Cajun Mardi Gras: Cultural objectification and symbolic appropriation in aFrench tradition

Rural Louisiana Mardi Gras is viewed as a Cajun-French custom although it w as once shared by a diverse Louisiana French population. This transformatio n occurred during a late-twentieth-century ethnic revival which objectified and symbolically appropriated local culture as Cajun. This Cajunization pr ocess was aided by external influences such as scholarly literature and the media which identified local culture and French Louisiana in general as Ca jun. Despite a recent Afro-French ethnic movement, which also claims owners hip or co-ownership of local culture, rural Mardi Gras is still identified as a Cajun cultural institution and the celebration unifies a diverse Cajun -French population.