Belonging through Languagecultural Practices in the Periphery: The Politics of Carnival in the Dutch Province of Limburg

TY - JOUR

T1 - Belonging through Languagecultural Practices in the Periphery

T2 - The Politics of Carnival in the Dutch Province of Limburg

AU - Cornips, L.M.E.A.

AU - de Rooij, V.

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - In this article, we will present two case studies of language and cultural practices that are part of or strongly related to carnival, in the Dutch peripheral province of Limburg, and more precisely in the southern Limburgian city of Heerlen, which in turn is considered peripheral vis-à-vis the provincial capital Maastricht. We will consider carnival as a political force field in which opposing language and cultural practices are involved in the production of belonging as an official, public-oriented ‘formal structure’ of membership, and belonging as a personal, intimate feeling of being ‘at home’ in a place (placebelongingness) (Antonsich 2010; Yuval-Davis 2006). In the case studies presented here, we take seriously the idea that ideology, linguistic form and the situated use of language are dialectically related (Silverstein 1985). In doing so, we wish to transcend disciplinary boundaries between anthropology and (socio)linguistics in Europe.

AB - In this article, we will present two case studies of language and cultural practices that are part of or strongly related to carnival, in the Dutch peripheral province of Limburg, and more precisely in the southern Limburgian city of Heerlen, which in turn is considered peripheral vis-à-vis the provincial capital Maastricht. We will consider carnival as a political force field in which opposing language and cultural practices are involved in the production of belonging as an official, public-oriented ‘formal structure’ of membership, and belonging as a personal, intimate feeling of being ‘at home’ in a place (placebelongingness) (Antonsich 2010; Yuval-Davis 2006). In the case studies presented here, we take seriously the idea that ideology, linguistic form and the situated use of language are dialectically related (Silverstein 1985). In doing so, we wish to transcend disciplinary boundaries between anthropology and (socio)linguistics in Europe.

U2 - 10.3167/ajec.2015.240106

DO - 10.3167/ajec.2015.240106

M3 - Article

SN - 1755-2923

VL - 24

SP - 83

EP - 101

JO - Anthropological Journal of European Cultures

JF - Anthropological Journal of European Cultures

IS - 1

ER -