Although the French language and the traditional rural way of
life are disappearing among Louisiana Cajuns, identification with
Cajun ethnicity is flourishing. Henry and Bankston draw on
historical documents, ethnographic observations and interviews, and
statistical sources to investigate and explain this phenomenon.
They argue that while Cajun ethnicity developed from and consisted
of the French-speaking, rural poor of the region, it has been
transformed, during the 20th century, into a regional class with
common interests and outlooks. A substantial minority of Cajuns
have risen out of the blue collar niche and into the middle class,
creating more complicated problems of adjustment, role
redefinition, and the changing nature of relationships with friends
and family who remain part of the working class. The authors detail
and describe the way the working class Cajun majority and the white
collar Cajun minority draw on images and ideas from a reconstructed
past to make sense of their present conditions and changes in their
community. This comprehensive structural analysis of Cajun
ethnicity suggests a new emphasis on structural conditions in
understanding ethnic phenomena and introduces the concept of an
economy of ethnicity.
In analyzing and exploring the creation and maintenance of Cajun
ethnicity, Henry and Bankston also point toward a general theory of
contemporary ethnic groups. Why, for instance, have more and more
people claimed to be of Native American ancestry? How did the
population of people calling themselves Irish soar over the course
of a very brief period of time? Arguing that as the cultural basis
of difference subsides, ethnic claims increase, and that such
claims are based on a number of factors including socioeconomic and
regional concerns, the authors contend that the same factors at
play in the maintenance of the Cajun ethnicity are also at play in
other ethnic communities and subcultures within the United States.
They conclude that in claiming an ethnic identity, group members
rework ideas of history and ancestry in order to apply these ideas
to modern life.
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