Construction Of National Identity Research Articles

Dinamismo e identificación de participantes en la construcción discursiva de la nación estadounidense

This article analyzes the linguistic choices used in political discourse to represent social actors and their role in the construction of national storylines. We focus on Donald Trump’s and Joseph Biden’s inaugural speeches as a critical exploratory context. The analytical approach involves contrasting their choices for assigning dynamism to socialactors through transitivity roles and for identifying participants through direct, indirect, and pronominal strategies. Our findings show that Trump assigns Actor + Goal roles that construe citizens as agents impinging on material reality, while Biden assigns them Actor – Goal roles that represent citizens as participants in happenings. Trump’s identification of participants shows a higher proportion of indirect strategies linked with possessivequalification, whereas Biden stands out for his frequent use of the singular first person. The findings suggest connections between the strategies identified and the construction of national identities and storylines, both permeated by political leaders’ ideological orientations.

Putin’s retelling of the Great Patriotic War myth and the construction of Russian national identity

Political elites often use the nation’s past to construct the nation’s present identity. In his speeches about the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin frequently uses the Russian national myth of the Great Patriotic War to construct Russia’s present duties, values, and identity. Charges of neo-Nazism and fascism against Ukraine are made to construct the Russian national identity as one that fights proactively against Nazism. However, by using a myth set in the Soviet period, the status of Ukraine as either part of the Russian Self or constituting the foreign Other is highly ambiguous. Although cynical and deeply offensive, Putin’s use of Nazi imagery therefore has a purpose deeper than causing shock and offence.

The rise of Q-pop in Kazakhstan and its impact on national identity

This study delves into the influence of the Korean Wave on the emergence of Q-pop in Kazakhstan, examining its impact on the country's cultural landscape and national identity. Stemming from the worldwide appeal of Korean culture, Q-pop merges local Kazakh motifs with global trends, leaving a significant mark on Kazakhstan's music industry and culture. This study highlights how Q-pop influences Kazakhstani youth's sense of national pride, spreading across Central Asia and countering Russian musical dominance. The research aims to investigate the role of Q-pop in reinforcing Kazakh cultural ties among various demographic groups, thereby enriching our comprehension of national identity in the country. This study utilized a quantitative research methodology, employing an online survey and snowball sampling technique to gather statistically significant results and insights into the rise of Q-pop and its intricate relation with national identity in Kazakhstan. Through exploring Q-pop's interaction with different cultural contexts, this study aims to shed light on the dynamics of cultural adaptation, fusion, and national identity construction in Kazakhstan, paying special attention to the intricate effects of gender and geographical factors. It highlights the critical balance between preserving Kazakh traditions and aligning with the younger generation's preferences.

Resonating Reflections: A Critical Review of Ethnosymbolic Dynamics in Les Six’s Music Nationalism Movement

Les Six and their mentors stirred a debatement of French nationalist music in the early 20th century. However, this movement faced serious criticism and mockery from various quarters and eventually fell apart amid challenges. This critical review explores the ethnosymbolic dynamics within the nationalism music movement of Les Six, and drawing upon ethnomusicological perspectives, the study examines how their compositions reflected and resonated with French national identity and cultural heritage. By analyzing primary sources, scholarly literature, and musical compositions, this article meticulously uncovers the chain reactions generated in the process of constructing national identity and cultural identity within this movement by examining the French societal backdrop, musical traditions, as well as the relationships and attitudes among relevant figures in this movement. The conclusions highlight the multifaceted nature of ethnosymbolism in their work, shedding light on the complexities of national identity construction through music.

