Tradition and Change in Contemporary Cajun Culture

Abstract

Too often, history and tradition are confused. History of course is the record of what happened in the past. Henry Glassie defined tradition as “the creation of the future out of the past” (395). Cajun music and community scholar Dewey Balfa put it this way: “Tradition is not a product, but a process. It’s like a tree. One must water the roots so that the tree can support new growth. Both are critically important” (qtd. in Ancelet 49). When this process, a deft blend of conservative and innovative forces, is working at its best, it results in the improvisation of new forms that both surprise us and reassure us at the same time. We experience them for the first time, but recognize clearly where they come from. In one sense, Louisiana’s Cajun and Creole cultures have survived on the margins by resisting change. In another, they have thrived on the margins based on a surprisingly strong sense of identity, and on a clever survival strategy that incorporates and integrates change. If we have survived more or less well, it may be because we have learned to negotiate the margins by constantly adapting and innovating solutions to the pressures from the dominant cultures in our contexts. This spirit of adaptation at the heart of our survival is evident in any number of cultural and social expressions.