Integrating by means of art? Expressions of cultural hybridisations in the city of Antwerp

Abstract

This article looks at the emergence of the Murga in Antwerp. In the city of Antwerp, diversity has become a polarising characteristic of the city. This contribution about the Murga illustrates how art, as the symbolic manifestation of culture, favours integration and social cohesion. Before discussing whether the Murga is actually doing this, we shall examine how the Murga became an example of policy attempts to understand and govern diversity, which is of key importance in developing efficient strategies for enhancing social cohesion. From the policy intention regarding participation and social cohesion, we see how achieving a new shared cultural identity across ethnic groups requires a cultural hybridisation.

Keywords:

• Antwerp
• Murga
• culture
• integration
• hybridisation

Notes

1. 1. Antwerp is the capital of the province Antwerp in Flanders, one of Belgium’s three regions (Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels). Antwerp is the largest city in Flanders. The metropolis comprises the city of Antwerp proper and several municipalities. It is divided into nine entities indicated as districts, namely Antwerpen, Berchem, Berendrecht-Zandvliet, Borgerhout, Deurne, Ekeren, Hoboken, Merksem and Wilrijk.

2. 2. Stuart Hall (1997, p. 2) considers culture as one of the most difficult concepts in the human and social sciences to define.

3. 3. The MAS (acronym of ‘Museum aan de Stroom’) is a ground-breaking museum that intends to make the visitor familiar with the connectedness of Antwerp with the world and this in the past, present and future (http://www.mas.be/).

4. 4. The Red Star Line Museum is about the historical trans-Atlantic migration from Europe to America by the transport company Red Star Line and this from Antwerp as transit port. The addition to the name of the Museum ‘People on the Move’ broadens the horizon of the museum from the historical Red Star Line story towards the current ongoing migration (http://www.redstarline.be/ ).

5. 5. Peleman et al. (2009) explain how the artist is mainly asked as a bearer of a culture. This means that his ethnic origin serves as his business card. The artists get recognition as ethnic artists, but not as artists tout court.

6. 6. In political terms, Antwerp houses the headquarters of the Flemish extreme-right party that holds 20 of the 55 seats in the City Council of Antwerp after the municipal elections of 2006. This extreme right party, known as Flemish Interest, lost in the latest municipal elections (October 2012) elections and has now only 5 seats in the City Council of Antwerp.

7. 7. Fiëbre (Fever) is a platform for cultural activities in Flanders and started in 2005. Fiëbre’s expertise is located in Latin America, but on the stage of the tolerant and open Latin American Mestizo culture, it builds bridges with other cultures. A warm and rich mix of and a meeting and pollination between art forms and cultures is the result. See http://fiebre.be/

8. 8. The Murga is a way of expression of the popular classes for the popular classes that has the same origin as the idea of the Carnival. The Murga arose from the blending of cultures in Latin America (Argentina and Uruguay). For a detailed description of the Murga, see Roman (2009).

9. 9. At the municipal elections of 2006, all left and central parties opted to combine their forces out of fear for a victory of the right-wing party with its candidate Mayor (Filip De Winter). The campaign that these combined parties conducted in the street scene for their candidate Mayor, Patrick Janssens, happened without any signs showing to which party he belonged.

10. 10. Hans Van Themsche killed on 11 May 2006 in Antwerp on the street two persons: the pregnant Malian Oulematou Niangadou and Luna Drowart, the 2-year-old Belgian girl who was with her. Van Themsche was 18 years old when he fired the shots. He previously also wounded Songul Koç, who was sitting on a bench nearby, reading a book.

11. 11. Nine enthusiastic and colourful Murga groups took part at the first edition; in June 2011, there were about 20 national and international Murga groups participating, with approximately 600 participants. The parade attracted an estimated 2000 spectators.

12. 12. Belgium is a federal country which is divided into three regions (Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels) and three linguistic communities (Flemish-, French- and German- speaking communities), each with their own competences for self-governance. Whereas the communities are responsible for person-related matters, the regions take care of territory-related matters.

13. 13. In the first half of the past decade, the Flemish cultural policy underwent a radical transformation. A break with the past happened: the attention for culture spreading in the 1970s and 1980s shifted in the late 1980s to a focus on the autonomous development of the arts and anno 1999 to a strengthening of the coherence of the cultural policy. This led to an integrated cultural policy with a stronger developed philosophical basis for its priority policy objectives, which were cultural competence and participation (Vanherwegen et al. 2011, p. 220).

14. 14. The grants are both financial and material and from various public authorities. The Flemish government supports the Murga vzw via the socio-artistic section of the Arts Decree. The Province provides office space as well as a secondment of an artistic leader for the Murga vzw. Local authorities are involved by the service for community structure (CISO-Stedenfonds) and other covenants with Murga groups regarding financial and logistic support. A clear picture about the total budget is not available.

15. 15. In addition to the Flemish community and the municipalities, the provinces have their own cultural policy that balances between regional initiatives and the service for actors in the province who are looking for support (Vereniging Vlaamse Provincies 2006, p. 1).

16. 16. Roman (2009, p. 28) notices how the critical message of the Murga in Latin America and elsewhere is about the acculturation resulting from globalisation (Americanisation, Anglicisation, capitalism).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Els Vanderwaeren

ELS VANDERWAEREN, PhD, is an independent researcher.