Construction Of National Identity Research Articles

New Narratives and Old Myths: History Textbooks in Kazakhstan

Abstract This article focuses on the role of textbooks in the construction of national identity by analyzing state-approved versions of national identity and history in Kazakhstan. By doing so, this project seeks to highlight what understanding of identity prevails in the history textbooks of Kazakhstan, what narratives regarding the key historic events are promoted, particularly with respect to the Dzhungar wars, annexation of Kazakh Khanate by the Russian Empire, and the Soviet era. Finally, this article compares the main narratives in the textbooks published in Kazakh and Russian languages to illustrate differences and various understandings of identity in the two linguistic realms of Kazakhstan. The article argues that Kazakhstan’s textbooks combine new, independence-focused narratives with the old approaches and partial reproduction of the Soviet symbolic discourse.

Austrian national identity in the centre-periphery model

ABSTRACT This article deals with the question of Austrian national identity, seen as a case study set within the theoretical frameworks of the centre-periphery model, and in particular, the theories of cultural emancipation of a periphery from the preponderance of a centre. The article examines , firstly, the unequal partnership between Germany and Austria, whose roots are to be found in the rivalry between the Habsburgs and Hohenzollerns, and, secondly, the way Austria invented its concept of a cultural centre after 1945. Finally, emphasis is put on selected political, cultural, and social phenomena, as well as processes that have happened since the 1960s, which question the traditional image of Austria. The salient element of this deconstruction process is by means of unearthing Austria’s memory of the Nazi past, which facilitates the emergence of a critical culture of remembrance and undermines the artificial post-war construct of Austrian national identity.

Reciprocity and asymmetry in digital diplomacy: Geopolitics of national identity in South Korea–Japan and South Korea–US relations

AbstractAn emerging line of research has drawn attention to the significance of national identity in shaping digital diplomatic practices. In this study, we look at the reciprocal construction of national identity on Twitter by corresponding foreign missions. Specifically, we examine one year of Twitter posts from the South Korean missions in Japan and the United States as well as the reciprocal missions of Japan and the United States in South Korea. Our study indicates that tweets from the Korea–US dyad reproduce the two nations as allies, even as the United States is constructed as the “big brother” to Korea's “little brother,” while the Korea–Japan dyad enacts and reinforces an adversarial relationship. Tweets from all four embassies reflect deep‐rooted national aspirations: Japan's hope to be accepted as morally superior to Korea, the US interest in maintaining its position as a global leader, and Korea's desire for international ascendance through economic and cultural export. We find that reciprocal identity construction is most evident in the text of the tweets but not so much in the use of Twitter's visual and interactional features. Going beyond reciprocity, our analysis sheds light on to how tweeting practices reproduce asymmetries of power in the international order.

Citizenship education through high school history in Turkey

This research was undertaken to better understand how the teaching of high school history contributes to citizenship education in Turkey. To achieve this goal, we focused on two main research questions. First, what does the history curriculum in Turkey include regarding citizenship education? Second, what do history educators think about contributing to citizenship education? Phenomenology, one of the qualitative research designs, was applied while seeking the answers to these research questions. Data diversity was ensured, and the history curriculum was analyzed in the first stage of the study. In the second stage, using a semi-structured interview protocol, interviews were conducted with history educators as the relevant curriculum implementers and the findings were examined using content analysis. It was found that the relationship between citizenship and history education is mainly centered on national identity construction. History courses promote democratic and global citizenship to a very limited extent, and, for a variety of reasons, the high school history curriculum of Turkey falls short of achieving the objectives of democratic citizenship education.

