A Cultural History of Wallonia PDF Download

Author: Bruno Demoulin
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780300188660
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Instigated by Bruno Demoulin, the book 'A cultural history of Wallonia' explores the subject of the Walloon cultural identity. It discusses the numerous forms the Walloon consciousness takes on an artistic, musical and other levels and will be of interest to both the expert in the field and the interested layman. The richly illustrated book provides the reader with a complete historical and themed survey of culture in Wallonia. In the first historical part, Wallonia's history is explored in depth by specialized historians and art historians who cover the great periods from prehistory to the present day. The second part takes a themed approach to Walloon culture and consists of fascinating essays about language, literature, publications, music, the performing arts, plastic arts, photography and many other aspects which illustrate the diversity of this regions cultural heritage.

Author: Bernard A. Cook
Publisher: Peter Lang
ISBN: 9780820458243
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
Although Belgium has only been an independent state since the 1830s, it has a long and complex past. This history is essential for understanding the complexities of issues that led to a devolution of the unitary Belgian state into a federation of linguistically based regions. In addition to the elements that contributed to Belgium's particular political evolution, the history which is traced in this book is a composite of many themes of broad historical interest and importance. Belgium: A History covers the gamut of Belgian history through dramas of religious and cultural conflict, intense localism, state building, uneven development, divergent class interests, war and domination, and finally, integration into a larger European community.

Author: Joan Gross
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9789027251107
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 378

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Book Description
Linking actual instances of language use with structures of social power in francophone Belgium, Gross outlines the history and contemporary configuration of rod puppetry in Liège. The analysis of this working class performance art moves between what occurs on and off stage. As puppeteers speak in other voices, sometimes in Walloon and sometimes in French, they create a sociolinguistic model based on 19th century renditions of medieval texts, the voices of past puppeteers, and the language that surrounds them. The high level of linguistic reflexivity created by the regional language movement has led to frequent metalinguistic and metapragmatic commentaries within the puppet shows. This complex speech genre embedded in social context shows the influence of identity struggles: from local class oppositions to imperial designs abroad. Keeping a tight focus on language, Speaking in Other Voices examines the process of entextualization and recontextualization as stories of war and religion are transmitted to succeeding generations.

Author: Kas Deprez
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1349268682
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 291

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Book Description
This is a book about shifting national identities in Belgium. It is an attempt to show how these identities emerged and evolved. 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. More and more people wonder whether this country will survive.

Author: Herman van Goethem
Publisher: ASP / VUBPRESS / UPA
ISBN: 9054876980
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
This is the first book in English on the history of the actual disintegration of Belgium. It analyses how Belgium and its kings managed to control in a non-violent way the complex nationalist antagonisms between Flemings and Walloons. --Book Jacket.

Author: Samuel Humes
Publisher: Hurst & Company
ISBN: 9781849041461
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This concise history describes the traditions and transitions that over two thousand years have developed in Belgium in a sense of shared identity, common government, and a centralized nation-state - and then over a few recent decades paved the way for Flemish-Walloon schism that now threatens to break up Belgium. It responds to the question: Why does a government, unified for more than 600 years, no longer seem capable of holding together a linguistically divided country In tracing the evolution of Belgian governance, Humes describes why and how the dominance of French-speaking propertied elite eroded after having monopolized the land's governance for centuries. The extension of suffrage, combined with the rise of literacy and schooling enabled labor and Flemish movements to gather sufficient momentum to fracture the Belgian polity, splitting its parties and frustrating its politics. The presence of the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has, in a tangential way, enable the Belgian separatists to discount the merit of a national government that is no longer needed to defend the country militarily and economically.

Author: Benno Barnard
Publisher: Academia Press
ISBN: 9038208162
Category : Belgium
Languages : en
Pages : 154

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Book Description
As Belgian history addresses questions of identity and security, of a sense of cohesion and common purpose or the lack thereof, this volume tells you why Belgium does matter.

Author: André De Vries
Publisher: Signal Books
ISBN: 9781902669472
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
Popularly evoking images of European power politics and miniature cabbages, beer-drinking, chocolates and French fries. Yet Brussels, for all its reputation for bureaucracy and extravagance, is a city that has always been open to outsiders, to invaders and immigrants, always preserving its humanity. Architecturally rich and culturally sophisticated, this European capital defies its stereotypes.

Author: Ryan K. Smith
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300196040
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 359

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Book Description
In 1798 Robert Morris—“financier of the American Revolution,” confidant of George Washington, former U.S. senator—plunged from the peaks of wealth and prestige into debtors' prison and public contempt. How could one of the richest men in the United States, one of only two founders who signed the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitution, suffer such a downfall? This book examines for the first time the extravagant Philadelphia town house Robert Morris built and its role in bringing about his ruin. Part biography, part architectural history, the book recounts Morris’s wild successes as a merchant, his recklessness as a land speculator, and his unrestrained passion in building his palatial, doomed mansion, once hailed as the most expensive private building in the United States but later known as “Morris’s Folly.” Setting Morris’s tale in the context of the nation’s founding, this volume refocuses attention on an essential yet nearly forgotten American figure while also illuminating the origins of America’s ongoing, ambivalent attitudes toward the superwealthy and their sensational excesses.

Author: James B. Minahan
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1610699548
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 590

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Book Description
This book addresses the numerous national movements of ethnic groups around the world seeking independence, more self-rule, or autonomy—movements that have proliferated exponentially in the 21st century. In the last 15 years, globalization, religious radicalization, economic changes, endangered cultures and languages, cultural suppression, racial tensions, and many other factors have stimulated the emergence of autonomy and independence movements in every corner of the world—even in areas formerly considered immune to self-government demands such as South America. Researching the numerous ethnic groups seeking autonomy or independence worldwide previously required referencing many specialized publications. This book makes this difficult-to-find information available in a single volume, presented in a simple format accessible to everyone, from high school readers to scholars in advanced studies programs. The book provides an extensive update to Greenwood's Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups around the World that was published more than a decade earlier. Each ethnic group receives an alphabetically organized entry containing information such as alternate names, population figures, flag or flags, geography, history, culture, and languages. All the information readers need to understand the motivating factors behind each movement and the current situation of each ethnic group is presented in a compact summary. Fact boxes at the beginning of each entry enable students to quickly access key information, and consistent entry structure makes for easy cross-cultural comparisons.