The Use and Abuse of History: ‘National Ideology’ as Transcendental Object in Islam Karimov's ‘Ideology of National Independence’

2002 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 371-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew F March
2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-218
Author(s):  
Marko Juvan ◽  
Joh Dokler

This article presents methodological starting points, heuristics and the results of a GIS-based analysis of the history of Slovenian literary culture from the 1780s to 1941. The ethnically Slovenian territory was multilingual and multicultural; it belonged to different state entities with distant capitals, which was reflected in the spatial dynamic of literary culture. The research results have confirmed the hypotheses of the research project ‘The Space of Slovenian Literary Culture,’ which were based on postulates of the spatial turn: the socio-geographical space influenced the development of literature and its media, whereas literature itself, through its discourse, practices and institutions, had a reciprocal influence on the apprehension and structuring of that space, as well as on its connection with the broader region. Slovenian literary discourse was able to manifest itself in public predominantly through the history of spatial factors: (a) the formation, territorial expansion and concentration of the social network of literary actors and media; (b) the persistent references of literary texts to places that were recognized by addressees as Slovenian, thereby grounding a national ideology. Taking all of this into account, and based on meta-theoretical reflection, the project aims to contribute to the development of digital humanities and spatial literary studies.


2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
BJÖRN SUNDMARK

Recently past its centenary, The Wonderful Adventures of Nils (1906–7), by Selma Lagerlöf, has remained an international children's classic, famous for its charm and magical elements. This article returns to read the book in its original contexts, and sets out to demonstrate that it was also published as a work of instruction, a work of geography, calculated to build character and nation. Arguing that it represents the vested interests of the state school system, and the national ideology of modern Sweden, the article analyses Nils's journey as the production of a Swedish ‘space’. With a focus on representations of power and nationhood in the text, it points to the way Lagerlöf takes stock of the nation's natural resources, characterises its inhabitants, draws upon legends and history, and ultimately constructs a ‘folkhem’, where social classes, ethnic groups and linguistic differences are all made to contribute to a sense of Swedish belonging and destiny.


Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Hochschild ◽  
Nathan Scovronick

Why is education policy so contentious? Do conflicts over specific issues in schooling have anything in common? Are there general principles that can help us resolve these disputes? In this book the authors find the source of many debates over schooling in the multiple goals and internal contradictions of the national ideology we call the American dream. They also propose a framework for helping Americans get past acrimonious debates in order to help all children learn. The American Dream and the Public Schools examines issues that have excited and divided Americans for years, including desegregation, school funding, testing, vouchers, bilingual education, multicultural education, and ability grouping. These seem to be separate problems, but much of the contention over them comes down to the same thing--an apparent conflict, rooted in the American dream, between policies designed to promote each student's ability to pursue success and those designed to insure the good of all students or the nation as a whole. The authors show how policies to promote individual success too often benefit only those already privileged by race or class, and too often conflict, unnecessarily, with policies that are intended to benefit everyone. The book also examines issues such as creationism and Afrocentrism, where the disputes lie between those who attack the validity of the American dream and those who believe that such a challenge has no place in the public schools. At the end of the book, the authors examine the impact of our nation's rapid racial and ethnic transformation on the pursuit of all of these goals, and they propose ways to make public education work better to help all children succeed and become the citizens we need.


Arts ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Jerzy Gorzelik

The rise of nationalism threatened the integrity of the Catholic milieu in borderlands such as Prussian Upper Silesia. Facing this challenge, the ecclesiastical elite developed various strategies. This article presents interpretations of sacred art works from the first half of the 20th century, which reveal different approaches to national discourses expressed in iconographic programs. The spectrum of attitudes includes indifference, active counteraction to the progress of nationalism by promoting a different paradigm of building temporal imagined communities, acceptance of nationalistic metaphysics, which assumes the division of humanity into nations endowed with a unique personality, and a synthesis of Catholicism and nationalism, in which national loyalties are considered a Christian duty. The last position proved particularly expansive. Based on the primordialist concept of the nation and the historiosophical concept of Poland as a bulwark of Christianity, the Catholic-national ideology gained popularity among the pro-Polish clergy in the inter-war period. This was reflected in Church art works, which were to present Catholicism as the unchanging essence of the nation and the destiny of the latter resulting from God’s will. This strategy was designed to incorporate Catholic Slavophones into the national community. The adoption of a different concept of the nation by the pro-German priests associated with the Centre Party—with a stronger emphasis on the subjective criteria of national belonging—resulted in greater restraint in expressing national contents in sacred spaces.


