LANGUAGE AND ETHNOCULTURAL FACTOR IN THE FORMATION OF FLEMISH NATIONAL IDEA IN XIX–XX CENTURIES

The article is dedicated to the role of linguistic and ethnocultural factors in the formation of the Flemish national idea from the moment of Belgian independence. In independent Belgium French was proclaimed the only official language, and the Flemings, who constituted up to 55 % of the population, felt offended. In the 19th century, the Flemish culture was reduced by the Belgian government to cultural festivals and the «unions of the amateurs of the Flemish language». On the basis of the latter, the «Flemish movement» was formed, i.e. the stream of the public thought that was at first aimed merely at introducing the Flemish language into the office-work and school system. The unified Flemish literary language existed at that time only in the projects of the «language dreamers», some dialects were not mutually understandable (and remain in the same condition nowadays). Moreover, in the 19th century, Flemish was not a mother tongue for most enthusiasts of the Flemish language and culture.

Afterwards the «Flemish movement» and its cultural heritage (epic novels describing the heroic deeds of the Flemish counts, monuments to the Flemish heroes, masterpieces of folklore) contributed to the formation of the institutional Flemish nationalism that was already represented in the interbellum with a couple of political parties. Thanks to the Flemish national parties, which inherited their ideas from the «Flemish movement», Flanders had gradually obtained administrative, cultural and other autonomy. This process reached its peak in 1990s, when Belgium was officially proclaimed a federation. The motives for the administrative split of Flanders and Wallonia included not only economic disparities, as it is sometimes presented, but also deep cultural and worldview differences (everlasting contest between the Celts and the Germans, deepened with the secularization and the spread of the socialist ideas in Wallonia in the late 19th century, while Flanders remained mostly conservative).

Nowadays, when the political heirs of the «Flemish movement» seek to gain full independence for Flanders, we may say that the Flemish nationalism is still based on the mythologized and ideology-driven image of the Flemish ethnos mostly characterised by distinct cultural, linguistic and worldview otherness.

Keywords: Flanders; Belgium; Flemish movement; linguistic factor; ethnocultural factor; West-European nationalism.

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