The National Anthem as a Symbol of Religiosity in Nigeria

A quick glance at the second stanza of Nigeria national anthem attests to the fact that religion is valued by Nigeria. The whole stanza is a prayer to God to guide Nigeria into the right path and is sung intermittently with the first stanza which contains an appeal to all citizens to uphold the unity and sanctity of the nation. The second stanza of the national anthem implies that public practice of religion is not a problem as the stanza is publicly sung in both government and private organisations. This paper proceeds on the earlier works of scholars such as Mbiti1 and Idowu2 who assert that Africans are incurably religious. Nigeria national anthem is a pointer to this assertion. The paper adopts both historical and content analysis methods to gather and interpret data. We conclude that despite the fact that religion is held in high esteem in Nigeria, it is hard to see its positive effect on national development.

Can Developing Virtues Improve Dialogue Across Political Difference?

After the polarizing 2016 presidential election, I heard from many distressed students who felt they lacked the skills or confidence to have difficult conversations with those who disagreed with them politically. In response, I developed a course that aims to help students grow in the virtues and skills necessary for listening and dialogue, putting these to use discussing controversial issues including abortion, gun rights and regulations, cancel culture, speech on campus, immigration, environmental policy, and kneeling for the national anthem. In this article, I make the case for foregrounding virtues such as attentiveness, curiosity, intellectual humility, and empathy to promote good dialogue and prepare students to engage productively across difference. Then, I describe the course design, share qualitative results from student reflections, and highlight insights that are applicable across disciplines. Finally, I address practical obstacles and ethical concerns that have arisen when teaching polarizing topics and offer responses to these challenges.

From the History of the Conservatory Creation in Azerbaijan

This article is devoted to the first conservatory creation of the Muslim East, which was opened in the city of Baku on August 26, 1921. In itself, this remarkable fact testifies to the difficulties that arose on the way to creating this Higher Musical Educational Institution in Baku. The article consistently highlights the most important facts related to the opening and activities of the conservatory. It is important to emphasize that despite all the difficulties that arise along the way, Uz. Hajibeyli and his associates persistently went to their cherished dream – the creation of the first conservatory in Baku. The purpose of the research is to identify the conditions in which the first conservatory of the Muslim East was created. Uz. Hajibeyli took years of consistent work to create that strong foundation on which the building of the conservatory was erected, now BMA named after. Uz. Hajibeyli. Note that August 26, 2021, marks the 100th anniversary of the first conservatory in Azerbaijan founding. The research methodology is based on genuine historical facts with which the activities of Uzeyir Hajibeyli were associated in the process of creating the conservatory. The scientific novelty of the research is associated with some facts of Uz. Hajibeyli’s life, which were not mentioned at all in Soviet times. All these facts, one way or another, come out of the time of the existence of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. The ADR national anthem was written by Uz. Hajibeyli. It is also the anthem of modern Azerbaijan. Conclusions. The approaching centenary anniversary of the first conservatory in Azerbaijan allows not only to evaluate the path it has travelled but also to pay tribute to its creator, Uzeyirbek Hajibeyli, the founder of Azerbaijani professional music, a great visionary who consistently leads Azerbaijani music along the path of progress and conquest of heights in composing, performing and educational processes in the republic.

Sports at Play in American Politics

Sports have been a vital element to American entertainment for decades, which are only gaining popularity. Various sport events allow Americans to temporarily escape the stress associated with their social lives and the divisiveness of partisan politics; however, a closer look at the numerous features of sport games reveal an intricate connection between American sports and politics. With the mandatory playing of the national anthem and the integration of sports and political terminology, sport games in America have become a platform to impose various political ideals. This paper will first introduce how the usage of sport terminologies in politics can simplify a complex process into a game of “winners and losers,” which can further political polarization and disincentivize bipartisan collaboration. It will then aim to demonstrate how the imposition of novel rituals that stem from nationalistic and militaristic values can silent dissenting opinions and enforce a homogenous yet unjustified “American Identity.” However, the final part of this paper aims to showcase the alternate impacts that sports can have on politics, especially in the realm of sports-driven activism. This paper does not aim to take a stance on the exact impact that sports can have on American politics, as it is mostly likely to be multi-dimensional, but to unveil to the reader how sports, an entity that is seemingly designed as a form of escape from political agendas, can in reality have substantial impacts on America’s political atmosphere.

