M. Ryan DeJean—educator, linguistic anthropologist, and creative curator from Lafayette, Louisiana.

I am I am an English language educator and linguistic anthropologist with an M.A. in English (TESOL) and a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. There, I served as a Graduate Instructor of Record and Senior Tutor in the Writing Center, and was a contributing member of the First-Year Writing Curriculum Committee and Sociolinguistics Circle.

My teaching is learner-centered and critically informed, with particular attention to language, power, access, and the social contexts in which learning takes place. I emphasize authentic communication, cultural awareness, and reflective, relational learning.

My research draws on ethnographic and discourse-analytic approaches from sociolinguistics and anthropology to examine how language practices and ideologies shape social belonging, power, and identity, with particular attention to contemporary Cajunness. I also engage with questions of linguicism, linguistic equity, and complexity in multilingual classrooms.

Alongside teaching and research, I maintain a creative practice grounded in analog photography, sound recording, and collaborative curation. (Please visit Worrytime Studios to learn more.)