Barry Ancelet

Barry Jean Ancelet
Barry Jean Ancelet at Band Together – a concert to benefit Hurricane Katrina relief.
Born	Church Point, Louisiana
Other names	Jean Arceneaux
Education	B.A. in French M.A. in Folklore Ph.D. in Études Créoles
Alma mater	University of Southwestern Louisiana Université de Provence
Known for	Cajun folklorist
Children	5
Awards	Chevalier – Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Humanist of the Year – Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Américo Paredes Prize – American Folklore Society

Barry Jean Ancelet is a Cajun folklorist and expert in Cajun music and Cajun French. He has written several books, and under the pseudonym Jean Arceneaux he has written Cajun French poetry and lyrics to Cajun French songs.

Born in Church Point, Louisiana, he graduated from the nearby University of Southwestern Louisiana (now named the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) with a Bachelor of Arts in French in 1974.

He received a Master of Arts in folklore from Indiana University in 1977, when he began teaching French at the University of Southwestern Louisiana. Later he also taught folklore and Francophone studies at the university.

Ancelet obtained a doctorate in Études Créoles (anthropology and linguistics) from the Université de Provence (Aix-Marseille I) in 1984.

He co-founded the Tribute to Cajun Music in 1974, which became the annual Festivals Acadiens.

Ancelet has served as chair of USL's Department of Modern Languages and as the first director of the university's Center for Acadian and Creole Folklore — regarded as the largest compilation of media resources pertaining to these two south Louisiana ethnic groups.

He hosted the Rendez-vous des Cajuns live weekly music radio program on KRVS for more than a decade.

In 2005 Ancelet was named the Willis Granger and Tom Debaillon BORSF Professor of Francophone Studies at UL.

The French government awarded Ancelet the title of Chevalier in l'Ordre des Palmes académiques, an honor reserved for those whose scholarly pursuits are deemed to contribute significantly to French culture.