French, Cajun, Creole, Houma: A Primer on Francophone Louisiana

Abstract

In recent years, ethnographers have recognized south Louisiana as home to perhaps the most complex rural society in North America. More than a dozen French-speaking immigrant groups have been identified there, Cajuns and white Creoles being the most famous. In this guide to the amazing social, cultural, and linguistic variation within Louisiana's French-speaking region, Carl A. Brasseaux presents an overview of the origins and evolution of all the Francophone communities. Brasseaux examines the impact of French immigration on Louisiana over the past three centuries. He shows how this once-unde. The remarkable diversity of Louisiana's French-speaking population, 1699-1999 -- Four hundred years of Acadian life in North America -- Creoles : a family portrait in black and white -- The Houma nation -- French Louisiana historiography.