In Flanders, and more generally throughout Western Europe, there is a recent tendency towards the culturalization of citizenship (Duyvendak et al., 2016). This is particularly apparent in integration policies, in which there is an increasing focus on values and norms, cultural practices, and history. A turning point in Flanders was the formulation of a civic integration policy in 2003, which resulted in, among other things, a compulsory Social Orientation course for non-European newcomers. This research analyses how citizenship is culturalized in these courses, and more specifically what the role of a Belgian/Flemish historical culture is in this. This way, it studies the practical translation of the role of history in community-building policies, and how this interacts with the metaphorical 'other'. Therefore, it uses three levels of analysis: a) the policy level, b) the level of teaching contents and practices, and c) the perception of newcomers. Moreover, at each level a comparison is made with the Netherlands, a pioneering country for Flemish civic integration policy. This research project adopts an emic perspective predominantly uses participatory observations and interviews.