MALCOLM L. COMEAUX

ACADEMIC TRAINING
 

Ph.D. 1969

Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Dissertation: Settlement and Folk Occupations of the Atchafalaya Basin.

M.A. 1966

Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois
Thesis: Impact of Transportation Activities Upon the Historical Development of Cairo, Illinois

B.A. 1963

University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, Louisiana
(now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette)

 
AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION
 

 

Culture Diffusion and Culture Change
Historical Geography
Geography of Europe
History of Geographic Thought
Geography of Arizona and the Southwest
The French of Louisiana
Geographic Education

 
POSITIONS HELD
 

August 15, 2001

Retired from Arizona State University

Summer 1996, 1997

Visiting Professor of Geography, Univ. of New Orleans-Univ. of Innsbruck International Summer School

1993 - 2001

Co-coordinator, Arizona Geographic Alliance

1984 – present

Professor, ASU, Tempe, AZ

1975 - 1984

Associate Professor, ASU, Tempe, AZ

Summer 1984

Visiting Professor, University of South-western Louisiana, Lafayette, Louisiana

1969 – 1975

Assistant Professor, ASU, Tempe, AZ

1965 – 1966

Instructor, University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, Louisiana

 
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
 

Summer 1996, 97

Visiting Professor, Univ. of New Orleans- Innsbruck International Summer School, Innsbruck, Austria

1984 - 2001

Professor, ASU, Tempe, AZ

1975 - 1984

Associate Professor, ASU, Tempe, AZ

1969 - 1975

Assistant Professor, ASU, Tempe, AZ

1966 - 1968

Graduate Teaching Assistant, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

1965 - 1966

Instructor, University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, Louisiana

1963 - 1965

Graduate Teaching Assistant, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois

 
GRANTS AND AWARDS
 
 

Distinguished Mentor Award, 2006. Awarded by the National Council for Geographic Education.

 

Malcolm Comeaux Lecture Series established through an endowment in the Geography Department, at A. S. U.

 

Association of American Geographers, Distinguished Teaching Honors, 2002.

 

Arizona Geographic Alliance, 2001-02, State of Arizona. $100,000 (with Ron Dorn).

 

Arizona State University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Distinguished Teaching Award for Faculty, 2001.

 

Wilbur Murra Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Social Studies. Awarded by the Arizona Council for the Social Studies, 1999.

 

Presidential Citation for Distinguished Service, 1998. Awarded by Gamma Theta Upsilon, Geographical Honor Society.

 

Arizona Geographic Alliance, 1997-2000, State of Arizona. $150,000 (with Robert Mings and Ron Dorn).

 

Distinguished Teaching Achievement Award, 1997. Awarded by the National Council for Geographic Education.

 

Arizona Geographic Alliance, 1997-2000, National Geographic Society. $150,000 (with Robert Mings).

 

Arizona Geographic Alliance, 1993-1996, National Geographic Society. $150,000 (with Robert Mings).

 

Arizona Geographic Alliance, 1994-2001, State of Arizona. $450,000 (with Robert Mings and Ron Dorn).

 

Planning Grant, Arizona Geographic Alliance, 1992, National Geographic Society. $10,000 (with Robert Mings).

 

Faculty Research Grant, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, ASU, 1989. $500.

 

International Travel Grant, 1984, National Academy of Science, National Research Council. $900.

 

Faculty Research Grant, Arizona State University, 1971. $2,175.

 

Dissertation Year Fellowship, Louisiana State University, 1968-69.

 

National Science Foundation Summer Fellowship, 1967.

 

Couch Travel Service Award. 1963.

