This week marks this blog’s seventh anniversary. Thank you for your continued readership. In 2000, in the American Review of Canadian Studies, C. Stewart Doty wrote of “The Future of the Franco-American Past.” Doty proposed lines of research that would substantially improve our understanding of Franco-American history. In the wake of a decade of sustained […]
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How Franco-America Was Built
The latest issue of the academic journal Recherches sociographiques deserves the attention of anyone and everyone with an interest in the transnational history of Acadians and French Canadians. It honors the sixtieth anniversary of a pioneering issue on French-Canadian migrations with a new set of articles that highlight the extent to which, in the intervening […]
Continue readingCorruption, Tariffs, and the French Vote (in 1892)
Francophone readers may be interested in my latest op-ed in Le Devoir, which discusses a landmark anniversary and the policy failure that gave us Franco-America. In our day, Franco-American culture seldom intersects with electoral politics. Admittedly, Paul LePage’s background attracted some attention when he became the first Franco-American governor of Maine. Last month, Kelly Ayotte […]
Continue readingForgotten Tales of the Cold French North
Jean Baptiste In the nineteenth century, Jean Baptiste became an unofficial moniker for French Canadians—a symbolic term applied to them by English speakers to mirror their own John Bull and Brother Jonathan. A glimpse of parish records in the St. John Valley suggests that there was something to it. But in the same records we […]
Continue readingLewiston: Winter Wonderland
It is thought doubtful if any city in the United States has ever entertained as picturesque a gathering of wintersportsmen from across the Canadian border as it was Lewiston’s privilege to entertain during the past week-end. In any event Lewiston has eclipsed its neighboring New England cities in this respect, and for 36 hours, at […]
Continue readingThe “We” of Collective Identity
In September, Télé-Québec aired Notre rêve américain, a documentary on French-Canadian heritage in the United States hosted by Jean-Michel Dufaux and Sébastien Fréchette, a.k.a. Biz. Documentaries on the Franco-American experience are uncommon on both sides of the border; in Quebec, the (fictional) miniseries Les Tisserands du pouvoir, which aired more than thirty years ago, still […]
Continue readingRene Charland: The Fastest Franco-American
Let’s start with this: the guy beat an Earnhardt. The annals of Nascar’s highest levels are filled with French names—Bouchard, Labonte, Lajoie, Nadeau, etc. Local short tracks across the U.S. Northeast have had their share of competitors of French-Canadian descent. But, for all of that talent, few have reached the caliber, reputation, or fame of […]
Continue readingThe Franco-Americans of ChatGPT
Word on the street is that artificial intelligence is here to stay. Some of us are wont, with these breakthroughs, to quote that unusually profound Hollywood gem, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.” But philosophy was hardly ever a match for capitalism—and […]
Continue readingThe Genesis of Manchester’s Franco-American Community
On June 29, 1935, a special issue of the French-language newspaper in Manchester, New Hampshire, L’Avenir national, celebrated la Saint-Jean-Baptiste. Some articles chronicled great figures in Quebec history. Most, however, were firmly focused on the French Canadians of Manchester. In keeping with the occasion, the articles marked with undisguised pride the achievements of their community. […]
Continue readingFranco-Americans and the Construction of Race
Mention race and the conversation to follow may prove to be a powder keg. Some folks are likely to bring up (with contempt) woke ideology and critical race theory; others, systemic racism and persistent inequities. These issues are political, as they should be, politics being the space where we discuss society-wide issues to find solutions, […]
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