French Louisiana at the threshold of the twenty-first centur

Southern Louisiana is the only effective remnant of the French presence in the Mississippi River valley during the 18th century. During the colonial period, settled French Louisiana was a small neglected parcel of the vast French North American empire. Later, under the Spanish, it was seen as little more than a shield for New Spain against Anglo-American encroachement.;Despite political Americanization in the early 19th century, rural French Louisiana continued to grow as a distinctively French region. In response to Anglo penetration, new environments were occupied and mastered. By 1900, southern Louisiana was a lively and discrete culture region within the United States. It was, however, compartmentalized, reflecting ethnic diversity within the French population, diversity in physical geography, and class-based social differentiation. A Louisiana-wide French consciousness had not been achieved.;The 20th century brought better roads, radio, war, television, industrialization, and more Anglos, leading to rapid cultural change. Field work done in 1981 and 1982 examined changes in French Louisiana culture in light of three major traditional markers: Catholic religion, French language and food. It monitored the changing geography of the region in terms of boundaries, internal cultural change, and identity. The work attempts to establish whether these changes suggest continuity, extinction, or some new form of ethnicity.;Analysis reveals that geographically, French Louisiana has begun to shrink. Areas within the region have been changing at different rates, however. The French language is still being eroded despite efforts at revival. Religious indifference persists; the Catholic Church does not function as an ethnic institution. The food, however, remained very popular and has become the unifying element of the culture region.;French Louisiana now uses ethnic politics and outside approval of ethnicity to maintain itself: it has a state-recognized "official territory" and a cultural capital, Lafayette. The Cajun identity has been beautified and promoted as the new regional identity (but excludes the non-white French population). The food, a national fad, has replaced language as the most important element of the French Louisiana culture. These changes suggest that traditional French Louisiana is entering the American cultural mainstream.