I am a public, digital, and cultural historian.
My dissertation “Imagining Acadiana: Cajun Identity in Modern Louisiana” explores questions of cultural politics and identity formation. By examining key moments from the 1920s-1970s, I show how the region of Acadiana emerged through the strategic creation of Cajun culture industries. The work of local community leaders during this period makes clear that traditional Cajun culture has survived not in spite of modernity, but by engaging with the opportunities mass culture presented for power, preservation, and profit. I am currently turning this project into a book and write about other topics, too.
I am the Program Manager at the Midlo Center for New Orleans Studies at LSU New Orleans where I also teach undergraduate and graduate courses in digital and public history. I have over a decade of experience in digital humanities with a range of institutions such as the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, the National Park Service, and the New Orleans Jazz Museum. I currently serve as the Managing Editor of the web-based storytelling app New Orleans Historical and as a Project Associate for the digital archive Frenchmen Notes.
