Blue Collar Bayou: Louisiana Cajuns in the New Economy of Ethnicity

Although the French language and the traditional rural way of life are disappearing among Louisiana Cajuns, identification with Cajun ethnicity is flourishing. Henry and Bankston draw on historical documents, ethnographic observations and interviews, and statistical sources to investigate and explain this phenomenon.

They argue that while Cajun ethnicity developed from and consisted of the French-speaking, rural poor of the region, it has been transformed into a regional class with common interests and outlooks. This comprehensive structural analysis of Cajun ethnicity suggests a new emphasis on structural conditions in understanding ethnic phenomena and introduces the concept of an "economy of ethnicity."