Suchergebnisse

Interculturaliteit is al jaren een zeer actueel thema. Migratie, identiteit, multiculturalisme, globalisering, de islam, de omgang met het koloniale verleden, meertaligheid en standaardtaalideologie: het zijn onderwerpen die niet meer uit onze media weg te branden zijn. Dit boek biedt een academisch referentiekader bij de hedendaagse politiek-maatschappelijke debatten over deze interculturele uitdagingen. In de theoretische inleiding worden verschillende recente paradigma's voor de studie van interculturaliteit voorgesteld en gecontextualiseerd. Vervolgens schetsen specialisten uit verschillende disciplines - waaronder geschiedenis, literatuurwetenschap, taalkunde en regiostudies - de contouren van het debat zoals het zich in hun domein aftekent, analyseren ze de context ervan en reiken ze wetenschappelijk onderbouwde antwoorden aan op prangende actuele vragen

Abstract

Studying societal trends through analyzing media content

Digital media, social media and public media reflect many aspects of our everyday life and of social and cultural developments in our societies. However, one finds relatively few studies based on media data to describe and analyze these developments. This paper is an appeal and helping hand for those who hesitate and wonder how to design and conduct such media studies.

Beyond navel-gazing and narcissism.Ferrell's auto-ethnography as part of ethnography
Beyond navel-gazing and narcissism.Ferrell's auto-ethnography as part of ethnography
The labeling of auto-ethnography as navel-gazing does not do justice to the variety with which auto-ethnography is applied. A distinction should be made between emotional and analytical auto-ethnography. In the first form the central person of the researcher plays the central role, in the second auto-ethnography is applied to get a better understanding of the social world which is being studied. In this article the author discusses the second approach by using the work of Jeff Ferrell. Ferrell is a well-known cultural criminologist, who focuses critically on the cultural understanding of social life. By looking at how Ferrell applies auto-ethnography, insight is gained into the added value of this method for qualitative studies: (1) the integration of the personal experiences of researchers in texts in order to achieve a richer description of the social worlds they explore, (2) making explicit the role of the researcher in publications, and (3) developing new (more appealing) forms of representation.

Le suprême hommage studies the handling of dying, burial and commemoration of royal and political elites in Belgium in the 19th and first half of the 20th century. This innovative historical research takes place at the interface of cultural history and political history. The reader not only gains insight into the impact of social class, status and religion on funerary culture, but also into the influence of media culture on the perception of death, mourning and memory. Within a selection of 170 cases, the author discusses in words and images the mediatised deaths and no less than imposing funerals of Belgium's first kings and queens and their families. The evolving practices surrounding the deaths of (former) heads of government, (former) presidents of parliament and mayors of major cities are also discussed in detail. Finally, the genesis of Belgium's most famous urban (park) cemeteries, and the funerary heritage in these cities of death, is also brought to life through the analysis of eye-catching funeral monuments. This book is a richly illustrated survey work on the social, political and cultural dimensions of the death of high-ranking figures in 19th- and 20th-century Belgian society.

In A monument to the country. Official statistics in Belgium, 1795-1870, Nele Bracke unravels why and how the Belgian state and its predecessors organized and developed an official statistical apparatus in order to collect numerical information. The study captures the underlying objectives and structures, as well as the methods to compile statistics. Nele Bracke investigates the meaning and significance of government statistics in the 19th-century State and society. In Belgium, early social scientists established an internationally renowned 'statistical system' designed to collect information about the country, the people and the society. This 'statistical system' was built around the 'Commission centrale de Statistique' (statistical committee) and the production of demographic, economic and agricultural censuses. In the first part of the book, the author analyzes the institutional history of the 'Commission centrale de Statistique' and its predecessors. In the second part of the book, she studies the censuses

This book treats the spectacular rise in life expectancy during the last three centuries. It is the first study to bring together both published and unpublished material about the history of the health of Belgian men and women and to analyze it critically. Isabelle Devos studies the mechanisms of the historic fall in the death rate in an original manner and answers the question why research on the causes of this decline has not progressed faster. While the discipline of historical demography orients the first part of her book, the discipline of historical epidemiology provides the perspective taken in the second part, in which the role of insects as spreaders of disease is explored. Essential in her study is the importance of local medical practitioners who already at the end of the Ancien Régime warned of the dangers present in the environment. Their 'ecological' thinking created a consciousness that was decisive for the further development of healthcare

A seminar comparing bachelor's & master's programs in politology (political science) offered by universities in the Netherlands & Flanders, Belgium. Peter Bursens (U of Antwerp) & Eelke Heemskerk (U of Amsterdam) introduce the topic & present participants, recognizing their qualifications to speak on the subject. Kris Deschouwer (Free U of Brussels) identifies the differences & parallels in politological education offered at Dutch & Flemish institutions; he stresses the similarities in program content, teaching materials, & focus on research, while noting differences in organization & cultural context. Peter Van Aelst (U of Leiden) discusses the quality of political science programs & rebuts views that students do not receive quality education because their professors are more preoccupied with publication of research papers than teaching. Sophie Vanhoonacker & Maarten Vink (U of Maastricht) present the English-language bachelor's & master's programs in European Studies offered since 2002 & 2006, respectively, at the U of Maastricht; quantitative data comparing enrollment by German & Dutch students are tabulated, graduates' prospects of employment are assessed, & the use of English as an instruction language is discussed. In their conclusion, Peter Bursens (U of Antwerp) & Eelke Heemskerk (U of Amsterdam) summarize & comment on the contributions delivered at this seminar. Z. Dubiel

In the 15th and 16th century a special institute developed in Flanders and Brabant: the chamber of rhetoric. Regular citizens started theater and lyricks, in small closed groups and in public. This study gives an overview of 227 chambers of rhetoric, the rhetorical culture in the Southern Netherlands and gives a fresh new look on the cultural history of the Netherlands. - In de vijftiende en zestiende eeuw ontwikkelde zich in Vlaanderen en Brabant een bijzondere instituut: de rederijkerskamer. Gewone stedelingen legden zich in gildenverband toe op toneel en lyriek, zowel in besloten kring als publiekelijk, naar aanleiding van allerlei feestelijkheden. In deze studie wordt, vertrekkend van een repertorium van 227 rederijkerskamers, de rederijkerscultuur in de Zuidelijke Nederlanden in kaart gebracht. Het uitvoerige bronnenmateriaal biedt nieuwe, vaak verrassende inzichten in het ontstaan van de rederijkerscultuur, de sociale achtergrond van de rederijkers, de verhouding van de rederijkerskamers tot stad en vorst, de betrokkenheid in de Reformatie en de Opstand en, tenslotte, de veranderende functie in de zeventiende eeuw. Dit leidt ook tot een verfrissende kijk op de cultuurgeschiedenis van de Nederlanden. De auteur komt tot de conclusie dat zich in de Zuidelijke Nederlanden een bijzonder dynamische stedelijke cultuur vormde waarbinnen de basis werd gelegd voor het 'mirakel' van de Gouden Eeuw.