Borderless Flanders The impact of tourism on territorial identification processes in Dutch borderland Zeelandic Flanders, 1970-1985 Master Thesis ResMA History: Politics, Culture and National Identities Lauren Antonides s1395505 |
[email protected] Supervisor: dr. H.J. Storm Second reader: prof. dr. H. te Velde Word count: 24.956 Hand in date: 30 June 2020 Leiden University Lauren Antonides Image on front page: Women in traditional dress with shop selling pornographic literature in the background, Sluis (before 1974). Source: J.J.H. Pop, ‘In Zeeuwsch-Vlaanderen: Gemeenten stellen grenzen aan commerciële seks’, De Nederlandse Gemeente (Official magazine of the Vereniging voor Nederlandse Gemeenten (VNG)) 13 (1975) 145-150: 147. 2 Borderless Flanders Preface ‘Are you from Zeelandic Flanders yourself?’ was invariably the reaction I got when I told people about my research. As if it was hard to imagine that I, a student from Leiden, was interested in this border region. And that may perfectly be the reason for this research. In the Randstad, Zeelandic Flanders and other borderlands are not only physically, but also mentally, far away. This center- periphery thinking has been subject to change over the last few decades, as the Dutch border area gained increasing attention in the political and social debate. This thesis aims to contribute to that spatial – and mental – shift. During my research, I did find out what exactly was meant by that ‘peripheral character’. After numerous trips to Middelburg in practically empty train compartments and having explained my friends for the Xth time what exactly I was doing in that ‘fishing village’, I began to ask myself the existential questions that every researcher asks him or herself at some point.