A new look at ‘National Identity’ How should we think about ‘collective’ or ‘national identities’? Are there two types of national identities? Does Germany have an ethnic identity, and is it different?

2002 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
BERNHARD PETERS

There is a notorious typology of ‘conceptions of nationhood’, which opposes ‘ethnocultural’ conceptions to political or ‘civic’ conceptions of nationhood. Analytically, the typology is unsatisfactory, as are its normative and explanatory applications. A more multidimensional analysis of elements of national identity is proposed, which clarifies some possible meanings of ‘ethnic’, ‘cultural’ and ‘political’ in this context. These considerations are then applied to the case of German national identity.

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Froehlich ◽  
Sarah E. Martiny ◽  
Kay Deaux

Abstract. How immigrants define their ethnicity and nationality is relevant for integration: They can identify with their ethnic group, the receiving society, and a combination of both. A longitudinal study with elementary-school children with migration background ( N = 200; age 9–10) in Germany investigated the predictors and stability of ethnic and national identities. Ethnic identity was more highly endorsed than national identity. National and dual identities were compatible (i.e., positively related), whereas ethnic identity was compartmentalized (i.e., unrelated to national and dual identities). Contact with Germans predicted national identity over time, but not vice versa. Thus, the study contributes to a better understanding of multiple social identities of young ethnic minority children in light of social psychological theories of social identity development.


2019 ◽  
pp. 78-104
Author(s):  
Edward Telles ◽  
Christina A. Sue

This chapter assesses whether U.S.-born Mexican Americans feel American or a part of American society, even though they have been portrayed as threats to Americanism and have had their allegiance questioned. It also considers how their ethnic identity affects their sense of Americanness. For the respondents, they in no way perceive their ethnic and national identities as being mutually exclusive; to the contrary, they find these identities to be highly compatible and complementary. They define Americanness in terms of birthplace, political loyalty, and economic opportunities; they define Mexicanness in terms of culture, family, and ancestral background. Moreover, the vast majority of the respondents view national identity as their primary identity, something that is constant, natural, and unquestioned, whereas their ethnic identities vary in intensity, depending on the individual and the situation.


Author(s):  
Polina Gerchanivska

The purpose of the article is to conceptualize the phenomena of «ethnic» and «national» identity and to determine the vectors of their development. Research methods are based on the fundamental principles of historical and cultural analysis. The methodological core of the research is a comparative analysis of ethnic and national identities in the chronotype as complex sociocultural systems. The scientific novelty lies in the conceptualization of the ethnonational identity dichotomy through the prism of the cultural code. It is substantiated that in the conditions of modern modernization, the ratio between the ethnic and national components of identity depends on the direction of their development vectors: a) when the vectors are parallel and equally oriented (for example, one of the ethnic communities monopolizes power), there is a reduction of national identity to ethnic one; b) when the vectors are parallel, but oppositely oriented (for example, when an ethnic community seeks to recognize its right to political self-determination), national identity collides with the interests of the ethnic community, entering into confrontation with it. Conclusions. Within the framework of constructivism, the phenomenon of ethnic identity is analyzed as a social construct and the factors of deviation from this model are revealed (in particular, adaptation to the environment, acculturation, violation of the demographic balance between different groups), causing its variability. The systemic characteristics and the main conceptual components of national identity (internal and external) are analyzed, factors of the weakening of social ties due to the processes of globalization, the growth of entropy, and information expansion in society are identified. Typical models of interaction of ethnic and national identities are considered. Keywords: ethnic identity, national identity, cultural code, ethnos, nation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 757-779 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elliott Green

The process by which people transfer their allegiance from ethnic to national identities is highly topical yet somewhat opaque. This article argues that one of the key determinants of national identification is membership in a ‘core’ ethnic group, or Staatsvolk, and whether or not that group is in power. It uses the example of Uganda as well as Afrobarometer data to show that, when the core ethnic group is in power (as measured by the ethnic identity of the president), members of this group identify more with the nation, but when this group is out of power members identify more with their ethnic group. This finding has important implications for the study of nationalism, ethnicity and African politics.