MOBILIZATION OF THE “OTHER” IN SLOVENE NATIONAL IDENTITY DURING THE 2015 REFUGEE CRISIS

In the aftermath of the 2015 European refugee crisis, a wave of scholarship has considered Eastern European populist leaderships to explain these states’ policies toward refugee influx. This article challenges these accounts by contending that relationship between influx of foreign nationals in the name of migrants into a national homeland and deteriorating national perceptions deserves greater attention to understand social strife within Slovene society against the flow. To this end, it examines Slovene intelligentsia’s policy of construction of Slovene national identity and its stereotyping Balkan ‘Other’ during the breaking up of Yugoslavia. Concretely, it applies postmodern approach that identities are fluid and benefiting from modernist theories on nationalism to explain deteriorated perceptions of post-communist Slovene society toward distinct Slovene national homeland in the time of refugee influx. The article finds that Slovene national identity that was constructed during the secession from Yugoslavia under the influences of europeanization and globalization has been re-constructed during and aftermath of the 2015 refugee crisis and the Other of Slovene identity mobilized or changed from the Balkan to the Middle East and Islam and that can be investigated through developments, a) changing perceptions of the Slovene nationals, b) Slovenia’s new asylum law, c) collaboration of Slovenia and the Balkan states d) discourses of prominent Slovenes and social media groups.

Threats, truths and strategies: The overlooked relationship between protests, nation branding and public diplomacy

AbstractAlthough protests are an essential part of modern politics, scholars in nation branding, public diplomacy and soft power have had very little to say about these episodes. Discussions in the field have only marginally addressed dissent and disruption, falling into a methodological statism that emphasises what states do to construct and legitimise specific versions of national identity. Debates on nation promotion consequently overlook how individuals and organisations outside the state and outside national boundaries can be equally important in the construction and communication of national images. Drawing on domestic and foreign news coverage of protests in Brazil, Romania and Chile, we propose three frames to analyse the relationship between protests and nation promotion: (1) protests as threats, (2) protests as expression of the true nation and (3) protests as strategic communications. These frames shed light on how bottom‐up efforts contest—overtly or covertly—state‐sponsored versions of national identity and how protests are visibility arenas where competing discourses about the nation are communicated. Protests should therefore be acknowledged not as mere disruptions to national images or reputations but as another expression of the contingent, multifaceted and shifting nature of nationhood, particularly in highly mediatised contemporary societies.

(Re)Constructing the Bengali: Propaganda and Resistance in Immediate Post-1971 Pakistani Fiction

During the war of 1971 and for a considerable amount of time afterward, manipulation of media reports and military propaganda in Pakistan contributed to cultural stereotypes of Bengalis as ‘others’. This paper analyses two immediate Pakistani fictional responses to the war published in 1973: “Bingo” by Tariq Rahman and “Hearth and Home” by Parveen Sarwar. It considers the relationship between literature as a medium and the rigid structure of religious nationalist loyalties and state propaganda, probing the dynamics between imaginative fiction and the top-down approach of statist historiography. It draws attention to the heterogeneity of literary strategies employed by authors and their divergent engagements with formulaic images of the Bengali ‘other’, which in turn shape the construction of national identity in the narratives. Along with focusing on the role of literature in ‘shattering the silence’, it aims to foreground the role played by fiction in maintaining stereotypical, archetypal, and antagonistic inter-ethnic relations.

Despicable ‘other’ and innocent ‘us’: emotion politics in the time of the pandemic

This study investigates the emotional management strategies employed by the Chinese maintream media Huanqiu Shibao (HQSB), through the use of nationalistic rhetoric during the Covid-19 pandemic. By conducting a discourse analysis of the coverage of Covid-19 on HQSB’s WeChat account, this research reveals two primary emotional management strategies: defensive nationalism and aggressive nationalism. Defensive nationalism utilizes fear and positive emotions to uphold and defend Chinese politics, while aggressive nationalism employs disgust to counter external criticisms and delegitimize the US democratic system and international leadership. By examining how HQSB emotionally differentiates the world, the study unveils that tactics Chinese mainstream media use to construct national identity, drawing a divisive line between a despised ‘them’ and an innocent ‘us’. The Covid-19 pandemic presents a unique opportunity to reflect on the emotionalisation of Chinese digital propaganda and the evolution of state-led nationalism during a public health crisis. The research concludes that the use of emotion in HQSB’s Covid-19 coverage aligns with China’s broader strategy of nation-building and global influence promotion. It underscores the need for greater awareness of the emotional mobilization used in political communication, particularly during times of crisis.

