THE PORTRAYAL OF THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE IN SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS AND NATION FORMATION IN MOROCCO

This article investigates the portrayal of the pledge of allegiance in school textbooks of middle school with a focus on nation construction. Drawing on the Ethno-Symbolist approach to nation formation, as developed by Anthony Smith, the school textbooks are analyzed qualitatively. The findings reveal that pledge of allegiance is portrayed as a national symbol that characterizes Moroccan nation formation and persistence over a long durée, from ethnie to pre-modern to a modern entity.

The Highland Society of London, material culture and the development of Scottish military identity, 1798–1817*

The image of the Highland soldier as a brave, loyal warrior was central to nineteenth-century notions of Scottish national identity. This article uses material culture evidence alongside traditional archival sources to provide an interdisciplinary explanation of how the military dimension of Scottish identity was shaped in the early nineteenth century. It finds that it was the responses of the Highland Society of London to Scottish battlefield valour – rather than the actions themselves – that created the enduring popular perception of the Highland soldier as a desirable national symbol and as an icon of empire.

5. The Polka as a Czech National Symbol

Stavělová (Czech Republic) discusses how the Polka was established as a Czech national symbol during the middle of the nineteenth century. She analyses a large number of sources that discuss the Polka, tracing the dance from its appearance in Czech national circles in the 1830s to its success in Paris in the 1840s. She discusses its consolidation as a Czech symbol through the work of music composers such as Bedřich Smetana in the second part of the century, arguing that it was first and foremost the name of the dance that carried political meaning: Polka as a cultural product fulfilled this goal to a lesser extent. In this way, Stavělová offers a detailed discussion of how the myth of the Polka became a significant aspect of Czech national culture.

A Troubled Decade

The Nineteen-Sixties was a decade of change and turmoil as, what David Zang, termed the “American One Way” was challenged on multiple fronts. Authority was challenged and in the NFL that meant a challenge to Commissioner Pete Rozelle. Rozelle was faced with issues surrounding gambling, drugs, and race. He was criticized for his handling of the NFL response to the Kennedy Assassination. Gambling involved players and owners. The issues involving race centered on segregation, the civil rights movement, and authority. The career of Jim Brown illustrated many of these issues. Joe Namath and Commissioner Rozelle faced off over issues of gambling, authority, and the counter-culture. Vince Lombardi became a national symbol for authority and discipline. This was also a decade when NFL Films--the creation of Ed Sabol--emerged as a powerful force for marketing the NFL and its values.