French, Cajun, Creole, Houma: A Primer on Francophone Louisiana.French, Cajun, Creole, Houma: A Primer on Francophone Louisiana. By Carl A. Brasseaux Carl Anthony Brasseaux (born August 19, 1951) is a historian of French Colonial North America, and particularly of Louisiana and the Cajun people. He helped to pioneer the field of Cajun history, and his published works on this topic represent the first serious, in-depth . (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press This article needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Alone, primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of this article are not sufficient for an accurate encyclopedia article. , c. 2005. Pp. xii, 159. $19.95, ISBN ISBN abbr. International Standard Book Number ISBN International Standard Book Number ISBN n abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m 0-8071-3036-2.) The diminutive size of this volume belies the wealth of information and insight contained in the book's five essays about the history of French-speaking peoples in Louisiana. The first essay provides a taxonomic overview of Francophone immigration immigration, entrance of a person (an alien) into a new country for the purpose of establishing permanent residence. Motives for immigration, like those for migration generally, are often economic, although religious or political factors may be very important. from the seventeenth century to the twentieth-first century. The essay has nuance, demonstrating the complexity of Louisiana's cultural heritage with information, sometimes quantified, about the occupational and regional backgrounds of Louisiana's French-speaking inhabitants. The three essays that follow survey the history and evolution of three groups influential in shaping French cultures in Louisiana: Acadians, Creoles, both black and white, and Houma Indians. All of this is juxtaposed jux·ta·pose tr.v. jux·ta·posed, jux·ta·pos·ing, jux·ta·pos·es To place side by side, especially for comparison or contrast. against persistent stereotypes about French-speaking people in Louisiana, especially Acadians (and later Cajuns) and Creoles. A succinct historiography makes up the final essay. The author identifies key primary and secondary sources for French-speaking Louisiana. Taken together the essays fulfill the promise of the book's title as a baseline of information about Francophone Louisiana. A minor deficiency is the absence of maps that would be useful to those unfamiliar with the geography of France France is a country in Western Europe, bordering the Atlantic Ocean (Bay of Biscay) and English Channel, between Belgium and Spain, southeast of the UK; bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Italy and Spain. and Louisiana. The subject of cultural identity, its formation and transformation, is central to this book. The author argues that over the course of three centuries the Francophone umbrella in Louisiana sheltered a diverse assortment of French-speaking peoples from Europe, Canada, the Caribbean, and Southeast Asia. The diversity among French-speaking immigrants meant Francophone Louisiana never formed a unified linguistic or cultural identity that was easy to preserve or even to define. He also demonstrates that factors other than place of origin separated French-speakers from one another. For example, by the late eighteenth century, white Creoles--American-born descendants of Europeans--sought to distance themselves socially and economically from both their Acadian neighbors and black Creoles. This volume could not come at a better time, or be about a better place, for early American historians who are currently investigating the formation and expression of cultural identities in early America. The author places the Acadians at the center of this discussion when he asserts that "Acadians were the first European immigrant group to develop a distinctly North American identity," an intriguing assertion given the fact that Spanish Europeans enjoyed at least a one-hundred-year head start in developing a comparable group identity in North America (p. 65). Finally, in an era of globalization globalization Process by which the experience of everyday life, marked by the diffusion of commodities and ideas, is becoming standardized around the world. Factors that have contributed to globalization include increasingly sophisticated communications and transportation the book is a reminder of the complexity that can exist within seemingly unified cultures. SARA Sara or Sarah, in the Bible, wife of Abraham and mother of Isaac. With Rebekah, Rachel, and Leah, she was one of the four Hebrew matriarchs. Her name was originally Sarai [Heb.,=princess]. BROOKS SUNDBERG Central Missouri State University Missouri State University is a state university located in Springfield, Missouri. It is the state's second largest university in student enrollment, second only to the University of Missouri. From 1972 to 2005, Missouri State was known as Southwest Missouri State University. |
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