BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Erik Charpentier worked as a Research Associate at the Center for Louisiana Studies/Center for Cultural and Eco-Tourism at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. A native of Montreal, Canada, and an Acadiana resident since the early 1990s, he holds a PhD in Francophone Studies from UL-Lafayette. His research focuses on the Cajun identity, for which he has done extensive fieldwork. While in school, he worked within the center’s archive on preservation and digitization efforts.

He is an also an established playwright and writer in his native land, with several plays produced in both Canada and in France. He has also worked in films, having written several documentaries on the North American French experience, including Vent libre dessus le radio and Contre vent contre marée (Prix Historia, 2001) with Zachary Richard. In 2006, ACLF (Association des Chercheurs en Littératures Francophones) presented a conference session, Le théâtre d’Erik Charpentier, devoted to his theatrical endeavors at the Université de Paris IV Sorbonne.

Most recently, he has documented the South Louisiana identity in extensive audio and video fieldwork recordings. He is currently working on a documentary entitled Ramblin’, which follows a South Louisiana band on the road.