The Cajunization of French Louisiana : Forging a Regional Identity

The Cajunization of French Louisiana : Forging a Regional Identity

Historical transformation of the term "Cajun" in Louisiana - its meaning, scope, and usage, as well as its blurring of the state's diversity of French lineages. Influence of the term "Cajun" on the cultural awareness of the Louisiana French, and the impact of Louisiana French cultures on the region's geography. State case-study exploration that provides definitional and territorial figures regarding the term "Cajun," and the changes in these figures and their geography over time. From the author: "French Louisiana is the only remnant of France's vast Mississippi Valley empire and its only effectively settled region in the eighteenth century. It remains today one of the most distinctive culture regions of the United States. However, perception of French Louisiana does not reflect its reality. The French population of Louisiana is very diversified in terms of its origins. Despite this diversity, French Louisiana is now usually associated exclusively with Cajuns, a word which until recently was considered derogatory. The beautification of the Cajun identity began to take place in the late 1960s. It was followed by a gradual Cajunization of the white French Louisiana identities and of the regional ethnic territory. However, this process of Cajunization remains incomplete because black Creoles and French-speaking Indians remain unintegrated. Hence, the apparent ethnic homogeneity of French Louisiana, viewed from the outside, contrasts sharply with the cultural variety of its communities."

Trépanier, Cécyle

1991 July

English

Journal Article

17th century - 20th century, Louisiana

10.2307/635273

0016-7398

2

161-171

The Geographical Journal

http://www.jstor.org/stable/635273

http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0016-7398

157