2002 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 553-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Feinberg

On 28 October 1918, a group of Czech nationalists stood on the steps of the Obecni Dům (Municipal House) in Prague and proclaimed their independence from the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, allying themselves with the new state of Czechoslovakia. Their declaration marked the beginning of a new era in the Czech lands, one in which Czechs, as the majority nation, hoped to redefine the terms of political discourse. The new Czechoslovak Republic, its Czech supporters declared, would be the antithesis of the Habsburg regime. In the place of a multinational Monarchy, they would erect a democratic nation-state. The second half of this political vision was complicated by the fact that the new Czechoslovakia actually contained many ethnic groups, but Czechs still tended to imagine their new Republic as the political expression of the Czech nation. At the same time, this “Czech-centered” politics also emphasized the democratic basis of the new country. Czechoslovakia, Czech leaders said, would be a state governed by its people and dedicated to protecting their rights and freedoms as individuals. A political culture that rested on both ethnic nationalism and democratic values obviously contained some internal tensions: the need to protect the interests of one specific nation and the duty to protect the individual rights of all citizens could rub uncomfortably against each other. Yet, at that moment in 1918, most Czechs failed to register this potential for ideological conflict, instead seeing an essential link between democratic politics and the good of the Czech nation. For many Czechs, democracy itself was a need of the nation, a political structure crucial to Czech national self-realization. This idea came from one prominent conception of Czech nationhood that had captured the public imagination in the fall of 1918. According to this strain of Czech national ideology, the Czech nation had a sort of democratic character. This meant that only an egalitarian, democratic government would suit a “Czech” state. So, paradoxically, a universal language of rights and freedoms was the key to building a truly national Czechoslovak Republic. It was with a state that emphasized equality and personal freedom that the Czechs would fulfill their national destiny.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (10) ◽  
pp. 82-91
Author(s):  
Vasilii V. Shchepkin

The first knowledge about Peter the Great seems to penetrate into Japan during the lifetime of this Russian emperor, as early as the beginning of the 18th century. However, it was only after first attempts of Siberian merchants to start trade relations with Japan’s northernmost domain of Matsumae when Japanese intellectuals began to study Russia and its history. By the end of the century, the image of Peter the Great as an outstanding ruler had formed in Japan, with his main achievement being the expansion of the country’s territory, after which European Russia suddenly shared a border with northern Japan. Katsuragawa Hoshu, a court physician and the author of one of the first descriptions of Russia, might be the first Japanese who implied Peter the Great’s activities as a model for Japan, pointing out his politics in spreading the foreign trade. Japanese intellectuals of the first half of the 19th century continued to use Peter the Great’s reforms as a possible model for Japan. Watanabe Kazan (1793–1841) in his “Note about the Situation in Foreign Countries” used the Russian emperor as evidence of a leader’s role in winning nature-based and geographical obstacles in a country’s development. Aizawa Seishisai (1782–1863) and later Sakuma Shozan (1811–1864) pointed out Peter’s leadership qualities and personal involvement in reforms. Based on the study of Peter’s activities, Aizawa managed to create the program of Japan’s reforming known as the “New thesis” (“Shinron”, 1825), while Sakuma promoted the necessity of Western learning, especially the development of navy and artillery. This allows to assume a great influence of the study of Peter the Great and Russian history in formulating the ideas of a “rich country and strong army” that became a cornerstone of national ideology in Meiji Japan.


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