 
MEMBERSHIP AND POSITIONS IN SCIENTIFIC AND HONORARY SOCIETIES
 

Program Committee, Association of American Geographers, 1977

Regional Coordinator, Pacific States, Gamma Theta Upsilon, 1975, 1976

Association of American Geographers

American Geographical Society

Association of Pacific Coast Geographers

National Council for Geographic Education

Southwest Social Science Association

Louisiana Folklore Society

Pioneer America Society

Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science, fellow Southwest Professional Geographical Association

Chairman, Geography Section, Arizona Academy of Science, 1970-1971, 1985-1986

Chairman, Local Arrangements Committee, Association of American Geographers, 1988

Gamma Theta Upsilon, Geographical Honor Society

Phi Alpha Theta, History Honor Society

Pi Gamma Mu, Social Studies Honor Society

 
COMMUNITY AND UNIVERSITY SERVICE
 

1995 to 1998

Editorial Board, The Geographical Bulletin

1991 to 2003

Organized and ran the Friends For Geography, a support group for the department

1970 to 2001

Faculty Advisor, Gamma Theta Upsilon, International Geographical Honor Society

Chairman, and served on many departmental committee, such as Graduate, Budget, Graduate Program Coordinating, M.A. Program, Ph.D. Program, Departmental Travel, Executive, personnel and others.  Served on several College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and University committees.  Presented many talks to various local civics groups, clubs, and museums.

 

  OTHER EXPERIENCE 

2004

Consultant, Audubon Park Zoo, New Orleans, LA

1990 –1999

Regional Coordinator for the Pacific Coast Region for Gamma Theta Upsilon (international geographic honorary fraternity).

1988

Local Arrangements Committee Chairman for the national meeting of the Association of American Geographers, Phoenix, AZ. Consultant, Illinois State Museum.

1982 – 1984

Consultant, Audubon Park Zoo, New Orleans, LA.

1979

Consultant, National Geographic Society.

Summer – 1978

Consultant, Lafayette National History Museum and Planetarium, Lafayette, LA.

Summer – 1964

Assistant City Planner, City of Rock Island, Illinois.

1957 – 1960

Active duty, U.S. Army, stationed in Boscomantico, Italy.

 
PUBLICATIONS
 

2017

On the Use of Foreign Words. Louisiana History. 58: 93-97.

2015

Coonass: Diffusion and Probable Origin. Louisiana History. 56: 199-219.

2011

"Caniques”: Marbles and Marble Games as Played in South Louisiana at Mid-Twentieth Century. Louisiana History. 52: 324-56.

2010

Photojournal: The Cajun Mardi Gras in Southwest Louisiana. FOCUS on Geography. 53: 14-23.

2009

Steal the Flag: A Game Played in South Louisiana. Louisiana Folklore Miscellany. 19: 53-70.

2007

Introduction and Use of Accordions in Cajun Music, and The Cajun Dance Hall, reprinted in Fiddles, Accordions, Two Step and Swing, Ryan Brasseaux and Kevin Fontenot, eds., Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Louisiana, Lafayette, LA. pp. 107-114, & pp.139-151.

 

Internet: The History of Geography at Arizona State University (to 2005). . ASU, School of Geographical Sciences.

2006

Atchafalaya Basin Swamp. The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, Vol. 8, Environment. Martin Melosi, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, pp. 188-89.

2005

What Games Can Say: Two Medieval Games from French Louisiana. Louisiana History. 46:47-63.

 

Learning Geography Promotes Learning Math: Results and Implications of Arizona's GeoMath Grade K-8 Program. Journal of Geography. 104:151-159. (With Ron Dorn, et.al.).

2004

In Memoriam: John F. Lounsbury. Journal of Geography. 103:92.

Fishing the Father of Waters, in Grand Excursion on the Upper Mississippi River, Curtis C. Roseman and Elizabeth M. Roseman, eds., University of Iowa, Iowa City, iowa. pp. 173-186.

2000

The Cajun Dance Hall. Material Culture. 32:37-56.

1999

Introduction and Use of Accordions in Cajun Music.Louisiana Folklore Miscellany. 14:27-40.

1998

Arizona, in The Columbia Gazetteer of the World (3 vols). Saul B. Cohen, ed., Columbia University Press, New York, various pages.

 

The Geographic Society and Gamma Theta Upsilon at Arizona State University. Geographical Bulletin. 40:31-34.

1997

Post, Lauren Chester, in A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography, Vol. II, Glenn R. Conrad, ed., Louisiana Historical Association and the Center for Louisiana Studies. University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, Louisiana. pp.659-60.

