THIBODAUX, La. — New Orleans historian and filmmaker Justin Nystrom will offer a unique look into the culture of the Big Easy with a film screening and book reading at Nicholls State University on Thursday, March 10.
Nystrom is the Peter J. Cangelosi/BEGGARS Distinguished Professor of History, director of the Center for the Study of New Orleans and director of the Documentary and Oral History Studio at Loyola University.
His two presentations are hosted by the Fletcher Lecture Committee and the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute. They are free and open to the public.
A screening of Nystrom’s 2012 film This Haus of Memories will be at 1:30 p.m. in Ridley Gros Auditorium. A question-and-answer session will follow. The documentary details the 80-year history of the German heritage club, Deutsches Haus. Interviews with volunteers detail the club’s rebuild following Hurricane Katrina.
At 6 p.m., Nystrom will be in the demo kitchen in the Lanny D. Ledet Culinary Building to discuss his book, Creole Italian: Sicilian Immigrants and the Shaping of New Orleans Food Culture. In the book, Nystrom discusses the influence Sicilian immigrants had on New Orleans culinary culture. It was nominated for a 2019 James Beard Book Award for reference, history and scholarship. Nystrom will sell and sign books after the presentation.
Nystrom published his first book New Orleans after the Civil War: Race, Politics, and a New Birth of Freedom in 2010. He is working on two new projects. One will explore the transformation of the way America ate in the 1980s. Another will look at craft food production in Brexit-era Britain.
The Fletcher Lecture Series has brought influential storytellers to campus for nearly 40 years. Past lecturers have included Marianne Robinson, Yuri Herrera and Benh Zeitlin.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022
MEDIA CONTACT: Jacob Batte, Media Relations and Publications Coordinator, 985.448.4141 or jacob.batte@nicholls.edu
