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The basis for understanding public support for the arts in the United States is the absence of any precedent for direct national involvement (Larson 1983). The American approach to culture has reje...

The basis of the American approach to culture eschews any collective state intervention. Cultural institutions, such as museums, originated as the beneficiaries of private donors. Such philanthropy benefits from a tax code that provides financial incentives for contributions to private organizations. For institutions, funds raised from ancillary activities, such as gift shops, also enjoy significant tax exemptions. Yet, despite these publicly financed tax deductions, cultural visions are privately conceived, and reflect the agendas of the donors. This attitude represents the basic principle of the American patronage system: one that is facilitated by a tax policy, not a cultural policy.

Devin Beauregard has written an important contribution to our understanding of cultural policy. His book focuses on subnations, that is, territories within states that are largely populated by “nat...

This essay evaluates the character of the unique French culture of the Acadiana region of Southwest Louisiana. This Cajun space represents twenty-two of the state's sixty-four parishes (counties) o...

The forty-second edition of the Social Theory, Politics and the Arts (STP&A) Conference was held in Montreal from October 14 to 16, 2016. For the occasion, STP&A's first Lifetime Achievement Award ...

Culture and commerce are typically thought to inhabit different realms. This may be more the accepted wisdom in the United States where culture is associated with the ‘high arts’ (for example, orch...

A truism of cultural policy research is that while countries frequently debate whether to have a cultural policy, France debates what goals its cultural policy should emphasize. While so-called U.S...

Any discussion of cultural policy must take into account the importance of public culture and tradition “in giving a sense of uniqueness and meaning to the individual political cultures” (Pye and Verba 1965: 19). Accordingly, a comprehensive analysis of a nation’s development involves not only its political institutions, but also its cultural identity. “As with politics in general, cultural politics involves the expression of the collective values of a people, the feelings of people about their social and group identities, and above all else the tests of loyalty and commitment” (Pye and Verba 1965: 19). The distinguishing characteristic of cultural policy in countries characterized by a legacy of coloniality is the importance of identity formation and the politics that are involved in formulating its definition.

The basis for understanding public support for the arts in the USA is the absence of any precedent for direct national involvement (Larson 1983). This is not attributable to a simplistic view of American philistinism. Rather, the principles of limited government, hidden-hand economics, and dogmatic individualism constitute an explanatory framework. Furthermore, at least since the Jacksonian era, there has been a demonstrable resistance to any assertion of what would seem to constitute superior judgment. Consequently, the very notion of a public cultural policy would elicit strong objections as being at odds with the norms of democratic equality.

The international global sports spectacle, an integral part of the Olympics (as well as the World Cup), has become a vehicle for the political exploitation of identity within a globalized context. “The growth of these organizations, and their major events, has provided a platform for national pride and prestige” (Tomlinson and Young 2006: 1). These spectacles, “a physical display of the body politic,” attract large followings as they serve to define the overall character of a particular Olympic Game (Tomlinson and Young 2006: 3). The competition to host the Games has become a media event in itself as the merits of the various contenders are evaluated. The benefits of hosting these events are clear as one recognizes the forum that is provided to celebrate national identity. “The international profile of the media event has produced recurrent discourses of identity and globalization” (Tomlinson 1996, 2000).

Use of the term “cultural region” needs to be clarified. A cultural region is a geographic area within which a group of specific cultural traits are concentrated. Cultural regions occur in multinational states, such as the USA, and nation-states alike. In some cases, cultural regions represent separate nations within states (not subcultures of one homogeneous nation-state). For example, Scotland is a nation within the state of Great Britain. They are not British, but Scottish, a separate cultural region and nation (but not a state).

This chapter evaluates the French culture of the Acadiana area of Southwest Louisiana, which comprises 22 of the state’s 64 parishes and 30 percent of the state’s population of some 4 million. It is called Acadiana, after the original Canadian land from which the population came, what was called Acadie (comprising what is now Nova Scotia with parts of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island). The word Cajun is most likely a corruption of Acadian although, as will be seen time and again herein, very little about folkloric tradition can be stated with certainty. The original French Canadians of Acadie were intentionally expelled by the British form the North American territory ceded to Great Britain by the Treaty of Urecht in 1715. This is referred to as Le Grand Derangement and is immortalized in Longfellow’s poem “Evangeline.”

Cultures of Optimism: The Institutional Promotion of Hope, by Oliver Bennet. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, 231 pages, ISBN 978-113-748-4802, $95.00.It is a rare occasion to read a book in whi...