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There is scholarly consensus among theologians and their disciplinary partners that religion closely links with identity formation, unmatched by identification with any other social group. However, detachment from organised religion in Western cultures among young people is increasingly evident. This paper presents research findings for theological reflection derived from an empirical sequential mixed-method, ethnographic Gadamerian doctoral study exploring Ireland's rapidly changing religious landscape. Survey findings (n = 178) and follow-up interviews (N = 22) of a random sample of 18–39 year olds suggest that while Irish Catholicism remains culturally important there is increasing disconnection from the institutional Church. It appears that privatised, self-referential forms of spirituality related to a wellness culture are growing. However, this paper suggests that a positive benefit may also accrue from these trends, specifically that sectarianism as a historically pernicious form of racism may diminish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article looks at the Intermediate Certificate examination on Irish history between 1926 and 1968. An investigation on how the official syllabus was examined is of equal merit, if not more important than the syllabus itself, being used as the official marker of a pupil's aptitude and awareness of Irish history. Furthermore, examination papers are a massively underused historical source, and a further lens through which to gauge the official ideology regarding the history of the Irish nation. By conducting a longitudinal study of how Irish History was engaged with at the Intermediate Certificate level and importantly at what aspects were stressed by the state through the examination papers set, it is possible to glean not only what is generally seen as important but also what issues, themes, or events were repeatedly stressed and therefore seen as the defining issues in the course of Irish history. This article looks at Intermediate History, as unlike Leaving Certificate History, with its increased specialisation, the Intermediate course throughout the period comprised of an overview of Irish history and as such can provide a sense of which aspects of this long storied history were chosen to be recalled, and in what manner. It also focuses on the Intermediate Certificate, due to the low rate of progression beyond this level. Ultimately, this article finds that while certain topics did dominate, as has been noted by others, only a select few events or personalities were universally seen as important across the period. Various aspects of Irish history were of more or of less importance depending on the context. Notwithstanding, an overall narrative can still be gleaned, which focussed on the Physical Force tradition as well as the promotion of Ireland as its own Gaelic nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports findings of a qualitative study that explored international students' identity negotiation during their cross-border studies against the backdrop of the internationalisation of higher education in Asia. Through a comparative narrative-based case study of two Burmese international students' experiences during their studies in a Hong Kong university, the paper reveals both similarities and differences in their negotiation of (i) identities as 'non-local'/'international' students in the university context and (ii) national identities in relation to the local community and the imagined global/international community. In particular, the findings illustrate the divergent ways in which the two international students negotiate the meanings they attach to the 'non-local' student label, respond to local students' (mis)recognition of their national identities, and perceive the (in)compatibility between their national and global identities. Overall, the findings point to the diversity and heterogeneity in international students' experiences which appear to be variably shaped by differential dispositions and capacities in exercising strategic agency for identity (re)construction. The case study also calls for the need to problematise the reification and over-simplification of the so-called 'international student experience' and argues for the importance of paying attention to the complexity of international students' identity negotiation in the context of international education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the relationships between nationalism and conspiracy theories during the COVID-19 pandemic. We focus on the two main issues: 1) the intensity and character of belief in the COVID-19 conspiracy theories across five European societies: Germany, England, Ireland, Serbia, and Sweden; and 2) how is the commitment to specific nationalist ideologies linked with the belief in conspiracy theories. The data indicates that those who described themselves as highly religious and politically right-wing are more prone to believe in the strong versions of conspiracy theories. Furthermore, primordialism and the nation-centric view of the world are positively correlated with the propensity towards stronger versions of conspiracy theories. The paper zooms in on the significant differences across the five countries: the Serbian respondents stand out in terms of their strong beliefs in conspiracy theories while the Irish and Serbian respondents who are prone to strong version of conspiratorial thinking also subscribe more to the primordialist understanding of nationhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the discourses on Indonesian identity as they were negotiated by Indonesian intellectuals in the late colonial period, 