A Stateless Nation Called the Cajuns

colorado State University-pueblo |

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A Stateless Nation called “The Cajuns” |

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BY: Otho Lee Nugent |

Geography 103-002 Professor Randall Dawson

When reading journal articles or textbooks about different geography regions of the world what is one term that seems to resurface? That term is “Stateless Nation”. Many people read the term, but really don’t know or understand what it implies. In order to understand what a “Stateless Nation” is we have to look at the full definition and then apply it. The Dictionary of Sociology states that, “Stateless societies is a general term which is often applied to acephalous (A term used to describe the political system of societies without centralized state authority) (Marshall) or segmented societies, which lack a centralized state authority, but is occasionally ‘though incorrectly’ extended to include those societies which have a political system based on an acknowledged chief or traditional ruler, and therefore lack a clearly defined state apparatus” (International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences). When asked what a stateless nation or stateless society is depends upon what that group of people claims to be their characteristics of that geographical area. A stateless society has no specialized institutionalized political structures of roles concerning power. Despite the enormous cultural variety of stateless societies, it is somewhat amazing how frequently certain formal characteristics repeat throughout the writing about their history. These may be grouped under five general headings: “multipolity, ritual superinte-gration, complementary opposition, distributive legitimacy, and intersecting kinship, are cumulative and interlocking rather than exclusive” (Southall). The Cajun people of southern Louisiana are a minority ethnic group of people that are characterized as a “Stateless Nation”, because they have no specialized, institutionalized,...