Reading Log #5

  1. In Naomi Griffiths’ article “Acadian Identity: The Creation and Re-creation of Community”, Naomi discussions the creation, deportation, and then the re-creation of the Acadian population. In addition to this, the CBC website “The Acadians” gives us more background information to what Griffiths is stating in her article. Griffiths’ article was written to show us the changes in a community that was a large part of Canadian history. This article sheds light on our understanding of the Canadian past by discussing a controversial topic in early Canadian history and how it changed our present day.
  2. Griffiths argument is convincing because she uses background information to help the reader better understand the topic at hand, of Acadian history and the development of a large community, to almost extinction, then to the re-creation of a smaller community. The CBC website increases our knowledge of the topic at hand by giving us information of what was going on in this time period of the development of the Acadian community to the ups and downs of their population. Griffiths explains the development of the community which started in 1604 when the first French attempted to make a permanent colony in North America, and by this time there was no such community as Acadia[1]. However, within the next 100 years a community was created[2]. Griffiths states that this creation of a community also created an identity which was not inherited, but a developing process[3]. On the eve of the Seven Years War, authorities of Halifax set about sending the people of Acadia into exile[4]. This act was aimed at the destruction of a community and the death of Acadian identity[5]. Griffiths explains in her article that this attempt of deportation only destroyed the community but didn’t destroy the identity of the Acadians[6]. The strength of the Acadian identity later led to the re-creation of the community, however, the community was still not like it was once.

This article contributes to the wider historiography on the topic because is gives us a brief overview of what happened to the Acadians in the early 1600s to the mid 1700s and it shows us how even with attempts at deportation of a community, the strength and identity of a population can help bring back a community. This article links to other articles we’ve read because the Acadians are just one of the many population that we’ve discussed that went through tough times in early Canadian history.

  1. Why did the Acadians try to re-create what they once had before deportation?

How did the Acadian’s feel when their community was going to de destroyed?

How strong of an effect did national identity put on the Acadian community? If a strong national identity was put on an indigenous group, would they have been able to come out of almost extinction and re-create a community like the Acadians did?

 

Endnotes:

[1] Naomi Griffiths, “Acadian Identity,” Dalhousie Review 73:3 (1993): 329.

[2] Naomi Griffiths, “Acadian Identity”: 329.

[3] Naomi Griffiths, “Acadian Identity”: 329.

[4] Naomi Griffiths, “Acadian Identity”: 327.

[5] Naomi Griffiths, “Acadian Identity”: 337.

[6] Naomi Griffiths, “Acadian Identity”: 337.

Bibliography:

Griffiths, Naomi, “Acadian Identity: The Creation and Re-creation of Community,” Dalhousie Review 73:3 (1993): 325-349.

*“The Acadians.” CBC. 2016. http://www.cbc.ca/acadian/index.html

Links to the article:

Griffiths: http://dalspace.library.dal.ca:8080/bitstream/handle/10222/63058/dalrev_vol73_iss3_pp325_249.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

*Other online article see Bibliography

My reflection on the articles:

The reason why I included this reading log into my ePortfolio was because it was another topic of my interest in History, which is, a culture and how it was shaped, what shaped it, why it shaped it, what effected this cultural group, and so on. This reading log really stood out to me because it documented the Acadian’s identity to the brink of destruction, however, through strength of community and identity, they were able to overcome it and reconstruct their civilization to be able to function and prosper once again. These articles also support my main purpose of this ePortfolio; to show that interpretations are essential to the facts and information when having a good understanding of History. These articles give an understanding of the facts and information of the time, however, they also leave it up to the reader to make their own interpretations of the issue. Many may believe that the deconstruction of a community was bad not only for the people of the community but also for their identity within Canada. However, my interpretation of this is, that the deconstruction, even though a very negative impact on the community, it was also positive and inspirational. I believe this because without some bumps in the road along the way, you are unable to know how to pick yourself back up and fix the problems at hand. With the close destruction of the Acadian community, they were able to pick themselves back up, come together, and reconstruct their identity and progressively prosper over time.