Masculinity and Nationhood, 1830-1910: Constructions of Identity and Citizenship in Belgium (Genders and Sexualities in History)

A history of what it meant to be a man, and a citizen of an emerging nation throughout the nineteenth century. This book not only relates how Belgians were taught how to move and fight, but also how they spoke and sang to express masculinity and patriotism. Masculinity and Nationhood, 1830-1910 looks at 'masculine' patriotic behaviour in schools, army and parliament in nineteenth century Belgium. Schoolboys singing on excursion, soldiers acting out a shot wound on the maneuvering field and politicians raising their voices against effeminacy: all articulated their manly love of the nation in their own way. In recent years, much has been written about masculinity and citizenship in modern Europe. However, little is yet available about the learning process in which children and young men engaged in order to look, walk and talk like mature men and patriots. Belgium, at the crossroads between French, British and German notions of gender and citizenship, proves to be an ideal case-study to show not only how men were taught to move and fight, but also how they spoke and sang to express modern masculinity and patriotism Front Matter....Pages i-xi Three Anthems, a Flag and a Tenor: Introduction....Pages 1-17 Front Matter....Pages 19-23 Men in Space: The Construction of All-Male Spaces....Pages 25-58 Movements in Space: Choreographies of Masculinity....Pages 59-89 Front Matter....Pages 91-94 Singing the Nation, Singing the Self....Pages 95-122 Men’s Sounds and Silences....Pages 123-154 Soundscapes of Gender and Nation....Pages 155-171 Back Matter....Pages 172-242