 

The Cajun Accordion, in Baseball, Barns & Bluegrass: A Geography of American Folklife, George Carney, ed., Rowam and Littlefield, Lanham, Maryland. pp. 131-138. (A modified reprint from 1978)

1996

The Acadians of Canada and the Cajuns of Louisiana: Cultural Change over Distance and Time, in Ethnic Persistence and Change in Europe and America: Traces in Landscape and Society. Klaus Frantz and Robert A. Sauder, eds. The University of Innsbruck. pp. 29-45.

 

Die Cajuns in Louisiana. Geographische Rundschau. 48:234-39.

 

Cajuns and their Adaptation to a Modern World, in Human Geography in North America: New Perspectives and Trends in Research. Klaus Frantz, ed. Innsbrucker Geographische Studien. 26:7-16.

1994

Fred Kniffen's Contributions to Understanding French Louisiana. Journal of Cultural Geography. 15:59- 66.

1992

Cajuns in Louisiana, in To Build in a New Land: Ethnic Landscapes in North America, Allen G. Noble, ed. The Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, pp. 177-92.

1991

Creating Indian Lands: the Boundary of the Salt River Indian Community. Journal of Historical Geography. 17:241-56. Reprinted in: The Arizona Surveyor, September, 1966 Newsletter, pp. 13-18, 21-24

1990

Post, Lauren Chester, in A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography, Glenn Conrad, ed. The Louisiana Historical Association in cooperation with the Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, LA, pp. 659-60.

1989

Use of Hoop Nets in the Mississippi River Basin. Journal of Cultural Geography. 10:75-87.

 

 Burial: "Going Home." Encyclopedia of Death. R. Kastenbaum and B. Kastenbaum, eds., Oryx Press, Phoenix, AZ., pp.36-37.

 

 Hook-and-Line Fishing in the Mississippi River System. Material Culture. 21:23-45.

 

The Cajun Barn. Geographical Review. 79:47-62.

 

 Atchafalaya Basin Swamp. Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. C.R. Wilson and W. Ferris, eds., Univ. of  North Carolina, Chapel Hill, pp. 375-76.

1988

Death Out of State: Arizonans Who Die Elsewhere. Omega: The Journal of Death and Dying. l9:ll5-24.

 

101 Years of Geography at Arizona State University. ASU, Department of Geography Publications Series No. 2 (63 pages).

 

Physical Landscapes in Arizona (22-23), Copper Mining Towns (60-61), and Establishment of the Salt River Indian Reservation (87), in Metro Arizona, Charles Sargent, ed., Scottsdale, AZ., Biffington Press.

1987

A Final Journey: Post-Death Removal of Human Remains. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie. 78:114-24 (with Graham Rowles).

1986

Returning Home: The Interstate Transportation of Human Remains. Omega: The Journal of Death and Dying. l7: l03-l3 (with Graham Rowles).

1985

Folk Boats of Louisiana. Louisiana Folklife: A Guide to the State. Nicholas R. Spitzer, Ed., Louisiana  Folklife Program, Division of the Arts, Baton Rouge. pp. 160-78.

 

The Tortilla Industry in Arizona. North American Culture. 2:15-23.

 

Louisiana Folk Boats. Festival of American Folklife, 1985. Thomas Vennum, Jr., Ed. Smithsonian Institution, National Park Service, Washington, D.C.  pp. 22-25.

1983

Selection of the Arizona-Utah Boundary. Journal of Arizona History. 24:237-54.

1982

Attempts to Establish and Change a Western Boundary. Annals, Association of American Geographers. 72:254-71.

1981

Arizona: A Geography. Westview Press (336 pages).

1979

Jonas Wenger Hoover, 1889-1979. The Geographical Bulletin. 18:6-11.

 

The Spanish Moss Folk Industry of Louisiana. Melanges No. 12 (19 pages) (with Fred B. Kniffen).

1978

 Louisiana's Acadians: The Environmental Impact, in  The Cajuns: Essays on Their History and Culture, Glenn R. Conrad, Ed. Center for Louisiana Studies, University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, Louisiana. 2nd ed., 1978, pp. 142-60; 3rd ed., l983, pp. 109-26.

 

The Cajun Accordion. Revue de Louisiane/Louisiana Review. 7:117-28.

