1. POLITICS OF NATIONALISM
6. PUBLIC CULTURE AND
NATIONALISM
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM
6. PUBLIC CULTURE AND NATIONALISM
2. OUTLINE
Aspects of culture and nationalism:
• A reminder: direction of causation
• Material culture (housing, dress,
food)
• Intellectual culture (literature,
music, art)
• Sport
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM
6. PUBLIC CULTURE AND NATIONALISM
3. DIRECTION OF CAUSATION
Social factors have an impact on nationalism ...
LANGUAGE
RELIGION
“HISTORY”
NATIONAL
IDENTITY /
NATIONALISM
other factors?
… but nat. can have an impact on social factors
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM
6. PUBLIC CULTURE AND NATIONALISM
4. MATERIAL CULTURE
Local, regional, national, global?
• Note similarities between housing, dress and food:
– Each feature a response to geography and climate,
as well as to social and political realities
– Characteristic regional features may be identified
– Over time, these are subject to pressures towards
global uniformity
– May also be used to emphasise “national”
distinctiveness (Freud: “narcissism of minor
difference”)
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM
6. PUBLIC CULTURE AND NATIONALISM
5. HOUSING
• House types emerge as response to
local needs, life styles and resources
• May be seen as linked to particular
ethnic communities
• Tendency towards standardisation
• Survival of distinctive regional
cityscapes
• Use of public architecture to emphasise
national greatness
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM
6. PUBLIC CULTURE AND NATIONALISM
8. DRESS
• Dress (like housing) a response to local
needs, life styles and resources—plus
personal ornamentation?
• May be seen as linked to particular
ethnic communities /sumptuary codes
• Tendency towards standardisation
• Identification of “national dress” to
enhance distinctiveness of particular
peoples
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM
6. PUBLIC CULTURE AND NATIONALISM
9. DRESS
SOVIET ETHNOLOGICAL MODELS: MONGOLIAN, COLUMBIAN, BULGARIAN, MICRONESIAN
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM
6. PUBLIC CULTURE AND NATIONALISM
11. DRESS
Now there are more and more Indian girls from other
villages who go to high school in Riobamba who no longer
wear the Indian dress. They are ashamed of their heritage
and don’t want to be treated like Indians anymore. They
think they can better themselves socially by wearing other
clothes and rejecting their parents, but they’re fooling
themselves. Classmates and others notice right away that
they’re Indians. They aren’t accepted as real mestizos, but
they do think that they’re better than their parents. When
relatives from the village visit them, they act as though they
don’t know them. They don’t say hello, or they even claim to
their mestizo school-mates that they’re their servants from
the country! You can’t imagine what that means to parents
who are paying for their education in the sweat of their
brow (Lentz, 1995: 287-8)
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM
6. PUBLIC CULTURE AND NATIONALISM
13. FOOD
• Food and cuisine also a response to local
needs, life styles and resources
• May be seen as linked to particular ethnic
communities (Japanese, Chinese, Indian,
Italian, American …)
• Tendency towards global availability,
standardisation
• Identification of particular “national” or
ethnic traits:
– Link to certain foods / drinks / cuisine
types (labels …)
– Aversion from certain foods (e.g. pork,
beef)
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM
6. PUBLIC CULTURE AND NATIONALISM
14. FOOD
EXAMPLE OF “NARCISSISTIC” ASSOCIATION
OF FOOD WITH NATIONALITY
• “English breakfast” = fried bacon, egg,
sausage, etc.
• “Irish breakfast” = English breakfast +
black pudding
• “Ulster fry” = Irish breakfast + potato
cake
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM
6. PUBLIC CULTURE AND NATIONALISM
15. INTELLECTUAL CULTURE
LITERATURE, MUSIC, ART:
COMMON TENSIONS
• Folk poetry v. world literature and bestsellers
• Folk music v. classical and international popular
music
• Folk art v. fine arts
local/regional/ethnic v. global/universal
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM
6. PUBLIC CULTURE AND NATIONALISM
16. LITERATURE
DISTINCTIVENESS:
• Collection and publication of folk tales
• “Discovery” or creation of national epics (Fingal,
Kalevala, Táin)
• Cultivation of “national” literature
• Creation of national theatres, libraries
EXCELLENCE:
• Pursuit of international literary acclaim (Nobel prize,
etc.)
