Three cases of security/insecurity
notions and feelings in Belgium. A qualitative
Expeditions research by order of the King Baudouin
Foundation. Fieldwork in 2004.
Case one: “global school culture” in the city of Aarschot (Hageland).
Case two: “tourist culture” (host culture/touristhood) in the region of De Panne - Koksijde (Belgian west coast).
Case three: “leisure culture” in the Provincial Domain (park) of Kessel-Lo (Louvain).
Fieldwork in 2004.
Confidential reports in November/December 2004 and January/February 2005.
129 pages.
In co-operation with Whole Systems (WS), Expeditions organised in 2004 a large qualitative research by order of the King Baudouin Foundation. The main purpose was to listen to diverse subcultures how they formulate –in daily life in Belgium- their notions and feelings about security/insecurity; a very hot item in Belgian contemporary society. About thirty cases were studied by different authoritative research centres such as Belgian universities and their spin-offs.
Expeditions researched the case of global school culture in the city of Aarschot, with special attention to the group of youngsters between 15 – 18 years. In the case of the region of De Panne - Koksijde (west coast of Belgium) we focussed on the tourist culture, concentrating on youth vs. seniors and national vs. international tourists. The case of Kessel-Lo led us to diverse subgroups of leisure culture in the provincial park where till today different niches meet.
In each case two to three thousand informants were contacted, mostly in a very informal way by using the thick description; the interpretation of social interaction of a cultural dynamic situation in terms of the standards and categories of that cultural dynamic situation (space/time analysis). About thirty researchers and students were in this study involved. For the outcome, we refer you to the publications of the King Baudouin Foundation. If you are interested in the cases we researched, feel free to contact us.
June 19, 2005.