Xavier Robillard-Martel

XAVIER ROBILLARD-MARTEL, then a graduate student at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, was awarded a grant in April 2021 to aid research on “Cajun Country, Creole Gumbo: Racial Formation and Historical Memory in Southern Louisiana,” supervised by Dr. Viranjini Munasinghe. This research concerned racial politics and historical memory in Southwest Louisiana. For over half a century, the region has been designated by the state legislature as “Acadiana” or “Cajun Country.” Official recognition has brought symbolic and material support to Cajuns, who are defined as white descendants of Acadians (French settlers from Canada). The project explored why Cajun hegemony emerged in the past, and how it is reproduced or challenged today. Research in local archives revealed that efforts to promote Acadian/Cajun heritage were spurred by major changes in the U.S. South’s racial structure, first after the Civil War and then during the Civil Rights movement. Participant observation and interviews showed for their part that modern justifications of Cajun dominance present “Acadiana” as an exception to the South’s ordinary racial structure. Ethnographic and archival research also documented how people of African descent push back against exceptionalist narratives. While some seek inclusion under the “Creole” label, others try to memorialize Black history outside of state-sponsored institutions. So, this study helped explain why conflicts over the meaning of history (memory struggles) have become such a critical site of racial politics in the United States.