• Pursuit of global popularity (popular novels, etc.)
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM
6. PUBLIC CULTURE AND NATIONALISM
17. MUSIC
DISTINCTIVENESS:
• Collection, publication and performance of folk music
• Composition of ballads, “national” folk music, “national”
classical music
• Cultivation of “national” instrument(s)
• Use of stirring words, opera plots, martial, nationalist music
(national anthems, etc.)
• Use of music as form of oblique protest
EXCELLENCE:
• Pursuit of international acclaim (global standing of composers,
orchestras)
• Victory in international competitions: recording sales, song
contests
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM
6. PUBLIC CULTURE AND NATIONALISM
18. ART
DISTINCTIVENESS:
• Collection and display of distinctive artefacts,
treasures
• Promotion of distinctive national styles
• Creation of national galleries
EXCELLENCE:
• Pursuit of international acclaim (outstanding works
of art, artists)
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM
6. PUBLIC CULTURE AND NATIONALISM
19. SPORT
DISTINCTIVENESS:
• Emergence of sporting codes like emergence of
languages: selection of norm (e.g. Eton, Rugby
rules), codification and elaboration of rules,
dissemination within community
• Survival and global influence of some sports (e.g.
soccer, rugby, cricket); disappearance of others
• Sports as symbols of identity, e.g.
Gaelic/American/Australian football; (ice) hockey
(Canada); Highlands Games (Scotland)
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM
6. PUBLIC CULTURE AND NATIONALISM
20. SPORT
EXCELLENCE:
• Sports as instruments for achieving international
recognition (Olympics; world cups)
• Sporting competition as contributor to national
identity
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM
6. PUBLIC CULTURE AND NATIONALISM
21. SPORT
ROLE OF SPORT:
• Alternative to (or sponsor of?) violent conflict? (e.g.
Czechoslovakia v. USSR, 1972, ice hockey)
• Marker of identity of ethnic groups (e.g. South Africa,
Northern Ireland)
• Role in “building character”: Turngesellschaft
(Germans), Sokol movement (Czechs), GAA
(Ireland), cricket etc. (“British feelings cannot flow
into the breasts of our Canadian boys through a more
delightful challenge than that of British sports”)
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM
6. PUBLIC CULTURE AND NATIONALISM
22. SPORT
Scottish perspective on soccer match against England,
Wembley Stadium:
“We were the underdogs, the plucky fighters, one of
whose national heroes, Robert Bruce, had derived
inspiration from a spider and had taught us all that we
should try, try, and try again. The English on the other
hand were arrogant. Their country was larger and more
powerful than ours and they deserved to be taken
down a peg or two. ... Victory allowed Scots to feel
good about themselves. Defeat meant a period of
introspection and low self-esteem as the nation
wallowed in collective despair. ... As junior partners in
the United Kingdom, Scots needed the sporting contest
with England as an element in a constant struggle to
maintain a separate identity” (Bairner, 2001: xiv).
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM
6. PUBLIC CULTURE AND NATIONALISM
23. CONCLUSION
SOME CONTRASTS:
• Material culture once reflected regional differences;
these now largely gone (globalisation); limited
significance for nationalism
• Intellectual culture continues to differentiate
peoples, notwithstanding universal artistic
standards; inter-nation competition adds to this
• Role of sport mainly in area of inter-nation
competition, though some distinctive sports; and
sport may play role in political mobilisation
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM
6. PUBLIC CULTURE AND NATIONALISM
24. THE END …
Next: race, gender and nationalism
POLITICS OF NATIONALISM
6. PUBLIC CULTURE AND NATIONALISM
