference, Minneapolis, October 1982.

"The Quilting Bee:  An Interrelationship of Folk Art and Folk speech," paper presented at the American Folklore Society Conference, Philadelphia, Pa., November 1976; abridged version presented at Louisiana Folklore Society Conference, New Orleans, October 1975.

"The Comfort of `The Word':  A Metacommunicative Analysis of Funeral Ritual," paper presented at the American Folklore Society Conference, New Orleans, October 1975.
 

Exhibitions Curated

Assisted with curation of Shreveport Regional Arts Council’ exhibition Folk Art Is, Artspace, Shreveport, Feb. 10-April 15, 2006.

Assisted with Claiborne Parish Jubilee Quilt Show, Homer, La., May 12-13, 2005.

Curator (with Peter Jones), Selections from On My Way:  The Arts of Sarah Albritton.  Exhibition at Goodrich Gallery, First United Methodist Church, Dallas, Tx., March 1-April 30, 2000.

Curator (with Peter Jones), On My Way:  The Arts of Sarah Albritton.  A Touring Exhibition with the following itinerary: Masur Museum, Monroe, August 16-Sept 13, 1998; LSU Museum of Art, Baton Rouge, Sept. 20-Nov. 8; La. State Museum, Presbytere, New Orleans, Dec. 20-April 5, 1999; African American Museum, Dallas, Tx., June 11-Aug. 29, 1999; Meadows Museum, Centenary College, Shreveport, Sept. 11-Oct. 31, 1999.  Received Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Special Humanities Award, April 1999.

Curator, Folklife in the Louisiana Delta (traveling exhibition), Sponsored by Masur Museum, Monroe, La., features 25 11 x 14" black and white photographs with interpretive text (selected from Folklife in the Creole State), 1996, fall 1998.