Exploring the Discursive Construction of National Identity Through the Building of the New Curriculum for Wales

Mae Cymru ynghanol ei chyfnod o ddiwygio addysgol mwyaf erioed, a hynny ar ffurf cwricwlwm newydd. Mae’r diwygio hwnnw wedi arwain at amlygiad themâu niferus o hunaniaeth a chenedl, a’r defnydd ohonynt. Mae’r erthygl hon yn defnyddio dadansoddiad disgwrs Foucauldaidd i arch­ wilio lluniad disgyrsiol hunaniaeth genedlaethol wrth greu’r cwricwlwm newydd. Trwy leoli ac archwilio sut y caiff hunaniaeth dysgwyr ei godd­ rychu, mae’r papur yn trafod y potensial ar gyfer hunaniaeth a pherthyn o fewn y cwricwlwm newydd. Mae’n nodi hunaniaeth fel rhywbeth amry­ wiol, newidiol, gofodol a strategol, ac yn archwilio canlyniadau posibl y lluniadau disgyrsiol hyn. Mae’r canfyddiadau’n datgelu bod disgyrsiau o’r fath yn rhyngweithio â’i gilydd, ac yn gysylltiedig â’i gilydd, ond bod potensial iddynt wrthdaro a gwrth­ddweud ei gilydd hefyd. Mae’r prosiect yn nodi llawer o gymhlethdodau ac arlliwiau o ran themâu hunaniaeth a pherthyn o fewn y cwricwlwm newydd. Mae’r gwaith yn canfod potensial i berthyn yn ogystal â rhwystrau fel dieithrio ac allgáu. Yn olaf, mae’n gofyn am rywfaint o bwyll ynglŷn â’r syniad bod modd i bob dysgwr oresgyn y rhwystrau hyn wrth weithredu’r cwricwlwm newydd.

Exploring the Discursive Construction of National Identity Through the Building of the New Curriculum for Wales

Wales is currently undergoing its largest ever educational reform in way of a new curriculum, within this reform multiple themes of identity and nationality are raised and used. This article uses Foucauldian discourse analysis to explore the discursive construction of identity in the building of the new curriculum. Through locating and exploring the subjectification of learners’ identity, this paper discusses the potential for learners’ subject position for identities and belonging within the new curriculum. It locates identity as diverse, fluid, spatial and strategic and explores the potential outcomes for these discursive constructions in regards to the subject positions of learners. It found these discourses to be interacting and in relation with one another, but also with the potential for conflict and contradiction. It notes many complexities and nuances in themes of identities and belonging within the curriculum. The work found potential for belonging as well as barriers such, as alienation and exclusion for learners. Finally, it offers some caution for ensuring these barriers can be overcome for all learners in the implementation of the new curriculum.

Ideologies underlying language policy and planning in the Philippines

This study utilizes Cobarrubias’ (1983. Ethical issues in status planning. In: Progress in language planning: international perspectives. pp. 41–85) taxonomy of language ideologies as the framework to uncover the ideologies underlying language policy and planning (LPP) in the Philippines. We discuss the different language ideologies, including linguistic assimilation, vernacularization, linguistic pluralism, and internationalization, through a historical analysis of the mandated LPP in the Philippines and how they have influenced the country’s LPP. Our findings reveal that legislation and administrative measures have played a crucial role in the process of linguistic assimilation, which has historically been the dominant ideology underlying LPP in the Philippines. Furthermore, we highlight that various language ideologies can coexist and be present simultaneously within a language policy or society. We also posit that Cobarrubias’ (1983. Ethical issues in status planning. In: Progress in language planning: international perspectives. pp. 41–85) framework has the potential to aid in the analysis and enhancement of LPP in other countries facing similar linguistic scenarios. Additionally, multilingual and multicultural countries must continually adapt their LPP to emphasize inclusive language policies, language maintenance initiatives, and national identity construction that values and respects linguistic diversity, empowers local communities, and strives for social inclusivity and cohesion within the context of neocolonialism and globalization.

