Description
Book SynopsisThis is a book about shifting national identities in Belgium. It aims at explaining why the Belgian identity, which in 1830 was so strong that it could create a new nation-state, has become so weak that today it has to accept a mere overarching role above and in competition with the new national loyalties.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Notes on the Contributors Introduction; K.Deprez & L.Vos PART ONE: BELGIAN NATION BUILDING Belgian Liberties and Loyalty to the House of Austria; J.Roegiers The Two Belgian Revolutions; L.Wils Painting at the Service of the New Nation-State; L.Pil National Imagery in 19th Century Flemish Literature; P.Couttenier The Symbolic Deficit. French Literature in Belgium and 19th Century National Sentiment; C.Berg Henri Conscience and the French Revolution; P.Raxhon PART TWO: THE WANING OF BELGIUM The Flemish National Question; L.Vos The Language of the Flemings; K.Deprez The Catholic Church and the Flemish Movement; L.Gevers Sport and the Flemish Movement. Resistance and Accommodation 1868-1914; R.Renson The Christian Workers' Movement as a Mass Foundation of the Flemish Movement; E.Gerard The Growth of the Walloon Movement; C.Kesteloot Four Definitions of Culture in Francophone Belgium; J.Fontaine PART THREE: NATIONAL IDENTITIES IN A FEDERAL STATE Unequal Economic Development at the Origin of the Federalisation Process; P.Saey, C.Kesteloot & C.Vandermotten Belgium's Peculiar Way to Federalism; R.Falter The National Consciousness of the Flemings and the Walloons. An Empirical Investigation; B.Maddens, R.Beerten & J.Billiet Nationalism in Present-Day Flanders; J.Bouveroux Present-Day Wallonia. The Search for an Identity without Nationalist Mania; P.Destatte A Brussels Identity? A Speculative Interpretation; S.Govaert Germans, German Belgians, German-Speaking Belgians; H.Jenniges Are the Immigrants the Last Belgians?; A.Morelli & J-P.Schreiber Bibliography Index
