Courtesy of Maria Zeringue
Maria Zeringue, the new Louisiana Director of Folklife
The year Maria Zeringue spent in France was one of reflection. She was there to teach English to elementary school students after completing a master’s degree in French from the University of Louisiana-Lafayette. But something else was calling her.
“I realized that what I really liked about my French program, and all the courses I took, were the cultural aspects of it,” Zeringue said. “I think I’m a very curious person.” In fact, her thesis had been, in the end, less about language and more about tradition, and how it evolves: a study on Mardi Gras traditions in the village of Gheens, Louisiana.
Zeringue loved the language and had studied it because she’d grown up hearing her grandparents speak it. But they’d given her more than just their language: “Both my grandmothers were rtists of sorts,” she said. One was a seamstress, quilter, and crocheter, who could create an afghan from scratch in just seven days. “She got really kind of obsessed with trying to make them as fast as she could,” recalled Zeringue. The other was a painter, a potter, and a quilter as well. “She would repair statues from the church across the street when they broke,” said Zeringue of her maternal grandmother. “That art was always such a big part of my family life, I think that’s where the interest in folklife came from.”
“I can’t wait to learn about what’s going on in Louisiana, to get to know the artists, and see what they want out of the folklife program. ’ll want to really understand where the needs are, and how I can best create more awareness for the incredible traditional arts and culture here in Louisiana.” —Maria Zeringue
From France, Zeringue decided to pivot. She applied to the Indiana University’s Folklore Master’s Program (of which the esteemed folklorist Barry Ancelet is also an alumnus) and secured a summer internship with Maida Owens at the Louisiana Folklife Program, working on the Baton Rouge Traditions Project. It wasn’t long after she completed this second Master’s Degree that she got the opportunity, in 2017, to lead Mississippi’s Folk & Traditional Arts Program as Director. In this capacity, for the past eight years, she has worked to support artists like Alan Kolodny, one of the only wire tatting practitioners in the world. “I’ve worked with a lot of amazing woodturners and, of course, have gotten to know the blues very well,” she said. “I have really enjoyed learning about all of these different artforms and why people pursue them, why practicing this means something to them.”
Now, twelve years since she last lived in Louisiana, Zeringue is returning home—this time to serve as the first new director of the Louisiana Folklife Program in more than forty years. It’s a privilege that she recognizes many folklorists, bound to the trail of limited job opportunities, don’t receive: the opportunity to study folklife in their home state. “I feel very lucky,” she said.
She plans to continue the work of her predecessor Maida Owens, who over her tenure has elevated the stories of Louisiana’s immigrant communities, produced a wealth of media on microcultures and folktales, and asked questions no one else has dared about how climate change might impact culture.
[Read more about Maida Owens's work as the Louisiana Folklife Director, here.]
“I’ve had a front row seat to Maida’s work these past ten years, and she leaves behind such an impressive legacy,” said Zeringue. “They are definitely big shoes to fill, and I certainly intend to continue much of what she’s started.”
And she plans to do a lot of listening. “I can’t wait to learn about what’s going on in Louisiana, to get to know the artists, and see what they want out of the folklife program,” she said. “I’ll want to really understand where the needs are, and how I can best create more awareness for the incredible traditional arts and culture here in Louisiana.”
