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Archiver > QUEBEC-RESEARCH > 2000-03 > 0952973901


From: Alice Chauvin Bradshaw< >
Subject: [Q-R] repost Cajun piece..re-done to make ledgible:)
Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2000 12:58:21 -0600 (CST)


CAJUN HISTORY FROM GRAND PRE ACADIENS TO LOUISIANA CAJUNS:)
CAJUNS~ACADIENS HISTORY from (Brian Gabriel Comeaux) Contre vents et
marées http://www.theadvocate.com
Cajun tale continues to unfold in LPB film By ANGELA SIMONEAUX Acadiana
bureau
Zachary Richard is wrapping up work on
"Against the Tide," a documentary on the history of the Cajun people. It
airs March 19 on LPB. probably safe in assuming he knew his ancestors'
history. When he began work on "Against the Tide," he learned he was
wrong.
"It surprised me that I learned anything. I figured I knew the general
sweep of our
history; I had been studying it for a long time," said Richard, a
musician and Cajun activist. "But there were some major things I didn't
understand that I came to understand through this project."The film, a
one-hour documentary that tells the story of the Cajun people, premieres
on LPB Sunday at 8 p.m. As late as last week, Richard still was working
onthe film with his director, Pat Mire."For the past two months,we've
been in the editing suite 24 hours a day," hesaid. Mire insists on
"extreme quality," so every little detail must be attended to, Richard
said. Of course, condensing the incredible story of the Cajuns into an
hour is no small feat. "It's only an hour, and we're talking about 400
years of history. There were a lot of
things we had to just jettison," Richard said. "The main theme is
identiy.
Will the identity of the Cajun people preserve itself with or without
the language?" Richard said some people
probably will be upset about  what was left out. "But we were very,
very careful to prioritize and respect the general sweep of history,"
he said. "If we included everything, it would have to be a
10-hour program.
Richard said he has worked on the project for almost  three years for
several reasons, but one paramount to  the others. "I think people
will be extremely proud of this work, and proud of this culture," he
said.
Working with producer Richard and Mire on the program were historian
Carl Brasseaux, folklorist Barry Ancelet and script writer Charles
Richard.
The project was sponsored by the Louisiana Department of Tourism and
Action Cadienne.
Richard said he hopes people
will be glued to their televisions during that hour Sunday night. "This
is not a history lesson; this is grand drama. It's a story of exile, a
search for the promised land," Richard said. Those familiar with
Longfellow's poem about the deportation aren't getting the whole story,
Richard said. "It's not as rosy as Longfellow portrayed it. Evangeline
 and Gabriel sound charming. The reality was much more dramatic and
interesting,"
Richard said. One of the threads of the
Cajun story that Richard tried  to be true to is the role of women in
the society those who held and preserved
and passed on the culture through religion, music, food, language and
customs. "They maintained the families.
They were the cohesion  that kept the society together in exile,"
Richard said.
"They were the culture bearers
when the society was  re-established in Louisiana." The film discusses
three major events in the Cajun  history: the deportation from Nova
Scotia, the Civil War and World War II. The Civil War destroyed the
infrastructure of the Cajun society and reduced most Cajun farmers from
freeholders  to tenant farmers, Richard said. It was during WWII that
Cajun men left Louisiana, many
for the first time, to learn that their native language and culture
was nothing to be ashamed of, he said. Most of those men had been
subjected to attempts to assimilate the Cajun people into American
society, which  included the often violent methods of forcing
children to learn English and abandon their French. The children were
told the
language was low class, and not of any use in the world, Richard said.
When those children grew up to be men who served in WWII and learned
that there were large portions of the world speaking French, they
began to question the things they had been told, he said. That
generation's nostalgiafor its culture gave birth to the renaissance of
Cajun culture that occurred in the 1970s, Richard said, and that
renaissance was delivered
and nurtured by the musicians,he added. "This film is not about music or
food. We did not want  to feature musicians, but it was unavoidable,
because the musicians have become the bearers of the flame more than
anyone else," Richard said. "The dance hall culture of the 1950s and
1960s -- that was the reservation. That was the place where the culture
could manifest itself.  In the 1970s it began to come out of the
closet, come out of the dance halls. "Music has become what the language
could not be: a  real, visible rallying point around which members of
the  culture could unite." Everyone should watch the film because it
is a beautiful story, but Cajuns especially should watch it; they can't
assume they already know that story, Richard said.  "Even if you know
a lot -- if you're not Carl Brasseaux, I suggest you watch this,"Richard
said. "I hope it will enlighten and enthrall people. We wanted people to
be enthralled for an hour, so it had to be compelling; it had to be
strong. I hope this does encourage people to learn more about it,
because
we just scratch the surface in a lot of ways." Three years is a long
time,
but Richard said if he researched the Cajun history for decades he
would never finish. "I could do this for the rest of my life. There's
that much depth and beauty in the culture," he said. "This is the
first time this story has ever been told. Nobody ever told this story.
"What's remarkable is not that some of the aspects of the culture have
been altered or even lost, but that, after nearly 250 years in
Louisiana, the Cajun people continue to tell their stories, sing their
songs and build their levees against the tide."

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