John Laudun is a folklorist, essayist, and professor at University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Education
Born in Lafayette, Louisiana and raised in Lafayette, Franklin, and Baton Rouge, he graduated from Louisiana State University with a dual degree in philosophy and English in 1986. Laudun obtained a doctorate in folkloristics from Indiana University in 1999, where he studied under Richard Bauman and Henry Glassie.
Career
He focuses on creativity across a broad range of media and behaviors. He has published widely in scholarly journals, anthologies, and has a book forthcoming, but he has also reached out to broader audiences with essays in various outlets, including his own website. He has appeared on camera in several films and been interviewed by the New York Times and the Atlanta Constitution, among others
He received a master"s of art in English from Syracuse University in 1989, where he developed his interest in folklore studies based on his reading of post-structuralist theories.
As he was finishing up work on his dissertation, he was offered a position at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where he joined the English faculty, where he embarked upon a number of efforts, including editing the Louisiana Folklore Miscellany, published by the Louisiana Folklore Society, from 2000 to 2005. 2006 - Louisiana Story (Laudun is one of three narrators and appears in the film).