Gianluigi Negro. Le voci di Pechino: Come i media hanno costruito l’identità cinese

Gianluigi Negro’s Le voci di Pechino: Come i media hanno costruito l’identità cinese (Beijing’s voices: How the media constructed Chinese identity) presents a much welcome intervention at the intersection of Sinology and Media Studies from a historiographical perspective. By tracking the diachronic shifts and continuities across different communication technologies, practices and policies in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the book develops a systematic understanding of the role of media in the construction of modern Chinese national identity. In doing so, it offers a valuable conceptual map for keeping track of the different actors and tensions that have shaped the Chinese media landscape from the rooftop loudspeakers of the Mao era to the Web 2.0 of today.

National Submissions to the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee as Constructions of National Identity: Cameroon, Kenya and Nigeria

ABSTRACT This article examines the construction of national identity in the context of the post-9/11 counter-terrorism sanctions regime established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373. The study focuses on the written reports of three member states – Cameroon, Kenya, and Nigeria – arguing that these documents not only serve as inventories of national capacity but also as performances of national identity within a specific historical moment. Two overarching arguments are made. First, constructions of terrorism play a crucial discursive role in demarcating self from other in these reports, consistently portraying terrorism as an external and morally reprehensible threat to national security. Second, despite this relatively consistent framing of terrorist otherness, the reports contain creative and diverse reflections on, or articulations of, national identity and its associated characteristics. In making these arguments, the article contributes to existing literature on the post-9/11 UN counter-terrorism regime by offering an original reading of national submissions to the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee, focusing on relatively neglected states from the global South, and develops new conceptual insight into the plasticity of terrorism as a form of discursive otherness capable of sustaining diverse representations of national self-identity

Identity and Socio-cultural Crisis in Industrial Cities: A Study on Workers in Jakarta and Makassar, Indonesia

When it relates to national identity, the issue of identity becomes relevant in the era of globalization. Considering the distance between local, national, and global identities and the variables involved is crucial. This research aims to find the construction of national identity within globalization exposure, socio-cultural changes, and formulation of Excel identity. This research took place in Jakarta and Makasar. This research used grounded theory as its approach. The data are collected using observation, interview, and Focus Group Discussion with snowball sampling. The research results show that the construction of national identity is blended in which national identity is mixed with local and global ones. Also, socio-cultural change influences the construction of identity. Forming a superior identity is equally vital to one’s international, national, and regional identity.

KONFLIK KAUM SELEPAS PENDUDUKAN JEPUN 1945 DAN PERISTIWA 13 MEI 1969 DI TANAH MELAYU: SUATU ANALISIS

The society of Malaya has a diverse and multiracial population, which originates from the British colonial era. In the pluralistic context of Malaysian society, racial issues can be said to be sensitive and important. Pluralism shows diversity based on each racial identity. Diversity refers to the differences that exist in a society. This difference is a challenge to the construction of national identity and national unity because in the effort to create a nation state is not something easy. The focus of the study focuses on the analysis between two incidents of racial conflict that occurred after the Japanese occupation in 1945 and the event of May 13, 1969. This analysis will look in terms of analysing the similarities and differences between the two incidents of racial conflict. Is it true that there are differences or similarities between the two incidents of racial conflict in Malaya? The results of the study found that the two incidents of racial conflict were a planned incident and did not happen spontaneously. It is also motivated by the existence of elements of oppression or very heavy oppression. In terms of communist involvement, it was seen to be more comprehensive during the incident after the Japanese occupation in 1945 compared to the event of May 13, 1969. The racial conflict in 1945 was not entirely racial in nature but more about their goal in expanding communist influence in Malaya. In contrast to the events of May 13, 1969, the racial riots occurred as a result of political competition at that time which was unhealthy and did not care about pluralism.

