scholarly journals Moving Beyond Identity: The Tibet Question Revisited

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jake Ningjian Lin

<p>This research paper explores the discursive construction of China and Tibet’s national identity, and how it interrelates with China-Tibet relations. In contrast to studies suggesting a defining and determinant role of national identity on China-Tibet relations, this research paper argues that the collective identity of Tibet and China is a hegemonic and highly contested construction, and Tibet and China, therefore, should look beyond identity and search for an alternative approach to nation/state building without succumbing to either Chinese nationalism or Tibetan nationalism. Drawing on the work of some of the critical theorists, this research paper shows that it is bound to fail to build a political community based on a collective national identity. This research paper proposes that the authorities of Tibet and China should negotiate for future institutional reform of the Tibet Question by the recognition of the contingent identities of the multitude.</p>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jake Ningjian Lin

<p>This research paper explores the discursive construction of China and Tibet’s national identity, and how it interrelates with China-Tibet relations. In contrast to studies suggesting a defining and determinant role of national identity on China-Tibet relations, this research paper argues that the collective identity of Tibet and China is a hegemonic and highly contested construction, and Tibet and China, therefore, should look beyond identity and search for an alternative approach to nation/state building without succumbing to either Chinese nationalism or Tibetan nationalism. Drawing on the work of some of the critical theorists, this research paper shows that it is bound to fail to build a political community based on a collective national identity. This research paper proposes that the authorities of Tibet and China should negotiate for future institutional reform of the Tibet Question by the recognition of the contingent identities of the multitude.</p>


2003 ◽  
Vol 109 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Saxton

In October 2001, it was alleged that asylum seekers had thrown their children overboard in order to manipulate the Australian Navy to pick them up and take them to Australian territory. In response to this incident, Prime Minister John Howard announced on radio 3LO: ‘I certainly don't want people like that here.’ (Mares, 2002: 135) A discursive approach is adopted in this paper to examine how asylum seekers have been constructed to be ‘people like that’ in the print media. The analysis demonstrates that asylum seekers have been represented as illegal, non-genuine and threatening in these texts. These representations were employed within nationalist discourse to legitimate the government's actions and public opinion concerning asylum seekers and to manage the delicate issue of national identity. The discursive management of the collective identity of asylum seekers by the dominant culture to construct a specific social reality is discussed and illustrated.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 258-279
Author(s):  
Olga Boichak ◽  
Sam Jackson

Social media enable broad and diverse publics to mobilize around a shared collective identity. In this article, the authors use social movement literature and studies of peace and conflict to foreground the role of platform-mediated communication in creating a national identity in a fragile state. We argue that, by affording activists with a possibility of public, yet anonymous interactions, social media may play a crucial role in conferring state legitimacy during a violent conflict. Investigating the case of Mariupol, Ukraine, where a small group of citizens employed social media to support and legitimize the Ukrainian state among the city population, the authors illuminate the use of new media affordances to construct a national identity among digitally networked publics, mobilizing support for a threatened state.


2020 ◽  
pp. 309-343
Author(s):  
Mona Sue Weissmark

This chapter conceptualizes the nation and nationalism, placing them in context with issues of wealth and income inequality, immigration, xenophobia, and diversity. The term “nation” may be defined in several ways, but generally a nation refers to a distinct, usually geographically or regionally bound people. Likewise, depending on academic discipline, nationalism has varied definitions, though the concept generally refers to the emotions wrapped up in a shared national identity. There are two dichotomous types of nationalism: civic and ethnic. Civic nationalism was found in Western societies, where individuals are seen as belonging to a political community consisting of people with equal rights and duties. People in these societies unite around political precepts, values, and respect for institutions. Conversely, in countries where ethnic nationalism is the norm, citizens belong to an ethnic community based on blood ties. Although this dichotomous view has its share of critics, the notion that civic meanings of nationhood correlate with a positive attitude toward immigrants while ethnic-based ideas of the nation promote xenophobia still holds currency. Meanwhile, although there is little empirical research concerning factors that influence nationalist thinking, one study found poor citizens’ national pride rises as income inequality increases, especially in countries where there are many migrants in the lower class.


2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 173-196
Author(s):  
Viktorija Kudra Beroš ◽  

Given their role in the preservation and protection of an authentic and credible trace of the past (documents) and, consequently, national identity, archives are considered places of choice for interpreting and representing shared memory and the past. Emphasising authenticity and credibility frames archives as seemingly neutral institutions in terms of politics and ideology. However, the trace that provides an insight into the “truth and knowledge” of our (individual and collective) past “that makes us what we are” needs to be questioned. Since the archiving procedure is based on the processes of inclusion and exclusion in all segments of everyday interpretation of material, the archive is a political and ideological institution that takes its place in the order of political power. This paper discusses the role of the archive as a place of preservation of “shared past and history” as an important part of national identity through the prism of institutional apparatuses or forms of knowledge/power (example of architecture) and technologies or manners of articulating and practising knowledge/power (example of everyday practice). The paper points to the role of archives in the (re)interpretation and (re)vision of shared memories, collective history and national identity on the examples of the Croatian State Archives and Archives of Yugoslavia, in the context of changes in the symbolic and political order (SFRY/Croatia). By constructing national memory and narratives of nationality through narratives of history and memory, and by constructing “truth” (knowledge) through exclusion and inclusion, archives (just like museums and libraries) have a role to play in “imagining” the community–nation. Or, according to the theory of performative identity (Foritier 2000), everyday practice that takes place in archives is an institutional identity practice that contributes to the unification and homogenisation of the community through a policy of interpretation by performing and producing (performative) memory (collective identity formation).


2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 314-322
Author(s):  
Ol’ga B. Leont’eva ◽  

A turn of modern science towards the study of historical memory gives rise to questions about the role of historical science in the formation of collective, in particular, national identity. The experience of a historiographic reflection on these problems is presented in a collective monograph “The Past for the Present: History, Memory and Narratives of National Identity” written by the laboratory “Studies of Historical Memory and Intellectual Culture” of the Center for Intellectual History Studies of the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, headed by L. P. Repina. The authors of the collective monograph examine the processes of national identity and historical memory formation in several countries (Russia, Britain, Germany, Poland, and Bolivia) in a “longue durée” perspective, in the context of global trends. They focus on the role that national narratives created by professional historians played in the construction of “historical myths” — mythologized ideas about the “origins” of national history that represent the constitutive elements of national identity. The authors raise the problem of the competition of different identities and memories, and consider the issue of the audience of a national narrative. They highlight the ambiguity of the social role of historical science: on the one hand, historians are actively involved in the formation of the national identity and historical memory; on the other hand, scientific knowledge provides them with tools for a critical analysis of historical myths and well-reasoned reflection on the projects of collective identity. The study represents a successful attempt of combining the “memorial paradigm” and “new sociocultural history” with the history of nationalism and nation-building.


2019 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
pp. 209-218
Author(s):  
Lev E. Shaposhnikov

The paper analyses the evolution of Yu. Samarin’s ideas from rationalism to “holistic knowledge”. Special attention is paid to the philosopher’s conceptualization of the key role of religion for a nation. The author also examines the scholar’s position concerning the promotion of patriotism as an important impetus for social development. Emphasis is made on analyzing the interaction of universal and national aspects in the educational process, as well as on the value of national identity in the field of humanities. The article also presents Yu. Samarin’s critical evaluation of the government educational policy and his suggestions on increasing its effectiveness. The author notes the relevance of Yu. Samarin’s views for the contemporary philosophical and educational context.


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