CREDITS
Louisiana
Acadians, or Cajuns as they are sometimes called, are a people
whose ancestors left France in the 1600s to settle in the French
Canadian province of Acadie and eventually immigrated to Louisiana
after expulsion from Acadie by the British in 1755. In the more
than two centuries since the Acadian exiles established themselves
in southern Louisiana, "these people, their life style,
and that of their descendants have become a focal point of popular
and scholarly misconception or preconception" (Conrad 1983:1).
Recent Cajun scholarship has sought to present accurate portrayals
and balanced views of Cajun culture (e.g. Ancelet et al. 1991;
Conrad ed. 1983; Conrad 1993a, 1993b; Dormon 1983b). The early
history of the Acadian movement to Louisiana has been documented
(Brasseaux 1987, 1989, 1991, 1992; Voorhies 1983). A distinctive
Cajun life style developed in Louisiana (Dormon 1983a, 1983b)
that perpetuated aspects of their Acadian ancestors' culture
into the twentieth century. However, the Cajun culture, like
all other traditional cultures, is constantly changing in order
to survive and grow in a contemporary context. The amount and
rate of change within that culture has increased rapidly in the
twentieth century. Since the advent of the Council for the Development
of French in Louisiana in 1968, many aspects of Cajun culture
have received both scholarly and popular attention, particularly
language, music, architecture, and folklore (e.g. Ancelet 1983,
1989; Ancelet et al. 1991; Daigle 1987; Del Sesto and Gibson
1975; Gilmore and Gilmore 1991; Phillips 1983; Robison 1983;
Savoy 1986).