|
a CREOLE article
Cultures
of Acadiana |
Lafayette (LA) Daily Advertiser, May 25, 1999
South Louisiana has ethnic tradition like no other
by Jim Bradshaw
Joseph Langdon moved from Chicago to teach at the University of New Orleans and found the "melting pot in south Louisiana" unlike any other in a United States that proclaims itself a place where people of diverse origins and cultures have melded to form the unique society.
In an essay in the 1982 publication "Louisiana Tapestry: The Ethnic Weave of St. Landry Parish," Langdon remarks, "South Louisiana has a peculiar ethnic tradition . ... True, the area has attracted a diverse population that includes French , Germans, Cubans, Africans, Filipinos, Irish, Spaniards, and many others. Obviously it differs in that respect from the rather monotonous Southern scene of Jackson, Miss., or Macon, Ga., where contemporary population differs little in national background from the black-white stock that filled the early English colonies in North America. Despite its ethnic diversity however, our region doesn't fit neatly into the patterns that sociologists and historians have carefully studied in Chicago, Boston, or New York.
"The disappointments of the typical melting pot in America's major Northern cities such as Chicago have made me remain in South Louisiana. ... We have an unusual and strange region where something has taken place that is different from the process of acculturation in other parts of the United States. I do not mean that rapid assimilation has not affected the immigrants and their descendants who settled in this region. The 19th Century European groups that came to New Orleans, for example, are hardly discernible any longer. The Irish, Germans, Spanish, French, and the early Italians have almost disappeared as distinct groups, ... The breakdown of old world cultures is inevitable; no people, particularly in an American city, can maintain a culture for very long after they have removed themselves from the setting that once created and sustained it.
"The difference in south Louisiana shows up in the end result, not in the process itself. Here the process of assimilation and acculturation has created something of inestimable value - A new public culture related to place and tradition. Nowhere else in America have new cultures of this sort developed. (We) have created original cuisines which have drawn from all major population groups, ... We have developed unique architectural styles which provide distinction to the places where we live and work. ... And who could ignore the music? (It) gives international reputation to New Orleans and South Louisiana. And Finally we have fashioned new forms of festival and community celebration that include not only the weeks of Mardi Gras but other communal affairs that delight our senses.
"This public culture is not superficial. It constitutes the fabric of daily life for many people, providing continuous pleasure and satisfying our need for communal identity. It also stimulates pride of place. We can feel that pride when outsiders come to our community.
"The public culture is open and absorbing; it becomes ours as long as we participate in it and help sustain it. No single group can claim it as their own, no matter how much they may have contributed to it, no matter how long their families have resided in the area. ... In South Louisiana we have developed a new ethnicity from old world and new world ingredients that now belong to this one place on the face of the globe.
"The
original diversity of the population probably helped shape our cultural
development. ... The French and Spanish colonial rulers also played a role
in dealing with this diverse population. They seemed more willing to accept
the difference and diversity than their Anglo-American counterparts in the colonies along the Atlantic. Indeed, the early Louisiana officials even applauded the African culture of their slaves. As a result, West African dancing, festivals, and music as well as cuisine and architecture continue to survive openly without the relentless repression that occurred in British America. The French and Spanish seemed to consider the exotic as something not only intriguing but inviting.
"Ordinary people-black and white-created our public culture. They came from varied ethnic backgrounds-not only the multitude of Europeans from Ireland, Germany, Italy, France, and Spain; but also the varied Black people from West Africa, Haiti, Belize, Virginia, and South Carolina. The blending still goes on.
"The vitality of our public culture should not, however, disguise the massive assaults against it both from within and without. Culture is a fragile creation; it takes decades to nurture a new way of life, but mindless neglect or determined effort can quickly crush its flowering. New
sub urbanization designed to isolate classes and races will not support the culture. Prosperity that tempts us to surround our selves with goods, services, and recreations that have been franchised and manufactured elsewhere will seriously alter our old habits.
"To maintain our Cajun and Creole cultures, we must be alert and protective. We should be careful also not to fall mindlessly into educational fad and fashion. It pays, for example, to learn of our old world backgrounds in France, in Canada, in Africa, in Italy, in Ireland, or Greece; but we cannot recreate in America the cultures of Italy, west Africa, France, Ireland or Cuba. Instead we should try to protect the new world culture that has given meaning to our lives in South Louisiana."