‘Doff white shirts, don overalls’: Urbanophobia, Rural Enterprise and the Ideal of Masculine Citizenship in Post-Colonial Botswana

Historical studies of migration have largely ascribed the configuration of masculinities in Botswana to male labour migration. This discourse is beyond dispute. As a paradigm, however, it has obscured other histories of migration and their influence on cultural ideals of masculinity, where circular migratory patterns became central to the construction of national identity. In the first decade of independence, Botswana’s national policy and popular discourse centred around shaping a nation of farmers composed of masculine, rural citizens. Men were encouraged to go back to their lands to stem the tide of migration to urban areas, where they would purportedly become indolent and therefore wallow in poverty. This article analyses anti-urban rhetoric and valorisation of the virtues of farming as evidence of how rural enterprise was central to the construction of the ideal of masculine national identity in early post-colonial Botswana between the 1960s and 1970s. The attempt to construct national identity around manhood was a deliberate mechanism to sustain the patriarchy’s control over subordinated gendered categories, such as women, poor people and young men.

Navigating and Exhibiting Ambivalence: Yin Hua Artist Organization and Sino-Indonesian Relations in the 1950s to 1960s

Abstract: This paper interrogates the logic of inclusion and exclusion that foregrounds the ethnocentrism and spatial boundedness of the state project’s national identity construction and proposes critical terms of discussion that challenge the limiting nation-centric framework prevalent in the dominant modern art historiography discourse. Drawing on primary archival research, it describes accounts of Lembaga Seniman Yin Hua (Yin Hua Meishu Xiehui, 印華美術協會, Yin Hua Artist Organization), an art organization established in 1955 in Jakarta and analyzes it against the backdrop of the Sino-Indonesian diplomatic relationship during the Cold War era. By engaging with the ambivalent aesthetic and politic of Chinese Indonesian artists, this paper recognizes the active and strategic agency of Chinese Indonesians as both insiders and outsiders in China and Indonesia under the uncertain circumstances of their dual nationality status. It argues that Yin Hua ambivalently navigated between the political patronage of Indonesia and China, performed dual loyalty to Indonesian and Sino-centric art history, and exhibited multiple artistic lineages that disrupted the stabilized territory of postcolonial nation-state geographical and cultural border. Weaving exhibition history, diplomatic history, and critical ethnic studies through a thread of transnational perspective, this paper provides historical narratives that unsettle the roots of racializing logic in the political articulation of nationalism and pushes toward an epistemic shift in rethinking categories of national identity, ethnicity, and citizenship.

Technologies of Performative National Identity Construction (The Case Study of the Russian-Language Social Network)

The construction of national identity in the digital society is increasingly shifting to social networks, which have become stages for self-expression, where it acquires the character of a virtual performance. Being X means playing the role of X so convincingly that the audience will believe it. At the same time, the role can represent a person in varying degrees - from a mirror reversal to a simulacrum, i.e. a symbol without a real signifier. The digital role, divorced from self-awareness, can be motivated both by a commercial strategy for the struggle to expand the audience and / or fulfill an order, or by the official functions of an official, manager or activist who are tasked with creating the moods necessary for the customer in the networks.The article presents the results of an empirical study of technologies for representing national identity in Russian-Language social network TikTok. The aim is to study the tools for constructing national identity in a digital society. Empirical data was collected using the analysis of blogs, where the unit of analysis is a blog as a case. National identity is performed with the help of a systematic demonstration of national self-identification, language, costume, cuisine; music; scenery (nature / house interior, etc.), national rituals and everyday customs, tourist preferences. The need for national self-identification increases, firstly, in a multicultural context or in minority status, and secondly, in situations of national conflicts, when the need to mark the boundary between “us” and “them” with the help of symbols increases.

‘Don't forget Tibet’: Understanding the discursive construction of Tibetan national identity through the identity entrepreneurship of the Dalai Lama

