*n*x

Just a small remark about something that got my attention on a pro-indepence post of Martijn on planet grep (in response to Wouter):

Cultural differences do exist. Wallonia is French, therefore latin culture. Flanders is Dutch, therefore Germanic. If you’ve ever even remotely looked at history, you won’t be able to deny there are huge differences between these two. Not all are better in Germanic cultures (pace of life eg), but the differences are clear.

Putting my linguist and culture scientist hat on, I can say that imagined north-south comparisons are very common and specifically very relative. Yes, within Belgium the South is Latin, warmer and bon-vivant. The North is Germanic, reserved and more intellectual. Looking how the dutch-speaking Netherlands (that used to be one region with Belgium in the past) looks at the north of Belgium (Flanders) is kind of funny. You get it: dutch-speaking (northern) Belgians are more Latin, warmer and bon-vivant. They like to party and eat. They are not like the North (the Netherlands): protestant, laborious and more reserved, and so on and on.

You can make the same exercise within Italy, between North en South Europe, within Spain, with Spain and Latin-America and so on. You’ll get tired of finding examples on all possible scales. And guess what, if Belgium was split, we would find differences with the more peripheral provinces (as they really are present today, e.g. in jokes). By the way, the name of the game is stereotype.

PS: If you want to read more about it, I suggest to have a look at the work of Dutch literary scientist J. Leersen.

PS2: maybe an important addition: stereotypes are instable and change through time. Not so long ago Flanders was the romantic region in the Belgian imaginery.