Cajun, American, or both?

As a result of living on land (the Acadians saw the land as belonging to no one, just as their Mi'kmaq neighbors did) that became British territory, and then in Louisiana, land that was Spanish, French, the United States, the Confederacy, and the United States again, the Cajuns did not see themselves as "Americans" until the rise in nationalism during World War II. Until WWII, Cajuns identified as Cajun--they had been in what would become South Louisiana before there was such a thing as an "American." (American as in citizen of the United States of America) "Les Americains" were people who lived north of Alexandria.