AbstractGiven the exponential increase in the number of refugees and displaced people worldwide, it has become critical to examine the experiences of refugees; particularly their identity, since it is an important marker of their adjustment to the new context. Besides other factors impacting their identity and adjustment, the role of the leader is important as it can impact the construction of refugee identities. This paper explores the construction and negotiation of Tibetan refugee identities through the identity entrepreneurship of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual and erstwhile political leader of the Tibetans. It is postulated that leaders are entrepreneurs of identity who shape identity construction and negotiation. With an emphasis on the social, political, and historical context, three kinds of sources are analysed using a discourse‐historical approach to understand how leaders function as entrepreneurs of identity across the various contexts and negotiate identity construction across the shifting contexts. First, 12 speeches by the Dalai Lama on 10 critical events in Tibetan history since 1959; second, six speeches by the Dalai Lama for Tibetan Uprising Day (1961–2009); and third, two international interviews (CNN, 2009; BBC, 2012). The analysis demonstrates that the identity entrepreneurship of the Dalai Lama has strong elements of protection towards the ingroup, that is, the Tibetan refugees, through the crafting of a collective sense of identity for Tibetans. The study sheds new light on the nature of refugee leadership, acknowledging the impact of the shifting nature of identity, from a native citizen to refugee; and the leader's identity entrepreneurship in these evolving and often malleable contexts.

Beyond a sense of obliviousness: elite education and national identity among Palestinian students in Israel

ABSTRACT Through interviews with Palestinian students in elite schools in Israel, we delve into the intersection between experiences of elite identities and national identities. Contrary to the conventional narrative of hegemonic elite education promoting apolitical attitudes, our findings reveal that Palestinian students, belonging to a stigmatized minority group, prioritize academic excellence alongside a strong emphasis on Palestinian patriotism and national identity. Furthermore, we uncover a heightened political awareness among these students, which they attribute to distinct practices and rituals within the school setting. This paper contributes to understanding how elite education intersects with the construction of national identity among minority elites. It offers insights into the experiences of minority elite students facing discrimination while also highlighting the emergence of a self-defined elite within this specific sub-group.

Pastorale urbana. Kampung Admiralty a Singapore e il mito del villaggio

The strategies for the construction of national identity devised by the Singaporean government in the years following independence as a British colony included the evocation of an ideal original landscape, epitomized both by the tropical forests that covered the archipelago of Singapore and by the productive landscape of rural villages, or kampung in Malay. The idealized representations of these two local landscapes were entrusted to the plants selected to shape the greening campaigns accompanying the massive urbanization process that rapidly transformed Singapore into a high-density metropolis. Evolving from that approach is Kampung Admiralty, a large contemporary multifunctional building crowned by roof gardens designed by Singapore-based architectural practice WOHA, with Henning Larsen Landscape as landscape consultant. The architectural and landscape architectural complex appears as a technological celebration of the rural landscape: while the botanical associations employed suggest the varied spaces and lively atmospheres of traditional villages with their distinctive mixture of agricultural, wild, and ornamental plants species, the introduction of nature-based solutions and plant communities promoting biodiversity adapt the operational role of tropical vegetation in sustaining the survival of the community that inhabited the kampung to the needs of the contemporary city.

Restricted affiliation: the costs of otherness among Afroczechs

ABSTRACT The increasing presence of African diasporic people in Europe and their identity politics have given rise to a proliferation of studies on their experiences, albeit with the exception of central eastern Europe (CEE). This research expands on this scholarship by addressing lived experiences, racialisation processes and struggles to belong among Afropeans in Czechia. Grounded in ethnography the study draws from narrative interviews with self-identified Afroczechs who are closely connected to both their African heritage and their Czechness. We conceptualise their identity politics as Restricted Affiliation in a sense that the state of belonging to Czechia has distinct limits due to the high costs of racial Otherness they experience. The findings demonstrate the limits of a shared language vis-à-vis racial ideologies in Czech national identity constructions and contribute to more visibility and further theorising of Czech blackness.

PERSONALITIES OF PAINTERS VILHELMS PURVĪTIS AND IMANTS LANCMANIS IN THE LATVIAN ART FIELD IN THE 20TH AND 21ST CENTURIES

The Latvian National Museum of Art’s 2022 exhibitions “Purvītis” and “The Art of Imants Lancmanis”, one dedicated to the 150th anniversary of Vilhelms Purvītis and the other a retrospective exhibition of works by Imants Lancmanis, are united by their ambition. It is a testimony to its time and to the personality of the artist. The main aim of this article is to use the sociology of art to portray the influence of two artists, painters and leaders of national art institutions, on the formation of national art perception in society. Two personalities, each working in their own time, but both with strong social capital and habitus – the ability to use it to shape the rules of the Latvian art field and construct national identity.

