The everyday nationalism of workers : a social history of modern Belgium / Maarten Van Ginderachter.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ginderachter, Maarten Van, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Parti ouvrier belge--History.

Parti ouvrier belge.

Nationalism--Belgium--History.

Nationalism.

Working class--Political activity--Belgium--History.

Working class.

Ethnicity--Political aspects--Belgium--History.

Ethnicity.

Belgium--Languages--Political aspects--History.

Belgium.

Belgium--Politics and government--1830-1914.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (277 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, [2019]

Summary:

The Everyday Nationalism of Workers upends common notions about how European nationalism is lived and experienced by ordinary people—and the bottom-up impact these everyday expressions of nationalism exert on institutionalized nationalism writ large. Drawing on sources from the major urban and working-class centers of Belgium, Maarten Van Ginderachter uncovers the everyday nationalism of the rank and file of the socialist Belgian Workers Party between 1880 and World War I, a period in which Europe experienced the concurrent rise of nationalism and socialism as mass movements. Analyzing sources from—not just about—ordinary workers, Van Ginderachter reveals the limits of nation-building from above and the potential of agency from below. With a rich and diverse base of sources (including workers' "propaganda pence" ads that reveal a Twitter-like transcript of proletarian consciousness), the book shows all the complexity of socialist workers' ambivalent engagement with nationhood, patriotism, ethnicity and language. By comparing the Belgian case with the rise of nationalism across Europe, Van Ginderachter sheds new light on how multilingual societies fared in the age of mass politics and ethnic nationalism.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

PREFACE

Introduction. WORKERS INTO BELGIANS, FLEMINGS, AND WALLOONS

Chapter 1. A SOCIALIST PILLAR OF A HYPERLIBERAL STATE

Chapter 2. VOTING THE NATION

Chapter 3. NATIONALIST CELEBRATIONS AND MASS ENTERTAINMENT

Chapter 4. AN ANTI-MILITARISTIC STATE IN MILITARISTIC TIMES

Chapter 5. THE ROYAL AND COLONIAL PARADOX

Chapter 6. SCHOOLING THE NATION

Chapter 7. ENCOUNTERS WITH THE BELGIAN FLAG AND THE NATIONAL ANTHEM

Chapter 8. PROLETARIAN TWEETS

Chapter 9. LANGUAGE, THE FLEMISH MOVEMENT, AND THE NATION

Epilogue. THE FIRST WORLD WAR

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-5036-0970-7

OCLC:

1198930822