 

The Crawfish Industry of California and the Northwest. The California Geographer. 18:121-35.

 

Origin and Evolution of Mississippi River Fishing Craft. Pioneer America. 10:72-97

1977

Les Acadiens Louisianais: l'impact de l'environnement. Revue de Louisane/Louisiana Review. 6:163-78. A revision of this article was republished in 1978 in Etudes Normandes. 1-2:23-37.

1976

In Memoriam: Lauren Chester Post. Louisiana History Newsletter. 2(2):1-2.

 

Lauren Chester Post. The California Geographer. 16:85-88.

 

An Early View of the Atchafalaya: The Lt. Enoch Humphrey Expedition of 1805. Attakapas Gazette. 11:152-63.

1975

 Historical Development of the Crawfish Industry in the United States, in Freshwater Crawfish, James W. Avault, Jr., Ed. Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge, pp. 609-19.

1972

Atchafalaya Swamp Life: Settlement and Folk Occupations. School of Geoscience, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, (111 pages).

1970

The Atchafalaya River Raft. Louisiana Studies. 9:217- 27.


BOOK REVIEWS
 

2014

Bayou Pigeon: Spirit of the Atchafalaya, by Cliff LaGrange, et al., Louisiana History 55: 483-85.

2009

Inherit the Atchafalaya, by Greg Guirard and C. Ray Brassieur. Louisiana History 50: 477-78.

  2006

Appalachian Folkways, by John Rehder. Material Culture. 38: 72-74.

2001

Delta Sugar: Louisiana’s Vanishing Plantation Landscape, by John B. Rehder. Historical Geography. 29:168-69.

1998

Flatheads and Spooneys: Fishing for a Living in the Ohio River Valley, by Jens Lund. Material Culture. 30:52-54.

 

Gila Monsters and Red-Eyed Rattlesnakes: Don Maguire’s Arizona Trading Expeditions, 1876-1879, Gary Topping (ed). Annals, Association of American Geographers, 88:754-55.

1997

Documenting Cultural Diversity in the Resurgent American South, Margaret R. Dittemore and Fred J. Hay (eds). Louisiana History. 40:239-41.

1996

A Place Called Grand Canyon: Contested Geographies, by Barbara J. Morehouse. Journal of Cultural Geography. 16:125-26.

 

 Historical Atlas of Louisiana, by Charles R. Goins and John M. Caldwell. Louisiana History. 37:373-74.

1995

The Old Barn: A Field Guide to North American Barns and Other Farm Structures, by Allen G. Noble and Richard K. Cleek. Journal of Cultural Geography. 15:131-32.

1994

French America: Mobility, Identity, and Minority Experience Across the Continent, by Dean Louder and Eric Waddell (eds.). Annals, Association of American Geographers. 84:326-27.

1992

A Legacy of Change: Historic Human Impact on Vegetation in the Arizona Borderlands, by Conrad J. Bahre. Journal of Historical Geography. 18:355-56.

1991

Western Images, Western Landscapes: Travels along U.S. 89, Thomas and Geraldine Vale. Annals, Association of American Geographers. 81:548-49.

1989

Louisiana: A Geographical Portrait, by Milton Newton, Jr. Professional Geographer. 41:248.

l988

The Mapping of the American Southwest, by Dennis Reinharts and Charles C. Colley (eds). Journal of Historical Geography. l4:323-24.

1983

The Georgia-South Carolina Boundary: A Problem in Historical Geography, by Louis De Vorsey, Jr. Geographical Review. 73:463-64.

1982

My Acadians: A Grand Lady's Love Affair with her French-Acadian Heritage, by Lorecia Daigle East. Louisiana History. 23:94.

1978

A Southern Odyssey Travelers in the Antebellum North, by John Franklin. Journal of Historical Geography. 4:216.

 

New Orleans: The Making of an Urban Landscape, by Pierce Lewis. Louisiana History. 19:364-66

1975

Cajun Sketches: From the Prairies of Southwest Louisiana, by Lauren Post. Revue de Louisiane/ Louisiana Review. 4:87-88.

  Revised: April, 2012