Connecting past to present: Louisiana cajuns and their sense of belonging to an Acadian diaspora

Many Cajuns claim their Acadian ancestry, despite the fact that their culture is mixed, originating from the different immigrant groups which have settled in Louisiana (French, Acadian, Spanish, Irish, Black and White Creoles…). This sense of belonging appears through the enhancement of a “blood” fi...

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Autor principal:	Sara Le Menestrel
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN FR PT
Publicado:	Centre de Recherches sur les Mondes Américains 2005
Materias:	Anthropology GN1-890 Latin America. Spanish America F1201-3799
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/8fc63d9a41bd458b8703feadb00c194f
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:8fc63d9a41bd458b8703feadb00c194f2021-12-02T10:37:04ZConnecting past to present: Louisiana cajuns and their sense of belonging to an Acadian diaspora1626-0252https://doaj.org/article/8fc63d9a41bd458b8703feadb00c194f2005-02-01T00:00:00Zhttp://journals.openedition.org/nuevomundo/646https://doaj.org/toc/1626-0252Many Cajuns claim their Acadian ancestry, despite the fact that their culture is mixed, originating from the different immigrant groups which have settled in Louisiana (French, Acadian, Spanish, Irish, Black and White Creoles…). This sense of belonging appears through the enhancement of a “blood” filiation with the Acadians from the Canadian Maritimes Provinces, of a common historic memory based on the “Grand Dérangement” experience (the expulsion of the Acadians by the British in 1755) and of the survival theme. The bond felt with the Canadian Acadians is also based on the sharing of common language and values and goes to the perception of physical resemblance. The notion of Acadian Diaspora has grown these last years within the Louisiana French revival Movement, and has been fortified by the World Acadian Congresses (in 1994 in New Brunswick and in 1999 in Lafayette). Even though this sense of belonging is not expressed by Cajuns as a whole, it represents a criterion of definition increasingly widespread, and has given rise to several recent initiatives in “Cajun Country” (located around Lafayette), such as the creation of the Acadian Memorial, the increase of genealogical societies, the setting of exhibitions about Acadian history, and the development of tourism between Louisiana-French and Canadian-French. However, this identity marker never comes into conflict with Cajuns’ American identity. Just like the Louisiana culture as a whole, the origins of Cajun culture are multiple. The metaphor most often employed to illustrate this process of creolization is of culinary nature. It uses a local specialty, gumbo, from which almost every ingredient reveals a different origin : the basic element, roux, comes from a French technique ; okra is a vegetable imported from Africa ; filé has an Native American origin ; finally, rice and the diverse ingredients incorporated (seafood, poultry, pork or wild game) are local products. Cajun last names also show such a process and reveal the diversity of this culture’s origins : German (Hoffpauir, Shexnayder...), Spanish (Castille, Domingue, Romero...), Scottish (McGee), White Creole (de La Houssaye, Fontenot...), which come along Acadian origin (Leblanc, Broussard, Arceneaux...). However, this cultural mix is not always enhanced by Cajuns, since many increasingly emphasize their Acadian ancestry, which appears to be an essential criterion of definition of the group’s identity.Sara Le MenestrelCentre de Recherches sur les Mondes AméricainsarticleAnthropologyGN1-890Latin America. Spanish AmericaF1201-3799ENFRPTNuevo mundo - Mundos Nuevos (2005)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN FR PT
topic	Anthropology GN1-890 Latin America. Spanish America F1201-3799
spellingShingle	Anthropology GN1-890 Latin America. Spanish America F1201-3799 Sara Le Menestrel Connecting past to present: Louisiana cajuns and their sense of belonging to an Acadian diaspora
description	Many Cajuns claim their Acadian ancestry, despite the fact that their culture is mixed, originating from the different immigrant groups which have settled in Louisiana (French, Acadian, Spanish, Irish, Black and White Creoles…). This sense of belonging appears through the enhancement of a “blood” filiation with the Acadians from the Canadian Maritimes Provinces, of a common historic memory based on the “Grand Dérangement” experience (the expulsion of the Acadians by the British in 1755) and of the survival theme. The bond felt with the Canadian Acadians is also based on the sharing of common language and values and goes to the perception of physical resemblance. The notion of Acadian Diaspora has grown these last years within the Louisiana French revival Movement, and has been fortified by the World Acadian Congresses (in 1994 in New Brunswick and in 1999 in Lafayette). Even though this sense of belonging is not expressed by Cajuns as a whole, it represents a criterion of definition increasingly widespread, and has given rise to several recent initiatives in “Cajun Country” (located around Lafayette), such as the creation of the Acadian Memorial, the increase of genealogical societies, the setting of exhibitions about Acadian history, and the development of tourism between Louisiana-French and Canadian-French. However, this identity marker never comes into conflict with Cajuns’ American identity. Just like the Louisiana culture as a whole, the origins of Cajun culture are multiple. The metaphor most often employed to illustrate this process of creolization is of culinary nature. It uses a local specialty, gumbo, from which almost every ingredient reveals a different origin : the basic element, roux, comes from a French technique ; okra is a vegetable imported from Africa ; filé has an Native American origin ; finally, rice and the diverse ingredients incorporated (seafood, poultry, pork or wild game) are local products. Cajun last names also show such a process and reveal the diversity of this culture’s origins : German (Hoffpauir, Shexnayder...), Spanish (Castille, Domingue, Romero...), Scottish (McGee), White Creole (de La Houssaye, Fontenot...), which come along Acadian origin (Leblanc, Broussard, Arceneaux...). However, this cultural mix is not always enhanced by Cajuns, since many increasingly emphasize their Acadian ancestry, which appears to be an essential criterion of definition of the group’s identity.
format	article
author	Sara Le Menestrel
author_facet	Sara Le Menestrel
author_sort	Sara Le Menestrel
title	Connecting past to present: Louisiana cajuns and their sense of belonging to an Acadian diaspora
title_short	Connecting past to present: Louisiana cajuns and their sense of belonging to an Acadian diaspora
title_full	Connecting past to present: Louisiana cajuns and their sense of belonging to an Acadian diaspora
title_fullStr	Connecting past to present: Louisiana cajuns and their sense of belonging to an Acadian diaspora
title_full_unstemmed	Connecting past to present: Louisiana cajuns and their sense of belonging to an Acadian diaspora
title_sort	connecting past to present: louisiana cajuns and their sense of belonging to an acadian diaspora
publisher	Centre de Recherches sur les Mondes Américains
publishDate	2005
url	https://doaj.org/article/8fc63d9a41bd458b8703feadb00c194f
work_keys_str_mv	AT saralemenestrel connectingpasttopresentlouisianacajunsandtheirsenseofbelongingtoanacadiandiaspora
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Connecting past to present: Louisiana cajuns and their sense of belonging to an Acadian diaspora

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