Folklorist, Grammy nominee to take helm of Center for Louisiana Studies

Published

Dr. Joshua Caffery is the new director of the at the 欧美三级片.

Caffery, a published folklorist, poet, and Grammy-nominated musician and producer, will begin his new position on July 1. He succeeds Dr. Michael Martin, the center鈥檚 director since 2011.

鈥淚鈥檓 thrilled to be joining an incredibly talented team at the Center for Louisiana Studies,鈥 Caffery said. 鈥淚t will be an honor to build on Michael鈥檚 work, and to engage with the center鈥檚 cultural mission at a time when the importance of our area鈥檚 cultural resources is so poignantly clear.鈥

A native of the St. Mary Parish community of Irish Bend, outside Franklin, Louisiana, Caffery earned a master鈥檚 degree and a Ph.D. in English and folklore from UL Lafayette. He completed a bachelor鈥檚 degree in philosophy and religious studies at LSU in Baton Rouge.

Caffery held the Alan Lomax Fellowship in Folklife Studies at the Library of Congress in 2013.

Lomax was a noted ethnomusicologist. The Cajun and Creole musical styles he documented in Great Depression-era Louisiana were explored in Caffery鈥檚 鈥淭raditional Music in Coastal Louisiana: The 1934 Lomax Collection.鈥

The book, which LSU Press published in 2013, inspired a four-CD box set produced by Caffery and musician Joel Savoy, 鈥淚 Wanna Sing Right: Rediscovering Lomax in the Evangeline Country.鈥 It was nominated in the Best Regional Roots Music Album category at the 2017 Grammy Awards.

The compilation also earned Caffery and Savoy recognition closer to home. The Community Foundation of Acadiana named the pair among the inaugural recipients of its Icon Arts and Cultural Awards in 2017.

The Grammy nomination for the Lomax box set was Caffery鈥檚 second. He played mandolin, and electric and acoustic guitars on Feufollet鈥檚 鈥淓n Couleurs.鈥 The album also featured 鈥溍 Saint-Martin,鈥 a song Caffery wrote. It earned a song of the year nomination from the Cajun French Music Association.

鈥淓n Couleurs鈥 received a 2010 Grammy nomination in the Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album category.

In addition, Caffery was a founding member of the Red Stick Ramblers, a Cajun and Western swing band.

He taught in UL Lafayette鈥檚 Department of English while pursuing his doctorate. He was also chair of the English Department at the Episcopal School of Acadiana in Cade; a visiting assistant professor of folklore at Indiana 欧美三级片, Bloomington; and a brand strategist and researcher at Stuller Inc. in Lafayette.

Caffery is a published poet. LSU Press released his 鈥淚n the Creole Twilight: Poems and Songs from Louisiana Folklore,鈥 a collection of poems inspired by Louisiana myth, legend and oral history, in 2015.

鈥淛osh brings a unique combination of talents to this position,鈥 said Dr. Jordan Kellman, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, which oversees the Center for Louisiana Studies.

鈥淗is musical experience, folklore training, literary production and corporate experience make him ideally suited to lead the center, and to help it maintain and expand its reputation as the premier organization dedicated to the stewardship of the state鈥檚 culture and heritage.鈥

Founded in 1973, the center includes the Archive of Cajun and Creole Folklore, a repository of field recordings, oral histories, photographs and other materials.

The center also administers the 欧美三级片 Press.

Martin will return to the 欧美三级片鈥檚 Department of History, Geography and Philosophy, where he is a professor of history.

Kellman called Martin鈥檚 leadership of the center 鈥渢ransformative.鈥

鈥淥ver the past seven years, the center has raised its public profile, increased its programming, and diversified and deepened its research portfolio. Michael also helped build the quality and reputation of the UL Lafayette Press, which won numerous awards under his direction.鈥