Dr. Christophe Landry was born in New Iberia and has been a genealogist and language activist since high school. His roots in Louisiana run deep, descending from Robert Talon, born in 1685 at sea between Galveston and Biloxy and declared “the first Creole born in Louisiana” on his death certificate, as well as from Charles Rochon, one of the original colonists to establish the present city of Mobile in 1711.
He pursued a doctorate in American history at the University of Sussex with world-renown sugarcane historian Richard Follett. His dissertation focuses on the 20th century interwar period, and analyzes the national, climate, state and industry changes, wars and migrations that accelerated the racial bifurcation of the southwest Louisiana Creole community, marginalized local heritage languages, and gave rise to new identities and memories. Academically, Christophe is interested in the mechanisms or processes contributing to the endangerment or growth of marginalized speech communities, identity continuity and change, and how tourism impacts local memory.
While an advocate for Latin Louisiana heritage languages more broadly, he has deliberately chosen to develop resources for–and promote international protection of–Kouri-Vini, a language indigenous to Louisiana and down to less than 10,000 speakers of any fluency level.
Contact: christophe@mylhcv.com
Speaks: French, Kouri-Vini, Portuguese, Spanish, English