The Metaphysical Implications of the Nigerian National Anthem and Pledge

This discourse, using the analytical method of philosophical investigation, sets to examine the economic and socio-political implications of the Nigerian national anthem and pledge. In doing this, selected lines from the Nigerian national anthem and pledge were analyzed within the socio-political and developmental process that confronts Nigeria society. The paper, therefore, presents a metaphysical understanding of the life-style of the political elites and civil servants as it is being affected by the wordings of the anthem and pledge. The treatise adopts the meaning of anthem as a song that has special importance for a country, an organization or a particular group of people and is sung on special occasions while the pledge is conceived as a formal promise to be loyal often make by people standing in front of the flag with their right hand on their heart. The paper concludes with a meta-logical argument that the wordings of the anthem and pledge though look ordinary possesses far-reaching implications that could be positive or negative, despite the contemporary realities that suggested that the powers and significance of the words that constitute the anthem and pledge seem to have been lost.

Mandating Symbolic Patriotism: China’s Flag and Anthem in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

The Hong Kong statute criminalizing disrespect of the Chinese national anthem, passed in 2020, is one of many recent moves to suppress political dissent in the former British colony. The law restricts freedom of political expression, but its constitutionality is practically assured courtesy of earlier decisions upholding laws against flag desecration. This article draws on sociological and political literature to argue that symbolic nationalism, particularly when given the force of law, is a tool of the authoritarian state. Against this backdrop, it critically and comparatively analyses Hong Kong judicial decisions upholding the suppression of symbolic dissent, assessing their doctrinal coherence, normative defensibility, and consequences. It concludes with observations on the efficacy of attempts to enforce patriotic orthodoxy and on how deference to authoritarianism affects the rule of law.

AESTHETIC INSTRUMENTATION FOR FORMING IMAGINED COMMUNITIES: THE PHENOMENON OF THE NATIONAL ANTHEM

The article is devoted to the study of the experience of using aesthetic tools in the formation of national groups. The object of the research is the state anthems, as a concentrated manifestation of the self-interpretation of the political community. The methodology of this article is based on constructivism, which interprets nations as imaginary communities and focuses the attention of the researcher on the practice of using soft technologies of collective integration. It`s addressed to the problem of using literary texts in the processes of collective integration made it possible to include not only representatives of political, but also creative elites in the list of subjects of social engineering. It has been proved that the political significance of the national anthem is manifested through "texts` violence". It`s the ability of the ruling circles to transmit group values to the subordinate array, which is achieved due to the legislative consolidation of a generally binding status for a certain text and due to the aesthetic impact on the consciousness of members of the community. The research methodology is presented by the using the procedures of the comparative method. It was carried out in such clusters as: justification of the right to exist (source of legitimation), "We are the image" of the commonality, common heroes, imaginary geography. It was achieved the identification of statistical patterns and features of the studied text arrays with analytical procedures for critical content analysis of the national anthems of European states. The results of the study confirmed the effectiveness of the procedures and tools of social engineering as one of the scenarios for the creation of national collectives in the European cultural area, substantiated the expediency of using the approved methodology to identify the cultural means of the nation-building process within the borders of Europe, and revealed the prospects of its application in relation to countries of the non-European cultural area.

Does Protest “Distract” Athletes From Performing? Evidence From the National Anthem Demonstrations in the National Football League

While there is a long tradition of activism within sport, a popular criticism of athlete protest is that it is a “distraction” that hinders on-field performance. The widespread demonstrations against racial injustice in 2017 among players in the National Football League (NFL) provided an opportunity to test this “distraction hypothesis.” Using data drawn from multiple sources, we first explored which factors predicted player protest, finding that Black players and those playing for underdogs were more likely to protest. Then, using a series of analyses at the player-game level ( n = 19,051) and the team-game level ( n = 512), we tested the assertion that protest is detrimental to individual or team performance, finding no evidence for a distraction effect. The results of this study allow us to better understand social factors that may affect athletic performance or constrain athlete activism.

Smile of the Crescent: Constructing a Future Identity Out of Historical Ambiguity in İstiklal Marşi (with Translation)

This article analyses identity construction in İstiklal Marşi (“Independence March”), the national anthem of the Republic of Turkey, within the theoretical framework of Eurocentric nation-state rhetoric. It argues that the continuing success of the text, written by Mehmet Akif [Ersoy] in 1921, is independent of the ideological stand of its author, and lies instead in its conveyance of a modern nation-state identity. In order to demonstrate this, the article first depicts the circumstances of the adoption of the national anthem and its immediate reception in Turkey. Afterwards, it examines identity construction in the anthem and reveals that the war against European forces determined the self-perception of the nation by both the negation and mirroring of the other. It concludes that, by foregrounding certain elements such as l’esprit frondeur and faith, and by interpreting the convention of Ottoman Divan poetry, the poet infused the cultural and aesthetic legacy of the past into the future needs of a nation-state.