The Cajuns: Americanization of a People

by Shane K. Bernard

The past sixty years have shaped and reshaped the group of French-speaking Louisiana people known as the Cajuns. During this period, they have become much like other Americans and yet have remained strikingly distinct. The Americanization of a People explores these six decades and analyzes the forces that had an impact on Louisiana's Acadiana.

In the 1940s, when America entered World War II, so too did the isolated Cajuns. Cajun soldiers fought alongside troops from Brooklyn and Berkeley and absorbed aspects of new cultures. In the 1950s as rock 'n' roll and television crackled across Louisiana airwaves, Cajun music makers responded with their own distinct versions. In the 1960s, empowerment and liberation movements turned the South upside down. During the 1980s, as things Cajun became an absorbing national fad, “Cajun” became a kind of brand identity used for selling everything from swamp tours to boxed rice dinners. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, the advent of a new information age launched “Cyber-Cajuns” onto a worldwide web. All these forces have pushed and pulled at the fabric of Cajun life but have not destroyed it.

A Cajun himself, the author of this book has an intense personal fascination in his people.

By linking seemingly local events in the Cajuns' once isolated south Louisiana homeland to national and even global events, Bernard demonstrates that by the middle of the twentieth century the Cajuns for the first time in their ethnic story were engulfed in the currents of mainstream American life and yet continued to make outstandingly distinct contributions.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Historical

220 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

A Cajun from Lafayette, Louisiana, Shane K. Bernard holds degrees in English and History from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and a doctorate in History from Texas A&M University.

Bernard serves as historian and curator to McIlhenny Company, maker of Tabasco brand products since 1868. He has appeared on the History Channel, CNN, CNBC, the BBC, and NPR, as well as in National Geographic.

Bernard lives in New Iberia, Louisiana.

His website is www.cajunculture.com and his blog is Bayou Teche Dispatches.

Click to hear him discuss his book The Cajuns: Americanization of a People on NPR's "Morning Edition".

Click to hear him discuss the history of Tabasco brand pepper sauce on NPR's "Morning Edition".

Reviews

[Brett C · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was an informative read. This wasn't really a history book but more of a sociological and anthropological study. The author explained how Cajun people are viewed as an ethnic minority through linguistic and cultural differences stemmed from French. He explained the collision of Cajun, interchangeable with Acadian and south Louisiana, and Anglo-American and moreso white Anglo-Saxon Protestant culture had been ongoing since the end of World War II.

The boom of the oil and natural gas industry, the increase of tourism, and societal growth brought the American perspective down into southern Louisiana.

Cajuns who had previously subsisted as farmers, trappers, fishermen, moss pickers, logging, and boat builders to now become carpenters, mechanics, butchers, grocers, electricians, and oil-field workers. pg 36

The Cajun culture went through a period of recession. There was discrimination by fellow Louisians and Anglo-American culture through language suppression for school children and bolstered negative stereotypes of the backwoods swamp rat Cajun and his ignorant family. Americanization brought the encroachment of Anglo-Americans while the Cajun became watered down.

Paradoxically, just as Americanization reached critical massing Acadiana and seemed poised to eradicate Cajun culture entirely, an amazing event occurred: the Cajun pride and empowerment movement renewed itself after years of stagnation. pg 114

From the 1980s on Cajun culture and popularity skyrocketed. Foods (Cajun-style hot sauce, seasoning, Popeye's fast food chain, etc.) movies (1984 River Rat with Tommy Lee Jones and Brian Dennehy; 1999 The Green Mile with Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan), and even the X-Men character Gambit who's backstory was of Cajun descent.

There are still efforts to maintaining the Cajun culture after years of exodus to better chances of employment, assimilation, and university level intervention to preserving the unique dialect of Cajun français de la Louisiane. This was an interesting anthropology book about the American subculture. I would recommend it for sure. Thanks!

[Leonide Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a century and a half the southern Louisiana cultural group called Cajuns maintained a separate and unique identity that preserved the traditional values brought by their ancestors from Nova Scotia (Acadia) after brutal expulsion by the British in 1755-56. They spoke French, often exclusively, practiced Catholicism, and lived a rural, non-materialistic lifestyle that valued family and community. Events after the Civil War left most Cajuns in poverty and pushed them farther into bayou country. As the surrounding society became more anglo-conformist, they resisted assimilation until after World War II. Even though many Cajuns fought in WWI, gaining exposure to the world, it was wide-spread military service in the second war that jump-started the Americanization process. In this well-written and readable book, Bernard makes a compelling case for the way Cajuns became part of mainstream American culture. He points out what their culture lost and the generational gap this created. The forces brought by education, politics, and economics are described as well as efforts to preserve Cajun language and culture. In the late 1900's Cajun music, cuisine, and culture became wildly popular and has been exploited ever since. Bernard concludes that the Cajuns' future remains unclear; they may succumb to the mainstream or rebound in new ethnic affirmation. Highly recommended for those who enjoy US history, south Louisiana, and the saga of the Acadians turned Cajuns.

[Brandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book completely mirrored my Paw-paw's stories of growing up in a once solely speaking Cajun French settlement in South Louisiana from the 1930s through the 1960s. Not only did the language disappear -Cajun French was heavily banned from being spoken in public schools during this time, but also his entire settlement was absorbed by a larger town by the turn of the twentieth century. Both the culture and actual home towns of my grandparents'childhoods have all but been swallowed up by the oil industry and American consumerism of today. The older I get, the better I understand the grave impact of this loss and how it will continue to affect my home state and my family's cultural heritage for years to come.

This book does a great job of plotting the historical events that have altered the Cajun community throughout the twentieth century. I particularly enjoyed the myriad of statistics, census data, and first hand accounts of Cajuns as they adjusted to or reacted strongly against changes taking place within their community.

[Sean Chick · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting book on the rapid changes in Cajun culture, as well as the attempt by a people to keep some of their uniqueness in the face of rapid change. It is not afraid to discuss the importance of personality, something many historians try to avoid in such works. It treats its subject with a nuance and fairness (most of the time) that I found almost awe-inspiring.

[Anadarko52 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I was looking for

This book demoans the integration of the old style Cajun culture into mainstream American culture, particularly as a result of World War II. I was hoping for a more historical narrative about the period between the Diaspora and the modern era.

[Lainey B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very well written and researched but lacking perspective. The author rarely uses the lense of the Black American experience to interpret the history of racism and desegregation in Acadiana. Unfortunately SLI is given a gold star pass for being "non-violent" in the integration process. But there is no outline for the scope of what qualifies as "violence" which inevitably includes more than just physical contact. SLI may have handled integration better than other southern schools (credit where credit it's due) but you don't get gold medals for not being as big a jerk as you could be. Something or some response would have occurred even if it wasn't a "violent" one (in the strictest and most literal meaning). This is a great book to introduce yourself (academic and non-academic reader alike) to the late 20th century of Cajun history. Unfortunately, there are issues of moralistic judgements regarding material history, a blasé attitude towards racism and the inherent violence of a society built with racism, and a lack of cultural accountability regarding the issue of race and racial hate groups. Regardless I believe this book shows promise for the future of Cajun history literature as we move closer to the hard and self-reflective questions regarding discrimination and minorities within Acadian from the invisible queer Cajun to the patronized Black Cajun/Louisianan to the forgoten Cajun woman, there is definitely more story to tell in this niche, but this author has made a good step in that direction.

[Lafayette Public Library Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book grew from a thesis that explored how a group of people called Cajuns became part of the greater fabric of America. The reader begins with their isolation due to their geography, culture, and language, and quickly proceeds to more modern times when all three of these elements were nearly lost due to the influences of television, pop culture, the interstate highway system, and the profitability of oil.
As Cajuns become more “Americanized” their culture has been facing greater threats of disappearing. The author explores both the efforts of pursuing the American Dream while attempting not to lose cultural and familial ties that once distinguished the local residents known as Cajuns from the rest of America's melting-pot ideals. In the author's exploration, he covers language immersion efforts, as well as the commercialization of Cajun food and culture. An interesting read for anyone who resides in the parishes that are referred to as making up Acadiana.

[BB · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Marc Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather interesting, at times discouraging, review of what happens to a society that loses its cultural backbone.

[Cheryl S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think I read the wrong book for what I was trying to achieve. I am interested in Cajun history and culture, what makes a Cajun a Cajun. This book--as the title indicates--is about the Americanization of a people. It deals mostly with the years after WWII and how current events have changed the Cajun culture. What it didn't tell me is exactly what that culture is and how it came to be. The writing is somewhat repetitious and dry which didn't contribute to my reading enjoyment.

[Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting general history that ties a lot of national movements to the louisiana experience - the coming of modern luxury goods (i.e. electricity, refridgerators) world war II, hippies, the womans movement, civil rights movement. Also goes into preservation movements such as CODOFIL and the rebirth of cajun music. A good southeast Louisiana history that builds a lot of context around varous trends that shaped the region.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book very interesting and it well documented what my mother and grand parents past down to me. I am from Cajun Country, acing grown up in Opelousas, LA. I really enjoyed it and it gave me some ideas as to where I can do som more of my genealogy research. My mother was one of the school kids who would get punished for talking French on the school grounds when they were trying to get them to learn English.

[Michelle Geiger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this. It was interesting to read about experiences that I know were similar to those of my parents and grandparents and to reflect on my own Cajun experience as the region became more Americanized. It was an interesting way for me to think about the Cajun heritage and fun to see familiar names and places mentioned.

[Mitchel Broussard · Rating 3 out of 5]

It gets a default 3 stars since I only read the introduction and conclusion. Blame my History teacher for only making me have to write one lame page on it. Not my fault.

[Donavan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading for anyone interested in the Cajun people of Louisiana. This book is a starting point for additional research.

[Farmgirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very down-to-earth, realistic portrait of Cajun culture.