Finding Nouvelle Acadie: Lost Colonies, Collective Memory, and Public Archaeology as an Expedition of Discovery
Author(s): Mark A Rees
Year: 2017
Summary
In 1765 more than 200 Acadian émigrés from Nova Scotia arrived in south Louisiana and established the colony of Nouvelle Acadie along the natural levees of the Bayou Teche. Joined by fellow exiles and extended family, two centuries later their numerous descendants experienced a cultural revitalization as Cajuns living in a colonized homeland called Acadiana. During the past three years the New Acadia Project has surveyed portions of the Teche Ridge in search of the original home sites and unmarked burials of Nouvelle Acadie. This publicly-funded, community-based initiative elicits counter narratives that prod collective memory and stoke commemoration. By raising the specter of a lost colony in a constructed landscape, the expedition of discovery provides a rallying point for community engagement and catalyst for the advancement of public archaeology.
Cite this Record
Finding Nouvelle Acadie: Lost Colonies, Collective Memory, and Public Archaeology as an Expedition of Discovery. Mark A Rees. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Fort Worth, TX. 2017 ( tDAR id: 435449)
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Keywords
General
Colonization
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Memory
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public
Geographic Keywords
North America
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United States of America
Temporal Keywords
Eighteenth century and present-day
Spatial Coverage
min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 446