This insightful book is by far the broadest examination of traditional Cajun culture ever assembled. It goes beyond the stereotypes and surface treatment given to Cajuns by the popular media and examines the great variety of cultural elements alive in Cajun culture today--cooking, music, storytelling, architecture, arts and crafts, and festivals, as well as traditional occupations such as fishing, hunting, and trapping. It not only gives fascinating descriptions of elements in Cajun life that have been woven into the fabric of American history and folklore; it also explains how they came to be. Cajun Country reveals the historical background of the Cajun people, who migrated to Louisiana as exiles from their Canadian homeland, and it shows their folklife as a living and ongoing legacy that enriches America.

本作は、外部から押し付けられた空疎なイメージを剥ぎ取り、ケイジャンという誇り高き人々の深層に迫る比類なき文化史です。流浪の末にルイジアナの湿地帯に根を下ろした彼らの「生存の美学」が、音楽や建築、食文化といった多角的な視点から、克明かつ詩情豊かに描き出されています。 著者が捉えるのは、過去の遺物ではなく変容し続ける生きた遺産です。過酷な追放の歴史をいかにして歓喜の祝祭へと転換させたのか。その精神的強靭さに触れるとき、読者は一つの民族の物語を超えた、人間の圧倒的な創造性と再生の力に魂を揺さぶられるに違いありません。