An interview with Dustin Fuqua

About Dustin

Dusty Fuqua hails from Avoyelles Parish and resides in Cenla. Fuqua works as Chief of Resource Management at Cane River Creole National Historical Park in Natchitoches Parish. Dusty has apprenticed under John Oswald Colson aka The File’ Man for over a decade and works with the Sassafras Society to perpetuate the gumbo file’ tradition. Dusty is active in Louisiana french language matters and enjoys participating in French tables and meetups.

Dusty can be found on Instagram @DustyCreole or Facebook at Dustin Fuqua. Also search on Instagram for #sassafrassociety for all things file’.

This episode

Coonie, Cajun, Creole: Ethnicity, Context, and Identity on the American Landscape.

Dustin Fuqua, native Louisianian and anthropologist, discusses growing up “coonie” and the dynamics of inclusive Creole identity. We talked about so many things in this episode and there is so much more to discuss so I will definitely have him back on.

Dusty talked about growing up playing on the indian mounds in Avoyelles parish and his journey to becoming an anthropologist. His experiences guided him towards a career of preservation, history and culture saving action. He’s kind of like a culture superhero, saving culture and all the aspects that make it up.

We also talked about his escapades with my Dad, John Oswald Colson picking sassafras leaves to make his file’. You can read more about the File’ Man here. He also mentions the Sassafras Society, the crew of people that go out and help on his big “gatherings” each year.

Dusty also talked about his involvement in French tables around the state and the impact those have had on him. He explains what French tables are and how they are one of the last bastions of true French speakers in Louisiana.

I hope you enjoy listening to this episode, we went over a ton of stuff and there’s some names you’ll hear you may know. Thanks so much for listening!