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Title: Acadian to Cajun: Transformation of a People, 1803-1877 by Carl A. Brasseaux ISBN: 0-87805-583-5 Publisher: Univ Pr of Mississippi (Trd) Pub. Date: November, 1992 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (3 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: So, who's a Cajun?
Comment: Brasseaux's examination of the development of the Cajun identity during the 1800s is an interesting social history, but its format leaves a little to be desired. Instead of following things chronologically, he examines changes in different aspects of Cajun society -- economic life, social class/status, political participation, crime/justice/vigilantism, folklife, etc. -- in isolation. While this does lead to an interesting, in-depth analysis of these aspects of society, it also makes for jarring reading. This focus shifts, however, in the chapter on Cajun reaction to the U.S. Civil War. According to the introduction, this was Brasseaux's original area of interest, and it shows. He does an excellent job of illuminating the general indifference to the Confederate government and the government's many attempts to draft Cajuns into gray uniforms.
Rating: 5
Summary: Acadian history by a real scholar.
Comment: Carl Brasseaux's several excellent studies on the transformation of Acadian culture in Louisiana are, as far as I can gather, the first scholarly, complete, in-depth books on the subject. They're certainly the best. A lot of former studies focused on isolated aspects of Acadian culture, like music and the emergence of slaveholding among Acadians, as did the numerous -- and usually dirt-dry -- parish studies. Just as the lingering influence of Longfellow's "Evangeline" has kept many students from looking farther into this group's history than the "grand dérangement" of the 1760s, historians have neglected to fill in the gap in Louisiana Acadian historical literature between the late Spanish/French-colonial period and the Civil War.
One of the reasons for this is the lack of "traditional" primary sources for Acadian history. Since most Acadians were illiterate, only a few diaries and newspapers exist. Travellers to Louisiana seldom visited the backwater places inhabited by the Acadians, and those who did were usually prejudiced against their "vile" way of life. Brasseaux taps into "alternative" sources that many historians prefer to avoid: federal census reports, church registers, civil records. While census takers were often notoriously careless, their reports offer the best available view of Acadian society. Such sources used individually would be of dubious value, but used in conjunction with each other they give us a pretty sound picture of life in the period. The nature of his sources makes Brasseaux's book kind of dull once in a while, but it's still a good read. Lucidly-written, too.
Chapters of the book: One and Two, "Acadian Folklife in the Nineteenth Century" and "The Emergence of Classes in the Antebellum Period," show how community life developed over seventy years. Subsequent chapters cover Acadians in antebellum politics, the Civil War, economic fortunes (or misfortunes) in the between 1865 and 1877, cultural integration and cultural responses to the South's defeat and Reconstruction, and politics and violence among Acadians during Reconstruction.
An invaluable addition to the literature on this subject. Check out Brasseaux's other books, too.
Rating: 4
Summary: Interesting & Informative
Comment: It is quite difficult to reconstruct many details of Louisiana's history in the 19th century because of the scarcity of documents. Brasseaux, however, gives a very good sketch of what went on. He takes us to the time of the transfer of Louisiana from France to the United States and how little the Acadians cared about the politics of the time. He illustrates the differences between the prarie Acadians and the river Acadians. During the War Between the states, the river Acadians were mainly Confederates while the prarie Acadians were mainly seen as Unionists. He showed how slavery affected these two groups differently; the prarie Acadians were mainly ranchers and owned few if any slaves while the river parish Acadians were more in sync with the rest of the plantation society and usually had many slaves. He also gets into the differences between the Creoles and the Acadians and how both societies merged by the end of the 19th century. He shows how negative stereotypes about Acadians were spread by travelers who only took a passing glance at the society that appeared foreign to them.
My most interesting impression about the book was the transformation of the Acadian people from a very peaceful society to a more violent society with the introduction of "vigilante" groups of extralegal law enforcers. These groups were the result of rising crime and banditry in some areas where people took justice into their own hands.
Finally, the most telling part is how the War Between the States destroyed the economy that did not recover until the second world war. The federal forces destroyed many of the levees around the wetlands and rivers that caused much flooding and destruction so that the agricultural output was decimated.
This is an interesting read for anyone interested in the sketchy history of the Acadians of the 19th century.
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Title: The Cajuns: Americanization of a People by Shane K. Bernard ISBN: 1578065232 Publisher: Univ Pr of Mississippi (Trd) Pub. Date: April, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: The Founding of New Acadia: The Beginnings of Acadian Life in Louisiana, 1765-1803 by Carl A. Brasseaux ISBN: 0807120995 Publisher: Louisiana State University Press Pub. Date: January, 1997 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Scattered to the Wind: Dispersal and Wanderings of the Acadians 1755 - 1809 (Louisiana Life Series, No. 6) by Carl A. Brasseaux ISBN: 0940984709 Publisher: Univ of Louisiana at Lafayette Pub. Date: June, 1991 List Price(USD): $5.00 |
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Title: The Cajuns: From Acadia to Louisiana by William Faulkner Rushton ISBN: 0374118175 Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux Pub. Date: 1979 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Notes From Exile : On Being Acadian by Clive Doucet ISBN: 0771028415 Publisher: McClelland & Stewart Pub. Date: 01 September, 2000 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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