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ABOUT CREOLE: A Thread
Because we live in a majority English-speaking environment and EVERYONE generally identifies as "American," there are some specific concepts...
Because we live in a majority English-speaking environment and EVERYONE generally identifies as "American," there are some specific concepts...
...for which most people *do not* have reference points:
1) assimilation
2) language as a criterion for minority status
3) linguistic identity
4) linguistic rights
1) assimilation
2) language as a criterion for minority status
3) linguistic identity
4) linguistic rights
A century ago in Louisiana, there were two main identities*:
1) Creole (French & Creole speakers, including the descendants of Acadian exiles)
2) American (English speakers)
*(This obviously does not consider the Native Americans and other minority language groups, including...
1) Creole (French & Creole speakers, including the descendants of Acadian exiles)
2) American (English speakers)
*(This obviously does not consider the Native Americans and other minority language groups, including...
... the colonial hispanophones and germanophones, along with other more recent immigrants who arrived into "American" Louisiana after 1803).
The baseline for these identities was LANGUAGE. It is evident in legal documents, newspaper articles and literature of the time period...
The baseline for these identities was LANGUAGE. It is evident in legal documents, newspaper articles and literature of the time period...
...that the children of Creoles who no longer spoke French were assumed to be and considered to be Americans, even within their own families.
SEGREGATION AND FORCED ASSIMILATION
The creation of segregated schools in 1916 for WHITE, BLACK & NATIVE AMERICAN children separated young French and Creole-speakers from their same-language peers.
The creation of segregated schools in 1916 for WHITE, BLACK & NATIVE AMERICAN children separated young French and Creole-speakers from their same-language peers.
Five years later in 1921, the state constitutional mandate for education to be delivered EXCLUSIVELY IN ENGLISH meant that:
1) French, the native language of these children, would be relabeled as a "foreign language" (as it remains today, instead of a "heritage language")
1) French, the native language of these children, would be relabeled as a "foreign language" (as it remains today, instead of a "heritage language")
2) children would be forcibly assimilated into English
3) be reprogrammed in English in segregated schools to view their world through a mostly racialized AMERICAN lens
4) English-only education would create a relational disconnect to their own language/culture/surroundings
3) be reprogrammed in English in segregated schools to view their world through a mostly racialized AMERICAN lens
4) English-only education would create a relational disconnect to their own language/culture/surroundings
LANGUAGE AS A CRITERION FOR MINORITY STATUS
Because there is technically not an "official language" of the United States and because identity in White-Anglo-Saxon-Protestant cultures is based on race and skin color, we generally do not think of language...
Because there is technically not an "official language" of the United States and because identity in White-Anglo-Saxon-Protestant cultures is based on race and skin color, we generally do not think of language...
...as a criterion for minority status, especially since English is the dominant language.
If we look at examples of countries where the concept of minority language status *does* exist (Canada, Hawaii, New Zealand, etc.)...
If we look at examples of countries where the concept of minority language status *does* exist (Canada, Hawaii, New Zealand, etc.)...
...we can get a glimpse of how things *might* have evolved in Louisiana had segregation and forced assimilation into English *not* been implemented.
LINGUISTIC IDENTITY AND LINGUISTIC RIGHTS
In Canada, Hawaii, New Zealand and other places where the concepts of common linguistic identity and linguistic rights exist, LANGUAGE is the unifying marker among the minority language populations.
In Canada, Hawaii, New Zealand and other places where the concepts of common linguistic identity and linguistic rights exist, LANGUAGE is the unifying marker among the minority language populations.
This allows them to work together communally on social, educational and professional endeavors.
In Louisiana, however, these concepts do *not* exist, because we have been segregated into racialized camps and assimilated into English.
In Louisiana, however, these concepts do *not* exist, because we have been segregated into racialized camps and assimilated into English.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT AND WHAT DOES IT HAVE TO DO WITH "CREOLE"
Identity is political.
What most people don't grasp, again because we've been segregated and assimilated, is that LANGUAGE is also political because LANGUAGE INFORMS IDENTITY.
Identity is political.
What most people don't grasp, again because we've been segregated and assimilated, is that LANGUAGE is also political because LANGUAGE INFORMS IDENTITY.
As stated above, "English-only education would create a relational disconnect to their own language, culture, history and surroundings."
LANGUAGE IS POLITICAL (AND ECONOMIC)
LANGUAGE IS POLITICAL (AND ECONOMIC)
This is an EXTREMELY IMPORTANT PIECE OF THE PUZZLE.
If I asked you what happened in 1803, you would likely respond, "The Louisiana *Purchase*." However, that is not at all how our ancestors would have described the event. They would have called it, "The SALE of Louisiana."
If I asked you what happened in 1803, you would likely respond, "The Louisiana *Purchase*." However, that is not at all how our ancestors would have described the event. They would have called it, "The SALE of Louisiana."
So, you see that by simply exchanging the word "purchase" for "sale," one's entire perspective relative to that event shifts drastically.
To illustrate the point, Louisiana academic and historian Alcée Fortier published TWO differing versions of Louisiana history in the early 20th century: one in French and one in English.
As another illustration, in English we might say that the pronunciation of New Orleans street names is corrupted. For Burgundy St. we say bur-GUN-dee instead of BUR-gun-dee. For Calliope we say cal-EE-ope instead of cah-LIE-oe-pee.
These "mispronunciations" make complete sense in French because the French pronunciations have simply slid into English. Again, the relation to self, to history and to place is completely informed by LANGUAGE.
EDUCATION AND NATIONAL IDENTITY
Among the main objectives of public education is to create a unifying narrative to create a national identity. The national identity of the United States is defined by the English language from a very "American" perspective.
Among the main objectives of public education is to create a unifying narrative to create a national identity. The national identity of the United States is defined by the English language from a very "American" perspective.
Even as the descendants of Louisiana colonials, we are taught that "we" (i.e. "Americans") bought Louisiana for $15 million, when in fact, "we" were *sold.*
THEN AND NOW
In 1970, the US census reported ONE MILLION people in Louisiana who spoke French (and/or Creole). They easily represented 1/4 to 1/3 of the population of the state, BUT they had been segregated and assimilated for nearly 60 years and two or three generations.
In 1970, the US census reported ONE MILLION people in Louisiana who spoke French (and/or Creole). They easily represented 1/4 to 1/3 of the population of the state, BUT they had been segregated and assimilated for nearly 60 years and two or three generations.
Had they been able to maintain a *common linguistic identity*, they would have represented a formidable economic and political force. At the beginning of the French language revival in the late 1960s and early 1970s, there was concern in the Louisiana legislature...
...and even the US Congress that Louisiana might "become another Québec."
Obviously, the English-speaking political and economic status-quo had to be maintained, and I think one could make the case...
Obviously, the English-speaking political and economic status-quo had to be maintained, and I think one could make the case...
...that this is when the great divergence of "Creole" and "Cajun" began as an express effort to once again divide and conquer Louisiana's franco-créolophone populations.
All of these things are extremely relevant in the ongoing "debate" over who or what is "Creole" because it is simply impossible to decipher without a basic understanding of what has occurred socially, politically and economically relative to LANGUAGE over the last century.
What's tragic is that this debate rages in English while our heritage languages continue to rapidly disappear, like our coastline, as we become more and more American and truly less and less Créole.
thread credited to Dunn Joesph.
