Showing papers by "Marie-Claire Foblets published in 2010"

Language and integration requirements in Belgium: discordances between the Flemish policy of 'inburgering' and the federal legislator's view(s) on the integration of newcomers and migrants

Abstract: This chapter gives an overview of the federal system in Belgium. It is important to clarify the features of the system in order to pinpoint competences concerning issues of immigration and integration. It presents the policies and instruments at federal and regional levels respectively. It then discusses the Flemish policy of mandatory civic integration, known as inburgering. Firstly, it introduces the documents and the main elements of the policy. Secondly, it explains the political and public debate prior to their adoption. Thirdly, it draws attention to the problems in and effects of implementation of inburgering policy. Finally, it seeks to display how the Belgian federal system, which has its limitations, can at the same time shed new light on our understanding of integration policy. The chapter explaines the Flemish compulsory integration policy and its ramifications and also draws attention to the coexistence of different policies under the same 'Belgian' roof. Keywords: Belgium; Federal System; Flemish Policy; immigration; Inburgering policy; integration policy; language; migrant; newcomers

Islam & Europe: Crises are Challenges

Abstract: The question facing a reviewer of this lavishly produced volume is not whether it is interesting, which it surely is, but whether it is sociology. One of the authors, Arnold Arluke, is in a sociology/anthropology department and has published previously about humans and ‘‘their’’ animals, while Robert Bogdan is an emeritus social science professor whose expertise lies in the meaning of photo postcards. Thus, if any scholarly book written by sociologists is ipso facto sociology, the book qualifies. Otherwise, it may be viewed as too intriguingly odd, too beautifully assembled and produced, to figure amidst the standard fare of American sociology. The authors seriously considered the unusual character of their work: ‘‘For whom did we write the book? The answer to that question also evolved. At first we targeted scholars and the educated public interested in human-animal relations and the history of photography or both. As we embraced the idea of producing a broad visual survey of human-animal relations during the early twentieth century, a time when these relationships were undergoing significant change, we realized that our book would have wide appeal. It could also be used as a text for courses that were geared toward exploring the history, anthropology, or sociology of human-animal relations and related topics. Postcard collectors and dealers will also find it useful as they study their own collections’’ (p. xiii). The authors consulted hundreds of images and chose about 350 to analyze as their database, dividing them by means of these headings: pets, mascots, workers, food and goods, patients and needy, vermin, game, trophies/ specimens/furs, spectacles, sports, and symbols. The problem with a book boasting hundreds of fascinating period pieces in photographic form is that one naturally studies the photos and ignores the accompanying text. This is particularly the case when the photo postcards are as carefully documented as these are, e.g., ‘‘6.23 Veterinary students examining dog cadaver, ca. 1920. Joel Wayne, Pop’s Postcards Coll.’’ (p. 124) or ‘‘7.2 Trapped wolf, ca. 1917. Arluke Coll.’’ (p. 130) or ‘‘7.4 Display of killed wolves, Holstein, Nebraska, [Feb. 17] 1922. Dingman Coll.’’ (p. 131). Nine dead wolves are suspended by their hind legs in the hands of the proud hunters, reminding modern readers of how recently wolves roamed the midwest in substantial numbers. ‘‘Girl cuddling rabbit, ca. 1911’’ (p. 24) is spectacularly beautiful, and learning that working dogs cost between ten and fifty dollars, while ‘‘When adjusted for inflation in today’s dollars, the cost of a purebred dog from prize stock could be as much as twenty thousand [inflationadjusted] dollars’’ (p. 12), comes as a shock. Aesthetically speaking, the photo postcards displayed and analyzed in the book are far superior to the standard pet-photos one sees online, mainly because the photographic equipment was better then, and the events were so rare that the subjects and the photographer put a lot of thought into the process. The book, of course, is uniquely valuable and informative concerning the human animal’s connection to other furry creatures. If you are lucky enough to see a copy, be sure to examine ‘‘Big Sam, Alva Oklahoma, 1913,’’ where A. W. Clarke, dressed in his finery, sits atops a 650-lb. ‘‘prize-winning registered mulefoot hog’’ (p. 95).

Religion and the Secular State in Belgium / Le fait religieux dans ses rapports avec l’Etat en droit belge

Abstract: “La liberte de religion derange,” ecrivait en 1997 Gerard Gonzalez. 1 Il est vrai que cette liberte navigue aujourd‟hui douloureusement entre exigences juridiques, contraintes sociales et crispations politiques. Quiconque y regarde de plus pres, est frappe par la formidable recrudescence d‟importance que prennent, depuis quelque temps, en particulier dans les societes dites secularisees, les rapports entre le droit positif de l‟Etat et ces autres ordres normatifs que constituent les croyances religieuses et philosophiques. 2