Overlapping borders. Images of East Belgium as a transcultural area in contemporary literature
(2019) Oxford German Studies — Vol. 48, n° 1, p. 71-90 (2019)
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- In this article, we discuss how East Belgian authors deal with aspects such as history, borders and multilingualism in order to reinforce the creation of an East Belgian collective identity. Due to their complex past and the multiple switches in governing states, the members of the German-speaking population were for a long time torn between the Belgian and the German state, and unable to consider either one of them as their home country. Yet, in the wake of a new historical interest, contemporary authors have understood that integrating the past is an important aspect of strengthening a feeling of East Belgian collective identity among its inhabitants. Furthermore, the position as a border region as well as multilingualism have become part of the cultural memory of the region and, as such, constitute an important addition to the construction of a collective identity. Finally, we reveal the narrative strategies used to expose the relationship between the minority and the majority culture by using the methodology of imagology studies.
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Beck, P., & et al. (2019). Overlapping borders. Images of East Belgium as a transcultural area in contemporary literature. Oxford German Studies, 48(1), 71-90. https://doi.org/10.1080/00787191.2019.1583437 (Original work published 2019)