RLFR 262
Lâche pas la patate: Francophone Culture in Louisiana
Last Offered Spring 2024
Division I
This course is not offered in the current catalog

The expression “Lâche pas la patate,” or “don’t drop the potato” is a way of saying “don’t ever stop speaking French in Louisiana.” This begs the question: why preserve a language? In Louisiana, Francophone activists have been fighting to preserve their unique dialect of French–or what Professor Barry Jean Ancelet calls “the problem language”–for decades. By promoting the education and use of French in the state, what else are they preserving? From historical, thematic, and literary perspectives, this course is designed to provide an answer to such questions through the examination of Francophone Louisiana from its foundation as a French colony to today. In this course, we rely on contemporary publications and media in French to get a broader picture of the current stakes in Francophone Louisiana. Topics will include sociolinguistics, race relations, creolization, activism, and Americanization. Primary sources include rituals, cartoons, films, memes, music, literature, and cuisine. Texts and media (such as films and podcasts) included are Les Aventures de Boudini et ses amis, Tout bec doux , Ô Malheureuse, Film Quest, L’Habitation Saint-Ybars, Bayou zen, Finding Cajun, Mille misères La Veillée, Charrer-Veiller , Feux Follets , Istrouma : Manifeste Houma. Conducted in French.