Bayou Boogie: the Americanization of Cajun music, 1928-1950

Bayou Boogie by Ryan A. Brasseaux outlines the evolution of Cajun music from 1928 to 1950. This thesis highlights obscure recordings by lesser-known Cajun artists to demonstrate how the Cajun-American discourse took place across Fredrik Barth\u27s ethnic boundaries model. This study acknowledges the complexities of the Cajun experience by examining the regional and national socio-cultural contexts in which commercial Cajun recordings flourished. The birth of commercial Cajun music, John and Alan Lomax\u27s 1934 Louisiana field recordings, and Cajun swing (Cajun inflected-western swing) are all discussed in detail to paint a picture of the complexities that shaped south Louisiana\u27s fertile musical landscape between 1928 and 1950. Brasseaux uses music to illustrate the historical roots of the present-day Cajun-American discourse, ultimately concluding that Cajuns negotiated their ethnic and American identities without compromising their ethnicity to protect their cultural resources