Performing the archive: The everyday construction of ‘french’ identity in New Orleans

The proposed project investigates the ‘francisation’ of quotidian identity in New Orleans (United States) in the decade since Hurricane Katrina.

More than 200-years after ending its colonial ties to France, New Orleans offers evidence of how ‘french’ identities are constructed through the repetition of behaviours linked to a place-specific history, a social performance that has intensified after the social trauma of Hurricane Katrina.

Given the global challenges presented by large-scale migration (seen especially in Europe at the moment), analysing identity formation in relation to everyday life and post-colonial relations merits critical study.

Working with data from an existing international initiative on francophone identities in New Orleans, the project will conduct experiments at the archive of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) in Lyon and The Historic New Orleans Collection (THNOC).

This process will lead to the production of a site-specific performance series and interactive performance guide that critically engage the OIF archive in relation to contemporary quotidian life in New Orleans, as well as an international conference on New Orleans francophone identities.

Four objectives guide the project: 1) analyse everyday ‘french’ New Orleans identities in relation to institutional and global perspectives on Francophonie; 2) use the infra-ordinaire as the basis for protocols in experimental archival research; 3) build creative dialogues between artefacts found in THNOC and OIF archives; and 4) use site site-specific performance to interrogate the archive and creatively present results.