Date of Award

5-2026

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Degree Program

History

Department

History

Major Professor

Dr. Mary Mitchell

Second Advisor

Dr. Jessica Dauterive

Third Advisor

Dr. David Beriss

Abstract

In Ascension Parish, Louisiana, the Jambalaya Festival Association hosts an annual Jambalaya Festival in the city of Gonzales. This project outlines an exhibit proposal drawing on Ascension Parish Library’s collection of posters, photographs, memorabilia, and oral history interviews from its Jamabalaya Festival Association Collection. The exhibition will primarily focus on the passage of an amendment to Louisiana’s sanitary code, which protects the traditional method of cooking jambalaya and the festival’s creation of a hyperlocal identity in its “World Champion” jambalaya cooks. Marrying this collection with materials collected by the library’s Local History Specialist, the exhibit will ask viewers to reflect on their personal culinary traditions through the lens of select humanities themes, including ethnicity, race, gender, culture, foodways, and festivals. This project aims to expand APL’s Preserving Our History Project to include the interpretation of its materials through exhibition partnerships with residents, communities, and local organizations.

Rights

The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.

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Available for download on Sunday, April 22, 2029

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