Further Reading

The work of the Centre d’Études Acadienne in Moncton, New Brunswick – in particular, its archival collections and publications – is the fundamental starting point for any study of the Acadian experience. The Centre’s bibliographic series, for example, cover not only documents, in volumes like Inventaire general des sources documentaires sur les Acadiens (Moncton, 1975), but also printed works as listed in Guide bibliographique de l’Acadie, 1976–1987 (Moncton, 1988). Further, the best full-length introductions to the Acadian experience in Canada are the volumes published by the Centre and edited by Jean Daigle, Les Acadiens des Maritimes (Moncton, 1981) and L’Acadie des Maritimes (Moncton, 1994). These volumes contain articles on a variety of aspects of Acadian-Canadian life and they include excellent bibliographies.

There are a number of general histories of the Acadians in French, of which Michel Roy, L’Acadie des origines à nos jours (Montreal, 1981) is the most nationalistic. Short essays covering Acadian life before and after Confederation are in Phillip Buckner and John Reid, eds., The Atlantic Region to Confederation: A History (Toronto, 1994) and E.R. Forbes and D.A. Muise, eds., The Atlantic Provinces in Confederation (Toronto, 1993). Cole Harris and Geoffrey J. Matthews, eds., The Historical Atlas of Canada, vol.1 (Toronto, 1987) contains excellent maps of the early Acadian communities and of Acadian voyages during the Deportation.

For the migration to Acadia and the creation of communities, there are two important articles: Gysa Hynes, “Some Aspects of the Demography of Port Royal, 1650– 1975,” Acadiensis, vol.3 (1973), 11–25; and Leslie P. Choquette, “French and British Emigration to the North American Colonies: A Comparative View,” in New/New France, 1600–1850, Proceedings of the Dublin Seminar for New England Studies, 15–16 July 1989, 49–50. There has been considerable interest in Acadian genealogy as reflected in works like Bona Arsenault, Histoire et généalogie des Acadians (Quebec City, 1965). Stephen White, “La généalogie des trente-sept familles hôtesses des ‘retrouvaolles 94’,” La société historique acadienne, vol.25, nos.2–3 (1994), is a good discussion on the origins of major Acadian kin groups. For community life a crucial study is that of Marc-Adelard Trembly, Famille et parente en Acadie (Ottawa, 1971). Charles Hughes, People of Cove and Woodlot: Communities from the Viewpoint of Social Psychiatry (New York, 1960), is useful for its insights into the social psychology of the group, as is Ronald Labelle, Au Village-du-Bois: mémoires d’une communauté acadienne (Moncton, 1985).

A number of studies of Acadians in given geographical areas can be recommended, including Henri-Dominique Parette, People of the Maritimes Acadians (Four East, N.S., 1991), which deals with the Maritimes in general. For New Brunswick, Richard Wilbur, The Rise of French New Brunswick (Halifax, 1989), provides an excellent overview, as does Sally Ross and Alphonse Deveau, The Acadians of Nova Scotia Past and Present (Halifax, 1992), and Georges Arsenault, The Island Acadians, 1720– 1980 (Charlottetown, 1989) for Prince Edward Island. For the province of Quebec the major work is Pierre-Maurice Hebert, Les Acadiens du Québec (Montreal, 1994). The most significant work for the study of Acadians in the United States is Glenn Conrad, The Acadians: Essays on Their History and Culture (Lafayette, La., 1978). The classic work on the Acadians in France remains that of Ernest Martin, Les exiles acadiens en France au XVIIIe siècle et leur établissement en Poitou (Poitiers, France, 1979).

The deportation of the Acadians has been a major industry for both historians and political scientists. Many studies begin the history of the events of 1755 with a survey of the preceding decades, and two contrasting works along these lines are by historians resident in France: Yves Cazaux, L’Acadie: histoire des Acadiens du XVIIe siècle à nos jours(Paris, 1992), is a judicious analysis of the development of Acadian life in the context of both North American and European political realities before the deportation; Robert Sauvageau, Acadie: La Guerre de Cent Ans des Français d’Amerique aux Maritimes et en Louisiane, 1670–1769 (Paris, 1987), claims that the English and French are natural-born and hereditary enemies, a point of view also shared by Emile Lauvrière, La tragedie d’un peuple: histoire du peuple acadien de ses origines à nos jours (Paris, 1922). John Brebner, New England’s Outpost: Acadia before the Conquest of Canada (New York, 1974), is the best introduction to the diplomatic and political problems of the mid-eighteenth century. Naomi E.S. Griffiths, The Contexts of Acadian History, 1686-1784 (Montreal, 1993), attempts to place the events in a broad context with an emphasis on the Acadian community itself, while a recent study, Jennifer Reid, Myth, Symbol and Colonial Encounter: British and Mi’kmaq in Acadia, 1700–1867((Ottawa, 1995), discusses the events from a very different perspective, that of the First Nations inhabitants of the Acadian settlements.

Works primarily concerned with the development of a sense of Acadian identity and political thought are those by Jean-Paul Hautecoeur, L’Acadie du discours: pour une sociologie de la culture acadienne (Quebec, 1975); Joseph Yvon Theriault, L’identité à l’épreuve de la modernité: écrits politiques sur l’Acadie et les francophones canadiennes minoritaires (Moncton, 1995), and Léon Thériault, La question du pouvoir en Acadie: essai (Moncton, 1982). Alexandre Savoie, Une demi-siècle d’histoire acadienne(Moncton, 1976), and Calixte Savoie, Mémoires d’un nationaliste acadien (Moncton, 1979), are autobiographical works which present the experience of living as an Acadian in the Maritimes in the twentieth century. Roger Ouellette, Le Parti acadien de la fondation à la disparition, 1972–1982 (Moncton, 1992), describes the creation of a political party in New Brunswick based on Acadian ethnic origins.

Acadian material culture is well documented in two books by Jean-Claude Dupont, Héritage d’Acadie (Ottawa, 1977) and Histoire populaire de l’Acadie (Montreal, 1979). Folk traditions among the Acadians have been researched extensively; important works in this field include Catherine Jolicoeur, Les plus belles légendes acadiennes (Montréal, 1981), and Ronald Labelle and Lauraine Léger, eds., En r’montant la tradition: hommage au père Anselme Chiasson (Moncton, 1982). The essential work on Acadian French is the monumental, two-volume study by Geneviève Massignon, Les parlers français d’Acadie (Paris, 1965). Surveys of writings by Acadians include Marguerite Maillet, Gerard Leblanc and Bernard Emond, comps., Anthologie de textes littéraires acadiens: 1601–1975 (Moncton, 1979), and a series of essays titled Survol historique: langues et littératures au Nouveau Brunswick (Moncton, 1986) under the general editorship of Reavley Gair.