National Identity

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National Identity
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Objectives

• Upon completion of viewing this slide show on
  National Identity you should be aware of
• How national identities are formed.
• How much control people have in shaping their own
  national identities.
• The uncertainties about national identity that
  exist in the contemporary British society.
• The use of symbols and rituals in constructing
  and reinforcing national identity.
• How globalisation is affecting national identity.

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Introduction
It is said that nations are more than blood and
soil.
Nations are a social construction, reflecting
political and cultural interests and changing
over time.
Nations are geographical, but national identity
may equally be shaped by cultural factors such as
religion, language, history, wars, etc.
Colonialism can also reinforce national identity
50 years ago world maps were a third pink
reflecting the British Empire.
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Evaluation of National Identity
Paul Gilroy notes how as a black person he feels
culturally excluded from feeling British.
In addition, many identify with Ireland, Scotland
and Wales before the United Kingdom or being
British.
'Britain was never a union of equals and
Britishness was more closely aligned with
Englishness (Guibernau and Goldblatt (2000132).
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Stuart Hall and Shared Experiences
Stuart Hall (1992) notes that every nation has a
collection of stories about shared experiences,
sorrows, triumphs and disasters.
In the United Kingdom you can understand why
there is both a sense of identity about being
British as well as identities of being English,
Scottish, Welsh, and Irish.
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What Does it Mean to be Welsh?
Bowie (1993) points out that non-Welsh people
think of Wales in terms of broad stereotypes
(rugby, male-voice choirs, sheep farming, etc.)
However, there are huge cultural divisions
between Welsh and non-Welsh speakers, North and
South Wales, industrial/urban parts versus
agricultural/rural areas.
The reality of most nations is that they are
cultural 'hybrids'.
A sense of 'not being English' can unite many
people to identify with being Welsh, or Scottish
or Irish.
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What Does it Mean to be English?
Richard Weight (1999) feels that the English
football team is a crucial icon in binding the
English together.
He sees national identity about emotional and
cultural attachments
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Globalisation and National Identity
James Fulcher argues that, despite the
development of a 'global society', national
identity is still important.
He argues we now live in a 'multi-level society'
that has a global level of organisation but also
regional, national and sub-national levels.
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Benedict Anderson - 'Imagined Communities'
Benedict Anderson (1983, pictured left)
visualises the nation as an imagined community.
We will never meet all the people who share our
sense of nation, so our national community is
imaginary in the sense of existing in our minds.
A shared language, and a shared culture gives the
preconditions for the development of modern
national identity.
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Anthony Smith
Anthony Smith argues you cannot create nations
out of nothing.
Nations can only be forged from some pre-existing
community, bound by language or culture or
religion.
This might explain why artificial imposed
nations such as the old USSR failed and broke up,
returning to pre-revolution nations.
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Anthony Giddens
Anthony Giddens argues national identity is
relatively benign whenever it is taken for
granted.
When national identity becomes threatened people
embrace idea of we group and them group.
The conflict between Serbs Bosnians and Croats
stemmed from the fact they no longer identified
themselves as Yugoslavians.
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Rituals and Symbols in National Identity
Rituals and symbols play a crucial role in
reinforcing identity.
Emile Durkheim argued the ritual of national
ceremonies give nations the cohesion and unity
they need.
In the UK, the state, monarchy and Church of
England are closely linked and form the core of
most British national rituals.
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Saluting the Flag
National identity is equally reaffirmed through
the use of symbols, most notably the national
flag.
The obvious example of this is the daily ritual
for school children in the USA of saluting the
'stars and stripes'.
The Statue of Liberty is an equally important
national symbol.
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Madonna
Madonna, in her much publicised adoption of
British identity, turned to wearing the Union
Jack on her clothes.
Madonna's Britain is similar to the one British
Airways is attempting to symbolise
A Britain that stands for pride, monarchy and
global respect.
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Remembrance Ceremonies
An example of a ritual that reinforces national
identity is the Remembrance Day ceremonies that
can be found across Britain every November 11th.
They reinforce an 'imagined community' (Anderson)
and create a 'we-group' (Giddens) around pride in
a national identity.
Remembering the war dead or saluting the flag is
about defining a them-group or other as 'not
like us'.
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Dianas Funeral
The death of Diana is another illustration of
Benedict Anderson's concept of the 'imagined
community' of the nation.
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Conclusions

• An old-fashioned view of national identity was to
  see it in terms of 'blood and soil'.
• Nation states have become an established part of
  the world order.
• Some of these so-called nation states are
  actually 'hybrids' and contain a mix of cultural
  groups within the frontiers of the state.
• National cultures often have a number of internal
  divisions (they contain different subcultures).
• Nations frequently exchange customs, food and
  dress fashions with one another.
• Moreover, they change over time (there are
  differences between the 'traditional' culture and
  the present day culture).

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Conclusions (continued)

• National identities are created through
  'official' channels (flags, ceremonies) and
  unofficial stories people tell about their
  nation.
• Nationalism as a political doctrine attempts to
  achieve sovereignty for the nation and is linked
  to geographical boundaries. In Britain, this has
  led to some devolution for Wales and Scotland.
• In an everyday sense, nationalism expresses
  itself in attachment to the nation and its
  citizens.
• For many people this takes the form of inclusive
  nationalism but for a smaller number it leads to
  exclusive nationalism.
• Globalisation theorists see national cultures as
  becoming increasingly a hybrid of values and
  lifestyles freely flowing across frontiers.
• Globalisation has implications for national
  identities. The distinctiveness of these
  identities is becoming eroded under the impact of
  global exchanges.

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End of Slide Show