The Cajuns: Americanization of a People

By: Shane K. Bernard

Narrated by: Chaz Allen

The past 60 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 Cajuns: 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.

By linking seemingly local events in the Cajuns' once isolated south Louisiana homeland to national and even global events, Shane K. 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.

The book is published by University Press of Mississippi.

©2003 University Press of Mississippi (P)2017 Redwood Audiobooks

Great!

I really loved this. I’m of Cajun descent, and really enjoyed this. Like every single book about the region, the narrator has trouble pronouncing some things, and there was weird audio things. But I really loved this book.

Southern Charm

I am from the south, so I found this book to be extraordinarily informative. The audiobook is exceptionally entertaining, as Mr. Allen Brings an exceptional quality to this work. Highly recommended for those who are interested in the history of the Cajun people.

A Great Resource

A fantastic resource for understanding the trajectory of Cajun Culture in the 20th Century. It also provides contemplation on the question of the survival of the culture.