National we in Ukrainian media texts in 2022: construction of identity during the anti-colonial war

Background. National identity is a dynamic phenomenon that is discursively constructed through use of various language means, including the pronoun “we.” Perception of a nation as a political community results in usage of the national we in specific contexts, while practical use of the national we in various discourses has an impact on construction and support of the national identity.Сontribution to the research field. This research sets the parameters of discursive construction of the Ukrainian national identity represented in the media texts through use of the national we.Purpose. The purpose of this article is to analyse the use of the national we that appeared in Ukrainian media texts in the year of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Study materials were selected from the articles published on The Ukrainian Week’s website during 2022.Methods. A descriptive method was used for this research as a part of the discourse analysis.Results. Semantic zones related to the discursive construction of the Ukrainian national identity using the national we were highlighted: 1) the need to understand one’s national identity; 2) national character (stereotypical Ukrainian); 3) physical measurement of existence of a nation (people and territories); 4) historical memory; 4) culture; 5) present; 6) future; 7) tasks to be solved for adequate existence of the nation. The important element of understanding the national uniqueness is determining one’s distinction from the enemy which, among other things, is verbalised through we — they opposition. The common past that determines the present and the future, and the tasks the Ukrainians face are mentioned more often than the other semantic zones.Discussion. In all semantic zones construction of the national we is affected by the colonial past of Ukraine and the necessity to resist the Russian imperial narratives and defend against the full-scale armed invasion of Russia. The direction for the research is to study the discursive construction of the Ukrainian national identity during ХХ–ХХІ centuries in the context of the postcolonial research trends using various language means.

Building a National Identity Through Dangdut Music Programs on Television (Case Study: D’Academy 5 Indosiar)

One of the main functions of television is as a medium of entertainment. Indosiar, one of the private television stations in Indonesia, has an entertainment program called D'Academy 5, which is a talent search program for dangdut musicians and singers. Dangdut music is still considered lower-class music. This music is performed very simply, starting from a makeshift stage, wearing clothes that tend to be sexy, and much more. The mission of the D'Academy 5 program is to raise the image of dangdut music as classy music that can be enjoyed by all levels of society from various social classes. There are even many opinions that say that dangdut music is original Indonesian music, so this music deserves to be called a national identity for Indonesian people. This study aims to see and describe the process of national identity construction carried out by television media through the dangdut music program. This study is qualitative research using the constructivism paradigm. Using the four stages of the social construction theory of mass media: the stage of preparing construction materials, the stage of construction distribution, the stage of forming construction reality, and the stage of confirmation. The case study method is used as an analytical tool. The results of this study indicate that national identity is basically something that must be built and maintained. The identity built through the D'Academy 5 program is not only limited to dangdut music but also includes other cultural elements. There area social values in culture that are maintained and conveyed to the wider community. Indosiar, through this program, tries to emphasize that dangdut is Indonesian music. With the regeneration of dangdut musicians and singers in Indonesia, it is hoped that this music will continue to exist. The elevated image of dangdut music, with audiences from various social classes.

A Critique of the Turkish Education System During the Early Republic Period (1923-1943) Based on Syed Ahmet Arvasi’s Idea

States established as nation-states in the 19th and 20th centuries have used education to defend their principles of existence and legitimacy. In this context, the Republic of Turkey, founded on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire, has made great efforts to transform its people into a modern nation-state. The most important tool of the state in this effort has undoubtedly been education. Since the basis of the republican ideology is secularism, the basic building block in education has also been secularism. The education system has been the most important part of secular modernization and the construction of a new national identity. New and secular values that form the national identity have been transferred and transmitted to new generations through education. In this context, education policies have been under the influence of the new regime for a long time since the founding of the republic. This study has drawn from Syed Ahmed Arvasi’s ideas in analyzing the historical development of education in Turkey, and identified that problems such as moral corruption, anarchy, lack of national consciousness, and lack of personality in today's society are closely associated with the secular education policies of the Republican period. In moving forward, the study supports Arvasi’s idea of educating the younger generation according to the principles of Turkish-Islamic culture. Future studies may explore further the viability of Arvasi’s ideas and how they can be implemented in the formal system of education in Turkey

