Geert Buelens

The Languages of Remembrance

Every speech act about and interpretation of the Great War today is also a way of remembering it. Remembering this cataclysmic event has become an almost religious practice in many countries. People want to remember it well, humbly and respectfully. Yet a commemoration of such an event can never be disinterested. As members of local, national and academic communities, we are all invested in many practices of remembrance. But every act of remembering is selective. It is impossible to do justice to every participant, to everybody who suffered from the war, to every episode of the war, which had many consequences for the local and national histories of the different parties involved.

A World-Wise Case of Dutchness: Cosmopolitanism and National Identity in the Work of the 'Nits' Pop Band

Abstract As part of the debate in the Netherlands centring on national identity in the wake of the assassination of Pim Fortuyn (2002) and Theo van Gogh (2004), an attempt is made to tackle the topic of unworldly cosmopolitanism versus remerging nationalism. The focus is on the way the arty yet popular Dutch rock band ‘Nits’ (1974–present) dealt with these issues in their song lyrics, how Nits construct both their international and Dutch identity, and how their evolution in this respect mirrors or nuances current debates about the elite’s position vis-à-vis national character.

Reciting Shells. Dada and, Dada in & Dadaists on the First World War

Abstract Dadas origin is generally associated with the protest movement against the First World War, yet scholarship on this issue is relatively thin. An examination of a few key Dada figures (Tzara, Ball, Huelsen- beck, Arp) and some artists that have been associated with the movement (Van Doesburg, Feis, Van Ostaijen, Vaché) indicates that the Dadaists were by no means pacifists, though they were alarmed and disgusted by the Great War. Whether they asked for a real, political (communist) revolution or an artistic-spiritual one, their rhetoric and iconography were heavily drenched in violence.

Un retard incitatif. La culture flamande moderne et l'héritage d'August Vermeylen

Despite the critical distance young Flemish intellectuals feel towards the Flemish Movement, their ideas and ambitions are clearly marked by the agenda of one of the Movement’s leaders, August Vermeylen. For more than a hundred years Flemish emancipation has progressed thanks to the support from writers who are concerned with the position of Flemish culture within Europe.

'That is not my ambition': a forgotten chapter in the history of the Flemish Movement and postwar leftist cultural circle

Abstract In the early 1980s Humos iconic rock Journalist Marc Mijlemans went to Dublin and was amazed to learn of the nationalism of U2s The Edge. In the autumn of 2003, Frank Vandenbroucke (socialist Minister of Labour in Belgiums federal government) was equally surprised when journalists suggested that his recent political fight with his Walloon counterparts might earn him an honorary place in the Flemish Movement: ‘That is not my ambition’ he said, and laughed. Since the early 1970s Flemish nationalism and progressive, trendy or cool behaviour have seemed mutually exclusive. In my paper, I argue that an increasingly ‘progressive’ and ‘liberal’ culture nevertheless promotes ideals and ambitions crucial to the Flemish Movement. I will use the work of Johan Anthierens as a case study, but Humo, Herman de Coninck and Tom Lanoye provide other cases in point.