By Karaleigh Saar
Though generations of Cajun families in Louisiana had created a rich French-speaking culture, an American push for monolingualism and the establishment of English as the sole language of instruction in 1921 led Cajuns to lose faith in their own culture. Many Cajun people were denied the ability to speak their language, as it was no longer taught even at the high school level, and the speaking of Cajun French was stigmatized in general. It was not until 1968 that there was a serious resurgence of efforts to preserve French in Louisiana. With the creation of the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL), the state sanctioned the preservation of French as a cultural cornerstone of Louisiana. The first step to preserve the language was to develop a French language education program, which they had to build practically out of thin air.
Due to assimilationist policies enforced by the English-speaking majority and its institutions, entire generations of Cajun people found themselves being publicly shamed and punished for their French-speaking. The fear and punishment that these generations experienced influenced the decision for many to not carry on the language to their children. Louisiana soon found itself with a shortage of eligible local French teachers to start their program with. Not only was there a lack of native Louisiana speakers, but in the early years, the leadership of CODOFIL viewed Cajun French unfavorably compared to standard metropolitan French, even going so far as to say that Cajun French is broken and ungrammatical. As a solution, native French-speaking educators were imported from countries such as France, Belgium, and Canada. Even now, teachers from all over the francophone world are finding their way to Louisiana to continue the legacy of French in regions all throughout the state.
This brings us to the eager-to-teach Alice Renard, a Parisian schoolteacher who relocated to Mamou, Louisiana this past summer (2019). Mamou is an agricultural town located about three hours from New Orleans, and—much unlike Paris—it is home to only around 3,200 people. Ms. Renard is one of the native French-speaking teachers who was recruited from abroad to serve in CODOFIL’s French immersion and French as a Second Language programs in 2019. According to the Louisiana Office of Cultural Development’s website, this year’s group of teachers is composed of educational professionals coming from France, Belgium, Canada, and even Mali. Encouragingly, there are also a few teachers who are Louisiana natives, although no exact numbers were shared.
While it is uplifting to read about the linguistic opportunities being offered to more and more Cajun descendants or just Louisiana school children as a whole, by examining the case of young Ms. Renard, it becomes clear that however enthusiastic the resurgence of French education in Louisiana has become, there is still a distinct lack of education in Cajun French as well as a not-so-subtle language hierarchy in place. Ms. Renard was not shy to admit that she was rather unprepared to teach any of the Cajun French dialect. Her students—the majority of whom have traditionally Cajun last names such as Desormeaux, Guillory, Thiboudeaux—will be learning and speaking hexagonal French that would most likely be nearly unrecognizable to their Cajun ancestors. In fact, according to an article by Barry Jean Ancelet, the teaching of metropolitan French just enforces the idea in older Cajun communities that their dialect is inadequate. I find it important to note here that there are certain efforts being made to teach and legitimize Cajun French as a written form; however, these efforts are not central to the basic framework of the Louisiana educational system. Nevertheless, many belonging to the small school’s community seem to be earnestly enlivened by the program. The elementary school’s principal, Mitchell Troy Fontenot, is an example of a Louisianan with grandparents who primarily spoke French and who, reflecting on his inability to speak the language, remarked that the children in Ms. Renard’s class “are going to have so many more opportunities than we had.”
Louisiana is but one of many centers of bilingual and immersion schools in the country, and the numbers continue to grow. As explained by Robert Slater, a senior fellow at the American Councils for International Education, the United States has seen a “growth explosion” over the last decade of dual-language immersion programs that are not specified only to French, but also feature programs with Spanish, Russian, and Mandarin. As of 2019, it has been estimated that there are at least 3,000 such language immersion programs in the United States. What’s more, is that seemingly, the students who are enrolled in these dual-language programs are surpassing their monolingually-educated peers. Therefore, the question is not whether or not programs such as the one in Mamou, LA are beneficial to the students. It is clear to see that the course of action taken by the state of Louisiana to create French immersion programs is opening new horizons for the up-and-coming generations. The real question is whether appointing foreign teachers with little to no knowledge of Cajun culture and dialect are actually helping to preserve Cajun culture, in the long run. In my opinion, the answer would be no.
While criticizing a small and under-funded organization such as CODOFIL may not add to the solution, one has to wonder whether the celebration of French culture that is taking place might be more superficial than genuine. In a 2018 video about the resurgence of French in Louisiana, CODOFIL executive director Peggy Feehan clearly emphasizes the economic and touristic benefits of the French-speaking culture in Louisiana. Therefore, it seems that the culture that Cajun people were once punished for claiming has become an economic opportunity for the state. Hopefully in spite of this, Cajun language and culture can continue to rebuild footing in Louisiana and be shared for generations more.
Sources
Ancelet, Barry Jean. “A Perspective on Teaching the ‘Problem Language’ in Louisiana.” The French Review, vol. 61, no. 3, 1988, pp. 345–356. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/393154. Accessed 6 May 2020.
New French Teachers Arrive in Louisiana, www.crt.state.la.us/cultural-development/codofil/news/new-french-teachers-arrive-in-louisiana-2016.
Fausset, Richard. “Louisiana Says ‘Oui’ to French, Amid Explosion in Dual-Language Schools.” The New York Times , 23 Aug. 2019, Louisiana Says ‘Oui’ to French, Amid Explosion in Dual-Language Schools.
Steele, Jennifer L, et al. “Dual-Language Immersion Programs Raise Student Achievement in English.” Rand Corporation, 2017, https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9903.html.
Languages in Conflict 