Newspapers in national languages in Télé-Congo

In this research, we focus on national-language newspapers broadcast on Télé-Congo. Indeed, the Congolese public channel is presented as one of the means of mass communication for the promotion of these languages. The aim of this article is to assess the contribution of national-language newspapers to the construction of Congolese identity. The method applied in our study is based on questionnaires in social networks and among journalists in national languages. We use information science theory to analyze newspapers in national languages. Our results show that content in national languages makes an indispensable contribution to the construction of Congolese national identity. However, the discrimination suffered by national languages, hinterland content and the institutionalization of television subjects are revealed as the realities of this public medium. Keywords: Languages, national languages, national identity, television, newspaper

Comparative study of the national identity education in senior high school English textbooks from Kyrgyzstan and China

Relevance\Purpose. This paper conducts a comparative quantitative analysis of senior high school English books in Kyrgyzstan and China from the perspective of national identity education. It analyses the information, design, symbolic characteristics, and proportion of national identity education in two versions of English textbooks.Methodology. The study used the textual analysis method and the comparative method.Results. The findings are as follows: English textbooks in Kyrgyzstan pay more attention to national identity and national knowledge system construction, relying on many country-specific themes. Meanwhile, English textbooks for Chinese senior high school focus more on the presentation of an authentic English language context in which the foreign culture proportion is greater than that of the Chinese culture. English textbooks in Kyrgyzstan tend to present Kyrgyzstan identity based on Russian and English languages. The textbooks include three language types to strengthen the consciousness of the Kyrgyzstan national knowledge system. English textbooks in China tend to present English language�speaking countries. The textbooks contain one language�English�and the Chinese language rarely appears on the cover pages.Conclusions. English textbooks in Kyrgyzstan tend to present Kyrgyzstan culture as part of the national identity construction. These textbooks pay more attention to translating local Kyrgyzstan culture and provide more vivid themes to stimulate comparisons between the Kyrgyz Republic and other countries. English textbooks in China tend to construct a multicultural knowledge system by presenting many common, daily topics of world culture and diversity.

National Identities in Major Emergency: A Corpus-based Analysis on Interactional Metadiscourse in Regular Press Conference about COVID-19

Addressers’ metapragmatic awareness affects the language-choosing process and achieves diverse identities construction in different social contexts. Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, Chinese spokespersons endeavor to shape public opinions and defend national interest in Regular Press Conference through appropriately-employed languages, so as to avoid groundless criticism and probable panic among public. Based on Hyland’s model of interaction, the present paper thus explores the discursive construction of national identities in spokespersons’ remarks regarding the COVID-19. Verschueren’s Adaptation Theory is adopted to explain spokespersons’ employment of interactional metadiscourse in Regular Press Conference. The result shows that (1) self-mentions, attitude markers and boosters are made considerable use in remarks; (2) national identities as firm defender, responsible upholder and sincere friend are intentionally constructed; (3) spokespersons consciously adapt to the official context by adopting different metadiscourse resources. This analysis attempts to provide suggestions for international communication and shed some light on discursive strategies used in key context.

