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Abstract
Louisiana has had a varied relationship with the geographical construct known as the Francophone World. Until the second half of the twentieth century, the state was only rarely associated with this particular geographical framing. Beginning in the 1960s, however, an explicit effort was made to embrace the Francophone World idea. The endeavor met with some success, yet this occurred precisely at a time when the use of French was declining in Louisiana and when concerns were mounting over the commodification of the culture of the Louisiana French. The irony is that these trends needed to be downplayed in order to claim a place for Louisiana in the Francophone World. Exploring the nature and significance of the effort at geographical positioning shows the importance of looking at spatial conceptualizations not just as passive compartments, but also as actively constructed frameworks that reflect and promote social, economic, and political agendas.
Acknowledgements
This article came out of an invitation to participate in an Atlantic Studies symposium at Louisiana State University. Thanks to Andrew Sluyter at LSU for the invitation to participate in the symposium and to Matthew Derrick at the University of Oregon for providing invaluable research assistance and help with the figures. The author is grateful for very helpful input from Maria Roth-Lauret and two anonymous reviewers. The usual disclaimers apply.
Notes
1. See, for example, CitationBond, French Colonial Louisiana and the Atlantic World.
2. CitationAgnew, “The Territorial Trap,” 53–60; Murphy, “Regions as Social Constructs,” 23–6; CitationTaylor, “The State as Container,” 151–5.
3. CitationLefebvre, The Production of Space.
4. See generally CitationLewis and Wigen, The Myth of Continents.
5. CitationSmith, “Geography, Difference, and the Politics of Scale,” 57–63; CitationBrenner, “The Urban Question as a Scale Question,” 361–70.
6. See, for example, CitationBrière, “Quebec and France.”
7. See, for example, CitationBrière, “Quebec and France.”, 167.
8. CitationSautman, “Hip-Hop/Scotch,” 121–3.
9. CitationAger, “Francophonie in the 1990s,” 1.
10. CitationMartel, “Culturally Colored Didactics.”
11. See generally CitationWeinstein, “Francophonie.”
12. CitationMinistère des Affaires Etrangères, “Francophony.”
13. CitationBremner, “Romania is Part of the French Empire,” 42.
14. See, for example, CitationMengara, “Africa, the French Language, and the Francophone World;” Brière, “Quebec and France;” and CitationGazsi, “Vive les Francofffonies!”
15. CitationHall, Africans in Colonial Louisiana.
16. CitationWaddell, “French Louisiana,” 233.
17. Sexton, “Cajun-French Language Maintenance and Shift.”
18. See CitationShell, “Language Wars,” 6.
19. CitationAncelet, “A Perspective on Teaching the ‘Problem Language,’” 345.
20. See CitationWaddell, “French Louisiana;” CitationOudiz, “Louisiana, Two Hundred Years On.”
21. CitationMengara, “Africa, the French Language, and the Francophone World.”
22. See generally, CitationLauret, Marshall, and Murphy, The French Atlantic (special issue of Atlantic Studies); CitationMarshall, France and the Americas; CitationForsdick and Murphy, Francophone Postcolonial Studies.
23. See generally CitationFishman, The Rise and Fall of the Ethnic Revival.
24. See CitationEsman, The Celebration of Cajun Identity.
25. CitationGold, “The French Frontier of Settlement in Louisiana,” 276.
26. CitationTrépanier, “The Cajunization of French Louisiana,” 162.
27. Louisiana Legislative Act No. 409 1968.
28. CODOFIL, “Louisiana's French History.”
29. CitationSexton, “Cajun-French Language Maintenance and Shift,” 41.
30. CitationTrépanier, “The Cajunization of French Louisiana,” 162.
31. CitationTrépanier, “The Cajunization of French Louisiana,”, 162–5.
32. CitationSexton, “Cajun Mardi Gras,” 303.
33. CitationTrépanier, “The Cajunization of French Louisiana,” 164.
34. See generally CitationLewis, “L'Acadie Retrouvee.”
35. CitationCODOFIL, “What is CODOFIL?”
36. CitationLandry, Allard and Henry, “French in South Louisiana,” 442.
37. CitationSexton, “Cajun Mardi Gras,” 304.
38. CitationCODOFIL, “Louisiana's French Language.”
39. CitationCODOFIL, “Louisiana's French Language.”.
40. CitationWaddell, “French Louisiana,” 249.
41. Available at http://flfa.free.fr/webflfaf.html.
42. An example is La Mission Interuniversitaire de Coordination des Echanges Franco-Americains (MICEFA), a consortium of universities in the Paris region that has entered into educational exchange agreements with a number of universities in Louisiana.
43. CitationKing, “Bad Times on the Bayou;” and see generally, Waddell, “French Louisiana.”
44. Sexton, “Cajun-French Language Maintenance and Shift,” 41.
45. Sexton, “Cajun-French Language Maintenance and Shift,”, 41.
46. See, for example, Marshall, “New Orleans, Nodal Point of the French Atlantic;” CitationMurphy, “De-Centring French Studies.”
47. CitationWaddell, “French Louisiana,” 249.
48. See CitationLouisiana Economic Development Council. “Louisiana: Vision 2020”.
49. See CitationLouisiana Economic Development Council. “Louisiana: Vision 2020”, 3.
50. See CitationLouisiana Economic Development Council. “Louisiana: Vision 2020”, 10.
51. This information was provided by the Louisiana Office of Tourism.
52. CitationLouisiana Research Team. “The Impact of the Louisiana Department,” 12.
53. CitationNew Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation, “New Orleans Tourism.”
54. See CitationState of Louisiana, “Louisiana.”
55. CitationCNN, “US receives aid offers.”
56. CitationSchweid, “Countries Pledge Hurricane Aid.”
57. CitationGeneral Consulate of France in New Orleans. “Aide culturelle de la France.”
58. See Louisiana Recovery Authority, “Louisiana Speaks Regional Plan.”
59. CitationLouisiana Economic Development Department, “One Year Later.”
60. See generally Murphy, “Regions as Social Constructs;” CitationThrift, “Taking Aim at the Heart of the Region.”
61. See, for example, CitationCox, The Global and the Local; CitationMarston, “The Social Construction of Scale.”