Theoretical foundations of public administration in the sphere of formation of national identity

Theoretical foundations of public administration in the sphere of formation of national identity

Cancel Culture in Constructing National Identity of the Caspian Macro-region Countries (on the Example of Textbooks in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan)

The process of the formation of independent states on the territories of post-Soviet republics raised the problem of the construction of their national identities. This process was propelled by the rejection of Soviet identity and the cultural legacy of the Soviet era. This rejection necessitated a reinterpretation of the historical past of the nations and a revision of the pantheon of national heroes. To achieve this goal, the mechanism of cancel culture was used, which aimed at rejecting the values of a certain culture and constructing a new worldview. In this research, we are interested in the Caspian macro-region, which is an object of interest both geopolitically and economically not only for the five international actors (Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Iran, Azerbaijan) having access to the water area but also for more distant states (China, Turkey, the USA, and leading European countries) fighting for influence in the Caspian basin. In the Caspian region there is heightened tension, manifested in ethnic conflicts (Armenian-Azerbaijani, Kazakhstan, Iran, etc.), therefore the study of the process of national identity construction in each subject individually and in the whole region is not only a matter of scientific interest but also a strategic task to ensure both Caspian and Russian security. The main purpose of the article is to analyze the mechanisms of constructing a new national identity of the Caspian countries through the cancel culture, reconsidering their experience and historical development. This process can be seen most clearly in the example of changes in the educational systems of the Caspian region countries. To conduct a comparative analysis, we took history and local history textbooks from secondary schools and institutions of higher education in the republics of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. This research was limited to the study of textbooks published in the Russian language. The selection was made by random sampling. A series of research projects on the construction of national identity in the post-Soviet space through the mechanism of cancel culture starts with this article presenting the results of the study of two countries in the Caspian Sea region — Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan.

‘When there is an opportunity, I’ll try to write it down in Tatar’: National Identity as Constructed in the Diary of High-School Student Fathima Kashafutdinova, 1917-1920

The author examines the process of construction of national identity by high-school student Fathima Kashafutdinova based on her diary entries of 1917-1920 in the context of sociocultural, economic and political changes at the turn of the 20th century and as a result of the Great Russian Revolution (1917-1922). The author analyzes how elements of the Tatar national discourse developed in Fathima’s diary over time and how they were used to express her self-reflection and her identification with other people. Through their research, the author has discovered that Fathima’s had initially needed to construct her national identity as a Tatar, which can be clearly traced through the earlier pages of the diary. Nevertheless, by May 1918, any sign of a “Russians/Tatars” dichotomy disappeared in her text. However, this dichotomy was not completely resolved since she was influenced by both cultural and intellectual processes in the Tatar community as well as by the Russian-speaking urban cultural and social space.

Construction of Climate Identity of Britain and America Based on Discourse-historical Analysis

Climate change has always been the focus of the international community, and the construction of national identity in the field of climate is closely related to discourse power. Based on discourse-historical analysis, this paper analyzes the speeches delivered by American and British leaders at the 26th and 27th Conferences of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change through nomination strategy and predication indication strategy. It is found that Britain constructs its national identity as an active advocate and the United States constructs its national identity as a trustworthy world leader. National identity, national power, and discourse restrict and influence each other. This paper adds a reference for other countries to build their identity and enhance their national discourse power in climate diplomacy.

Art, politics and identity in de Staël’s Corinne ou l’Italie

The aim of this paper is to analyze Anne Louise Germaine de Staël’s novel Corinne ou l’Italie (1807) from the point of view of the cultural studies and the visual studies, to shed a light on de Staël’s attempt at promoting the construction of a modern Italian national identity, founded on the arts. The article examines how de Staël’s participation in the Italian nation-building was half linked to her prejudices upon the Italian lateness in the process of civilization Northern European countries were undergoing, and half focused on creating a transnational, cross-boundary and European artistic language.