POLITICS OF NATIONALISM5. IMAGES OF THE PAST AND NATIONALISM
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM
5. IMAGES OF THE PAST AND NATIONALISM
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM5. IMAGES OF THE PAST AND NATIONALISM
OUTLINE
Look at relationship between images of the past and nationalism:
(Orwell, 1984: “Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past”)
•Packaging the past: mechanisms of control
•Disseminating the message•Content of the message
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM5. IMAGES OF THE PAST AND NATIONALISM
PACKAGING THE PAST
WHAT AGENCY IS RESPONSIBLE?
Depends on relationship between “nation” and state:
• “Nation” controls own state(Britain, France, Spain etc.)
• “Nation” is controlled by another state(Ireland, Finland, Estonia etc.)
• Note East-West contrast(distinction between “civic” and “ethnic” nationalism)
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM5. IMAGES OF THE PAST AND NATIONALISM
PACKAGING THE PASTWESTERN
AND EASTERN EUROPE,
1911
“nation-states” versus
empires?
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM5. IMAGES OF THE PAST AND NATIONALISM
PACKAGING THE PAST
“NATION” WITH ITS OWN STATE• Central state agencies
(monarchy, presidency, etc., operating through various ceremonies and rituals)
• Universities and national academies(Academic historians, work available for popularisation)
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM5. IMAGES OF THE PAST AND NATIONALISM
PACKAGING THE PAST“NATION” WITHOUT A STATE
• Local “national” academies(RIA, Finnish Society of Science, Royal Bohemian Society of Science)
• Literary / historical societies(Irish Archaeological Society, Finnish Literary Society, Society of the Museum of the Homeland <Czech>, Latvian Literary Society, Estonian Learned Society)
• Individual historians: “fathers of the nation”(Palacky, Paisi, Daukantas)
• Historical novelists, folklorists(Topelius, Scott)
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM5. IMAGES OF THE PAST AND NATIONALISM
DISSEMINATING THE PACKAGETEACHING NATIONALIST HISTORY:“NATION” WITH ITS OWN STATE
• Public ceremonials(inaugurations, military parades etc.)
• Mass education system(civic loyalty inculcated in elementary schools, using images of the past and present)
• Military service / conscription(Training in loyalty to state)
• Informal channels(newspapers, popular culture)
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM5. IMAGES OF THE PAST AND NATIONALISM
DISSEMINATING THE PACKAGETEACHING NATIONALIST HISTORY:“NATION” WITHOUT ITS OWN STATE
• Possibly, mass education system(only if control is not centralised)
• Private schools(if permitted, and affordable)
• Informal channels(newspapers, popular culture, reading rooms and clubs sponsored by nationalist organisations—subject to censorship)
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM5. IMAGES OF THE PAST AND NATIONALISM
NATIONALIST HISTORYWHAT IS THE CONTENT?
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM5. IMAGES OF THE PAST AND NATIONALISM
NATIONALIST HISTORY
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM5. IMAGES OF THE PAST AND NATIONALISM
NATIONALIST HISTORY
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM5. IMAGES OF THE PAST AND NATIONALISM
NATIONALIST HISTORY
CHARACTERISTIC COMPONENTS AND FUNCTIONS
• Myths of origin(definition of ancestry of nation)
• Myths of development(reinforcement of national solidarity)
• Myths of destiny(provision of inspiration for future of nation)
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM5. IMAGES OF THE PAST AND NATIONALISM
NATIONALIST HISTORY
MYTHS OF ORIGIN• Genealogy of the nation
– Identification with particular group(Israelite tribe, ancient Romans, Scythians, Celts)
– Notion of absorption of earlier and later groups(Celts in Ireland; Saxons in England)
• Birth of the nation– “Time immemorial” (Greeks, Basques)– Decisive formative event (battles of
Clontarf, Hastings)
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM5. IMAGES OF THE PAST AND NATIONALISM
NATIONALIST HISTORY
MYTHS OF DEVELOPMENT
• Golden age
(era of “national greatness”)
• Dark age
(era of oppression—conquest by alien power)
• Age of national struggle
(era of resistance to alien influence)
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM5. IMAGES OF THE PAST AND NATIONALISM
NATIONALIST HISTORY
GOLDEN AGE• Glorious political and military past
(Grand Duchy of Lithuania; Kingdom of Bohemia in 14th century; second Bulgarian empire in 13th century)
• Ancient spiritual achievements(“island of saints and scholars”; Poles as heirs to Slav democracy)
• Literary attainments(epic poems <Kalevala, Táin>)
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM5. IMAGES OF THE PAST AND NATIONALISM
NATIONALIST HISTORY
DARK AGE• Era of national oppression
(750 years of English “oppression” in Ireland; 500-year Turkish “yoke” in Bulgaria)
• Era of national fragmentation(Germany, Italy—possible to blame external powers)
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM5. IMAGES OF THE PAST AND NATIONALISM
NATIONALIST HISTORYAGE OF NATIONAL STRUGGLELong struggle against foreign domination, with four distinctive themes:
• National heroes(William Wallace, Robert Emmet, etc.)
• Traitors to the nation(Dermot McMurrough, Guy Fawkes, etc.)
• Great victories(Battle of the Boyne, etc.)
• Glorious defeats(Battle of Aughrim; Battle of White Mountain)
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM5. IMAGES OF THE PAST AND NATIONALISM
NATIONALIST HISTORY
IRISHREPUBLICAN POSTER, 1993
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM5. IMAGES OF THE PAST AND NATIONALISM
NATIONALIST HISTORY
MYTHS OF DESTINY
• National mission
(nation as provider of universal inspiration
e.g. imperial civilising mission;defence of spiritual / humanitarian values)
• National territory
(notion of historical territory, typically greater than the area now occupied by the nation, as the target territory)
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM5. IMAGES OF THE PAST AND NATIONALISM
NATIONAL TERRITORIES
“The national territory consists of the whole island of Ireland, its islands and the territorial seas” (Constitution, 1937, art. 2)
IRELAND
Catholic / nationalist / “Irish” Ireland
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM5. IMAGES OF THE PAST AND NATIONALISM
NATIONAL TERRITORIES
Maximimalist version of “historic Hungary”
HUNGARY
“Ethnic” Hungary, 1910
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM5. IMAGES OF THE PAST AND NATIONALISM
NATIONAL TERRITORIES
Maximimalist version of “historic Lithuania”
LITHUANIA
“Ethnic” Lithuania, 1897
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM5. IMAGES OF THE PAST AND NATIONALISM
NATIONAL TERRITORIES
ISRAEL
“Ethnic” Israel, 1947
Kingdom of David(Israeli Foreign Ministry)
“Historic Israel—the Holy Land” (Goodnews Christian Ministry)
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM5. IMAGES OF THE PAST AND NATIONALISM
THE END …
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