The Narrative Construction of National Identity in Nadine Gordimer’s July’s People

At a time when Gordimer was writing her short stories and novels which stretched over four decades beginning from the 1940s to the 1990s, several historical and political events were taking place in South Africa. Gordimer’s entire oeuvre of fiction was her way of responding to those historical and political events that unfolded in the country. Many writers and critics believed that the history of the Nationalist Government from 1948 onwards has been faithfully recorded by the novels of Nadine Gordimer and they “will provide the future historian with all the evidence required to evaluate the price that has been paid by the people”. (Green, 563) She published her first collection of short stories in 1949, a year after the first Nationalist Government was elected to power. Her body of work from 1949 to 2000 covers the entire period of apartheid in South Africa. Therefore, she was a writer with serious intent and meant to convey through her novels her rigid stand against apartheid. The term ‘apartheid’ means ‘apartness’, a policy meant to segregate people on the foundation of their race and colour. In The Essential Gesture: Writing, Politics and Places (1988), Gordimer noted that it was not the “problems” of her country that set her to writing; rather, it was learning to write that sent her “falling, falling through the surface of the South African way of life”. (Gordimer 1988, p. 272) This paper shall attempt to study how Gordimer constructs identity in her novel July’s People (1981). The paper posits that the most important theme in Gordimer’s novels has been identity, an issue that she has been dealing with since her childhood, due to her situation as the daughter of immigrant parents, and living and writing in South Africa at a time when her country was divided based on colour.

Functional Perspective on the Thematic to Collective Advice of Minstrels in the Construction of National Identity

Türkler, tarihleri en eski zamanlara kadar ulaşan köklü bir millettir. Sözlü ve yazılı kaynaklar ışığında yapılan çalışmalarda bu milletin güçlü bir medeniyete sahip olduğu görülür. Hızla değişen ve gelişen tarihî süreçte, güçlü bir medeniyet oluşturabilmek, millî ve manevi değerlerde süreklilik ve bu değerlere bağlılık gerektirir. Türkler bu özellikleri ile tarih boyu siyasi, sosyal ve kültürel alanda varlıklarını devam ettirmişlerdir. Nitekim kurdukları devletler yıkılıp dağıldığında millî şuur ve manevi inanç ile tüm zorlukları aşarak yeni bir devlet kurmayı başarmışlardır. Ancak 20. yüzyıla gelindiğinde kurdukları en uzun ömürlü devlet olan Osmanlı Devleti yıkılmıştır. Değişen şartlarda çok uluslu devlet yapısından ulus devlet anlayışına geçilmesi gerektiği anlaşılmış ve Türkiye Cumhuriyeti kurulmuştur. Osmanlı Devleti’nin son dönemlerinde art arda gelen siyasi ve askerî başarısızlıklar, Türk milletini psikolojik bakımdan yormuştur. Bu durumun farkında olan dönem idarecileri yeni devletin sağlam temeller üzerinde kurulup inşa edilmesi için kültür, dil, edebiyat, sanat gibi alanlarda millî kimlik odaklı birtakım çalışmalar yapmışlardır. Âşıklık geleneği de yeni devletin ideolojisinin halka benimsetilmesinde faydalanılan alanlar arasında yer almıştır. Geleneğin öneminin ve âşıkların işlevinin farkında olan idareciler, bu dönemde âşıkları maddi ve manevi anlamda desteklemişlerdir. Yeni bir devletin kurulup kökleşmesi aşamasında ise âşıkların, millî kimlik inşası için kolektif bir çalışma yaptıkları tespit edilmiştir. Yapılan incelemelerde âşıkların anadil ve dil bilinci, bayrak, din duygusu, millî bayramlar, millî birlik ve beraberlik, millî egemenlik, millî kahramanlar, milliyeti sevme, şehitlik ve gazilik, Türk tarihi, vatan/memleket sevgisi, yenileşme/modernleşme çalışmaları gibi temlerde duygu ve düşüncelerini nasihat yoluyla halka kolektif bir şekilde anlatmaya çalıştıkları görülmüştür. Bu çalışmada Cumhuriyet Devri âşıklarının millî bir kimlik inşasında kolektif nasihatlerinde yer alan millî temler, milliyetçilik sosyolojisi bağlamında tematik düzlemde incelenecek, âşıkların yeni bir ideolojiyle kurulan devletin güçlenmesinde ve korunmasındaki işlevleri değerlendirilecektir.