Geography - Culture & Identity Essay?

lizzmurph

For the elective/essay in Geog our class has done the Culture and Identity section. For Language as a cultural indicator, I'm stuck on anything to write for Belgium. (All I have is what's in our book which is not much at all) Does anyone else have notes for this section? not even just Belgium, but anything!?

lcstudent14

What else are you covering for culture and identity? And for an essay say one 'language as a cultural indication' what would your main points be?

lizzmurph

lcstudent14 wrote: »

What else are you covering for culture and identity? And for an essay say one 'language as a cultural indication' what would your main points be?

I've done the case studies to do with countries without a cultural state and conflict . we went given. Any other points which is why I need help

rorrissey

I was literally just studying that about 10 minutes ago. I'm not doing it as an elective though so I'm assuming you'll probably need a lot more SRP's, but yeah there is hardly anything about it in the book!

Here are some of my notes on it, hope it helps!


-Independent state since 1830
-Linguistic Divide between North (Flanders - Flemmish) & South (Wallonia - French)
-Brussels is bilingual
-Small area speaks German
-In 1932, law passed which created a dividing language line across the region
-Walloons who wanted to buy property in Flanders had to have a command of Flemmish and vica versa.
-Cultural aparthied is present - Walloons & Fles regard eachother with distrust. They attend different schools & socialize separately.


Wallonia
-Was the focus of the Industrial Revolution (18th & 19th century) due to the Sambre Meuse Coalfields.
-They looked down on their rural neighbours in Flanders.
-In 1950's, the mines shut down and Wallonia's prosperity began to decline.

Flanders
-New modern industries became attracted to Flanders due to cheap, cleaner land.
-By the 60's, Flanders emerged as a wealthy industrial area.
-Wallonia became a problem region with an unemployment blackspot.

lizzmurph

rorrissey wrote: »

I was literally just studying that about 10 minutes ago. I'm not doing it as an elective though so I'm assuming you'll probably need a lot more SRP's, but yeah there is hardly anything about it in the book!

Here are some of my notes on it, hope it helps!


-Independent state since 1830
-Linguistic Divide between North (Flanders - Flemmish) & South (Wallonia - French)
-Brussels is bilingual
-Small area speaks German
-In 1932, law passed which created a dividing language line across the region
-Walloons who wanted to buy property in Flanders had to have a command of Flemmish and vica versa.
-Cultural aparthied is present - Walloons & Fles regard eachother with distrust. They attend different schools & socialize separately.


Wallonia
-Was the focus of the Industrial Revolution (18th & 19th century) due to the Sambre Meuse Coalfields.
-They looked down on their rural neighbours in Flanders.
-In 1950's, the mines shut down and Wallonia's prosperity began to decline.

Flanders
-New modern industries became attracted to Flanders due to cheap, cleaner land.
-By the 60's, Flanders emerged as a wealthy industrial area.
-Wallonia became a problem region with an unemployment blackspot.

Thanks a million!

Kat97

Hi, I've just finished 5th year but we have covered language as a cultural indicator and Belgium! rorrissey already gave really good notes so I'm just going to add any other bits I have!

Wallonia

-> Makes up southern 5 provinces of Belgium
-> French speaking, and dominated by French language, culture and traditions because of its proximity to France
-> Mainly Catholic - but religious observance is low.
-> Industrial decline in Sambre- Meuse has had a negative impact on this region in recent decades.

Flanders (Ned Flanders is how I remember this is the Flemish/ near Netherlands region )

-> Five northern provinces of Belgium and contains capital city Brussels
-> Flemish speaking, and dominated by Dutch language, culture and traditions because of its proximity to the Netherlands
-> Strongly Catholic and conservative area.
-> In the past, Government jobs and areas such as medicine and law favoured French speaking Waloons so Flemish speakers felt excluded.

Consequences of Cultural divide

-> Feelings are strong within the Sambre - Meuse region that the Belgian Government has not done enough to support the region and the Walloons feel that the Government gives the Flemish speakers of the north an unfair share of resources especially with the industrial growth of Antwerp and Gent in recent decades.
-> Some new suburbs of Brussels are being occupied by French speaking Walloons who have migrated to the area. Flemish speakers resent the fact that the Walloons are seeking cultural rights in their territories.
-> Regional Government in both Flanders and Walloonia is strong as they represent the interests of the particular language area. But the National Government has difficulty in implementing many policies as it is difficult to overcome the cultural divide between the two groups. e.g Vlaams Belang

I also have some general notes on Language as a cultural indicator and some on the Gaeltacht region if you would like Good luck in Leaving cert btw!

lcstudent14

If I were to do an option question (80 marks) do I have to stick to ONE country? Like JUST Beligum?
Seems quite difficult, could I incorporate any other countries?
And if I was sticking to just one country what would my main 4 aspects be? Any help appreciated at this stage.

FudgeBrace

lcstudent14 wrote: »

If I were to do an option question (80 marks) do I have to stick to ONE country? Like JUST Beligum?
Seems quite difficult, could I incorporate any other countries?
And if I was sticking to just one country what would my main 4 aspects be? Any help appreciated at this stage.

I think you can. I included the Belgium region and the Basque region and I think India too in an essay in language as a cultural indicator.