Staying Catholic in France. A History of the Religious Initiatives towards Belgian/Flemish migrants in the region of Lille, the city of Paris and the French countryside (1850-1960)

Religion, culture and alterity. Flemish/Belgian migrants in Northern France and Paris (1850-1960)Problem definition and location of the research Today, historians hardly ever deny anymore that religion in the 19th and 20th century played an important and even dominant role in the manner in which modern society was designed and perceived. During the past two centuries many societal processes were to a larger or lesser extent driven by Weltanschauung. Religious beliefs and actors influenced the social culture and helped shape the cultural identity of groups and individuals, even across national borders. Although the impact of religion and philosophy of life in migrating contexts hasn’t been systematically researched from the historical point of view, various studies suggest [among others Tomasi (1975), Morelli (1979 and 1980), Hirschman (2004), Lucassen (2005)] that religion played a decisive role in the processes by which migrants shaped their cultural identity, this in confrontation/synergy with the cultural region in which they had arrived. In his new host country, the migrant often found meaning and identity in the affirmation of the 'traditional’ cultural and religious practices from his homeland. To that end, own structures were developed. Moreover, religious anchorage offered the migrant a familiar code of conduct within a modern society that developed a more and more neutral approach with regard to, among other things, traditional concepts about family, gender hierarchy and intergenerational obligations. In the past two centuries, Belgium also had its own emigration history [Stengers (1978) en Morelli (1998)]. Especially in the second half of the 19th century, many Flemings/Belgians resorted to a definitive emigration. Economic reasons played the most important part here. Among the destinations were included the United States [Thielemans (1998)]], Canada [Jaumain (1999)], but also South-America [Stols (1998)]. From the point of view of the size and impact, the massive and continuous migration to France remains the most important historic case. Between 1851 and 1901, the Belgians comprised the largest foreign population group (42,8% in 1886). In the Nord they represented in 1886 as much as a fifth of the total population. Some basic studies from the period 1970-1980 [Lentacker (1972), Stengers (1978), Reardon (1982), Aelbrecht (1987), Strikwerda (1986)] illustrated how diverse the Belgian migrants community was (textile workers, mine workers, house personnel, self-employed, ). But in the following decades, the research was deepened or broadened only to a limited extent. Especially the marginal attention of the French migration historiography is striking. This received a new impulse after the issue of Gerard Noiriels Le creuset français (1986). In this context, the studies about, among others, the Italian communities [Milza (1995), Blanc-Chaléard (1995, 2000, 2006), Rainhorn (2004)] and Polish communities [Ponty (1995), Zalc (2006)] in France are of interest. Following Noiriel, the way the migration phenomenon was approached was fundamentally questioned. Especially the plea in favor of a scale change, from a macroscale to a local microscale, provided new insights [see for instance Revel (1995), Green (2002), Rosental (1999 and 2002)]. It is remarkable that the Belgian case was hardly integrated in this revival. Leaving aside the meritorious work of some amateur historians, only a few case studies [Petillon, 2006] paid attention to the massive Belgian community (communities) in France.That marginal interest is already in itself an interesting observation and can maybe be related to the specific nature of this migration. Particularly Stengers characterized the Belgian migration in France as une émigration par contiguïté. It didn’t appear to be accompanied by a fundamental existential rupture and there clearly was a physical proximity between the region of origin and the destination. Moreover, in many cases the new anchorage area of the migrant already belonged to his/her territory before his departure. That’s why the alterity experienced by the migrant was relative and between certain parts of France and Belgium there was a moral symbiosis that saw to it that the Belgian community quickly became transparent through silent integration processes. However, that image turns out to be incomplete. Numerous indications suggest that the integration processes were running rather discontinuously, both in the sphere of the Belgian migration community and at the level of their representation in the host community. Also because of the language barrier, especially Flemings symbolized for the French that ‘strange other’ until late in the 19th century. The image of the Flemish migrant in popular songs , local press and stories wasn’t very flattering, and even hints at segregation. Research to crime in the Rijssel agglomeration indicates that the French authorities mainly checked (Flemish) Belgians [Petillon and Terrier (2004)]. Partly as a reaction to that, some Belgian migrant communities in Northern France developed rather defensive strategies, in which own cultural identities were experienced and built. Ethnicity, language and language variation, but also popular and religious traditions connected with the home region were cultivated, perpetuated and interwoven as ‘differences’. This identity was both experienced in, as well as driven by an own organization fabric. These intermediary structures emerged spontaneously within their communities, but were sometimes also initiated and/or actively driven by Belgian 'civil society' (church, social organizations, ). They provided support, leisure activities and social contacts. Some activities that they organized, a.o. religious and civil festivities, created space for collective identification and remembrance practices in which also the political and social developments in the country and the region(s) of origin played an important part. Within the diversity that characterized the Belgian migration, there are strong indications of what we today call transnational networks or communities. This refers to the involvement of migrants (and their children) in socio-economical, political and cultural (symbolic and material) affairs of their homeland, both at the local level (household, informal communities, institutions) and at the national level. Because this transnationalism is facilitated by modern means of transport and communication, it is often associated with the contemporary, non-European, migration. However, historians point out that such networks already existed in the past. Even in the nineteenth century, migrants were mobilized from the homeland around specific themes. They hardly missed an opportunity to (structurally) keep in touch with the home front. Various groups and institutions were involved in the creation and maintenance of such transnational networks. Especially the Belgian Catholic Church and various religious institutes played a part in this. They were active, border-crossing actors uniting, outlining and counseling Belgian and especially Flemish migrants in the Northern France and Paris region. Good examples are: the Mission Belge (1864) in Rijssel, the Werk der Vlamingen in Paris (1862) and the widespread network of Belgian mission houses for farmers and seasonal workers. The discourse used in these initiatives played the register of ethnicity, nationalism and Weltanschauung. For most organizations, a moral symbiosis between Flanders/Belgium and France didn't exist. On the contrary, migration was regarded as a fundamental uprooting. The migrant was torn away from his safe (language) community, according to many institutions in the primordial space for experiencing tradition, religion and culture. Even though this rhetoric from the end of the 19th century was somewhat corrected by the emancipatory mouvements that coming from Belgium spread among the migrants, it still exerted its influence until late in the 20th century.Research planThis project will carry out an in-depth research of the decisive factors, the evolutions and processes of the cultural identity (identities) of the Belgian migration communities that permanently settled in France between 1850 and 1960. Within these communities, the project will analyse to what extent one could speak of transnational networks, ethnic and other identifications and what (inhibitive or guiding) impact they had on both their structural and their identificational integration. To what extent did religion play an identity-determining role for the Belgian (Flemish) migrant, what was its contribution to the (perceived) alterity and what was the interaction with other identity-determining factors (language, gender, class, residence, )? Fundamental here is the difference and the interaction between the aspirations of the (ecclesiastical and other) structures that surrounded the migration and the decisions and aspirations of the migrants themselves. Starting from the premise that the Belgian migration to France was divers, both in time, space and activity, a strict but representative delineation was chosen. The research only takes into account the permanent location. Moreover, this migration is studied within a relatively long period of time (1850-1960), which allows the inculturation process to be approached as a context sensitive intergenerational process on the one hand and on the other hand allows the specificity of the destination areas to be taken into account. Even though a noticeable presence of Belgians in France can be observed (long) before 1850, only then the emigration movement took massive proportions, due of course to economic reasons. In the 1960’s, almost the entire Belgian migrants community had become relatively transparent. In order to capture the diversity of the Belgian migration in the French context as accurately as possible, a triangular geographic delimitation was chosen within a compar

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