Author(s):  
Nasar Meer

The purpose of this chapter is to locate the discussion about Muslims in Scotland in relation to questions of national identity and multicultural citizenship. While the former has certainly been a prominent feature of public and policy debate, the latter has largely been overshadowed by constitutional questions raised by devolution and the referenda on independence. This means that, while we have undoubtedly progressed since MacEwen (1980) characterised the treatment of ‘race-relations’ in Scotland as a matter either of ‘ignorance or apathy’, the issue of where ethnic, racial and religious minorities rest in the contemporary landscape remains unsettled. One of the core arguments of this chapter is that these issues are all interrelated, and that the present and future status of Muslims in Scotland is tied up with wider debates about the ‘national question’. Hitherto, however, study of national identity in Scotland has often (though not always) been discussed in relation to the national identities of England, Wales and Britain as a whole.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 459-464
Author(s):  
Alevtina Vasilevna Kamitova ◽  
Tatyana Ivanovna Zaitseva

The paper reflects the specificity of the fundamental ideas of the artistic world of M. G. Atamanov, which includes a wide range of literary facts from the content level of the text of the works to their poetics. A particularly important role in the works of M. G. Atamanov is played by cross-cutting themes and images that reflect the author's individual style and his idea of national-ethnic identity. The subject of the research is the book of essays “Mon - Udmurt. Maly mynym vös’?” (“I am Udmurt. Why does it hurt?”), which most vividly reflected the main spiritual and artistic searches of M. G. Atamanov, associated with his ideas about the Udmurt people. The main motives and plots of the works included in the book under consideration are accumulated around the concept of “Udmurtness”. The comprehension of “Udmurtness” is modeled in his essays through specific leit themes: native language, Udmurt people, national culture, mentality, geographic and topographic features of the Udmurt people’ places of residence, the Orthodox idea. The “Udmurt theme” is recognized and comprehended by the writer through the prism of national identity.


Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 475
Author(s):  
Francisco Javier Ramón Solans

The objective of this article is to analyse Mexican national pilgrimages to Rome that took place during the pontificate of Leo XIII (1878–1903). These pilgrimages occurred in the context of a global Catholic mobilisation in support of the papacy, during the so-called Roman Question. This paper’s analysis of these pilgrimages draws from historiography about national pilgrimages, as well as studies on Catholic mobilisation in support of the pope in the second half of the nineteenth century. It is fundamentally based on primary sources of an official nature, such as reports and other printed documents produced on the occasion of the pilgrimage. The study’s primary conclusion is that national pilgrimages to Rome had a polysemic character since they brought together various religious and national identities. The pilgrimages contributed simultaneously to reinforcing the link between Catholicism and Mexican national identity and the global dimension of Catholicism and allegiance to the Holy See.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susilo Wibisono ◽  
Winnifred Louis ◽  
Jolanda Jetten

Indonesia has seen recent expansions of fundamentalist movements mobilising members in support a change to the current constitution. Against this background, two studies were conducted. In Study 1, we explored the intersection of religious and national identity among Indonesian Muslims quantitatively, and in Study 2, we qualitatively examined religious and national identification among members of moderate and fundamentalist religious organisations. Specifically, Study 1 (N= 178) assessed whether the association of religious and national identity was moderated by religious fundamentalism. Results showed that strength of religious identification was positively associated with strength of national identification for both those high and low in fundamentalism. Using structured interviews and focus group discussions, Study 2 (N =35) examined the way that self-alignment with religious and national groups develops among activists of religious movements in Indonesia. We found that while more fundamentalist activists attached greater importance to their religious identity than to any other identity (e.g., national and ethnic), more moderate activists represented their religious and national identities as more integrated and compatible. We conclude that for Indonesian Muslims higher in religious fundamentalism, religious and national identities appear to be less integrated and this is consequential for the way in which collective agendas are pursued.


2004 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 457-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Lawrence Schrad

“Tell a man today to go and build a state,” Samuel Finer once stated, “and he will try to establish a definite and defensible boundary and compel those who live inside it to obey him.” While at best an oversimplification, Finer's insight illuminates an interesting aspect of state-society relations. Who is it that builds the state? How and where do they establish territorial boundaries, and how are those who live within that territory compelled to obey? Generally speaking, these are the questions that will be addressed here. Of more immediate concern is the fate of peoples located in regions where arbitrary land boundaries fall. Are they made loyal to the state through coercion or by their own compulsions? More importantly, how are their identities shaped by the efforts of the state to differentiate them from their compatriots on the other side of the borders? How is the shift from ethnic to national identities undertaken? A parallel elaboration of the national histories of the populations of Karelia and Moldova will shed light on these questions. The histories of each group are marked by a myriad of attempts to differentiate the identity of each ethnic community from their compatriots beyond the state's borders. The results of such overt, state-initiated efforts to differentiate borderland populations by encouraging a national identity at the expense of the ethnic, has ranged from the mundane to the tragic—from uneventful assimilation to persecution and even genocide. As an illustration of the range of possibilities and processes, I maintain that the tragedies of Karelia and Moldova are not exceptional, but rather are a consequence of their geographical straddling of arbitrary borders, and the need for the state to promote a distinctive national identity for these populations to differentiate them socially from their compatriots beyond the frontier.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document