1900–1942. During this period, ethnic diversity and Islamism constituted key issues in which different intellectuals exchanged their thoughts as to what it meant to be an Indonesian. This paper argues that, while various ideological discourses for the formation of Indonesian national identity had developed in the early twentieth century, the depth that these discourses were debated and agreed upon by the Indonesian intellectual elite was asymetrical. Strong nationalist discourses had promoted a key political instrument by which to unite a people of diverse ethnicity, race, and religion. On the other hand, the debates on the discourse of Islamic identity during the same period lacked consensus among Muslim scholars and between Islamists and secular nationalists, especially concerning the concept of unity, nationalism, and independence, and the role of women and polygamy. Notwithstanding this, Javanese Islamic syncretism and the colonial containment policy towards Islam also contributed as external factors which served to constrain Islamists from positing an overt Islamic identity. Concurrently, it raised the nationalists' racial transcendence as a shared value of being Indonesian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2017, amidst rising Hindu nationalist politics, the 'Historic City of Ahmadabad' was designated India's first UNESCO World Heritage city for its Islamic architectural heritage. How should we understand the emergence of this seeming counter-narrative at a time of rising ethno-nationalism? Ahmadabad's diverging international and intranational heritage narratives are instructive in understanding what motivates national identity constructions inside and outside a nation-state's borders. Using evidence from semi-structured interviews and documents, this paper illustrates how Ahmadabad's World Heritage narrative is manipulated for different objectives at each scale. Internationally, Ahmadabad's heritage cooperation with the French government, and framing as 'multicultural' is intended to internationalise the city and appeal to a global audience. Internally, its framing suggests inclusivity but operates as a subtle form of control by presenting a carefully curated degree of Islamism. Ultimately, this narrative of inclusion excludes the Muslim and migrant populations most closely associated with this heritage. By unpacking the socio-political and economic forces at play in constructing Indian national identity internationally and internally, this paper highlights the uses and abuses of built heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking religious education as an important indicator in evaluating religious freedom in a country, this paper focuses on the religion courses in Turkey in order to evaluate Europeanisation and religious freedom in the country. The EU Commission's recent progress reports indicated that the conduct of religious courses in Turkey is incompatible with EU norms. Although important legal arrangements have been made in accordance with the adoption of minority rights in Turkey, it seems more difficult for change to happen in an ideological issue such as education. As religious freedom is an important value for the European Union, this paper aims to explore the impact of Europeanisation on the state of religious education in Turkey and the extent of Turkey's compliance with the European norms in a highly debated area like religious education. It also aims, in a broader sense, to shed a light on the place of religion in the national identity of Turkey today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current generation of European youth is coming of age in the European Union. Compared to the generation of their parents and grandparents, this generation has been afforded new opportunities of travel and employment that transcends the borders of nations. How is this new reality experienced by youth from different European nations and from different social classes? Do younger generations feel more of a connection to their European identity, to their national identity, or to both? Such questions are addressed in the papers of this special issue, which draw data from the EU Horizon 2020 Constructing Active Citizenship with European Youth (CATCH-EyoU) project. Together these studies suggest that to address these questions we need to decompose who the youth are and what the historical context of their experience is. For example, youth from higher socio-economic status families living in post-communist or low wealth nations differ in their loyalties and commitment to the EU, compared to their counterparts. The papers in this special issue reveal important insights as well as gaps in the scholarship concerning youth active citizenship at the European level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Europe seems deeply divided due to recent crises such as the EURO crisis and the Brexit. Moreover, the EU seems unable to entice its citizens and the construction of a shared European identity seems more distant than ever. Yet, in this paper, I argue that this is testimony to a specific and limited view on European identity construction and focuses solely on the experiences of so-called native Europeans. There are clear indications that a sense of Europeanness is emerging among ethnic minority groups across Europe and that they are becoming key actors in European identity formation. Yet, they are currently rarely acknowledged as such. This paper argues that their identity processes can be understood as strategies by groups that feel excluded from national identities but do (want to) feel at home in 'Europe'. The paper ends with a discussion of the potential opportunities and pitfalls of an 'ambiguous' European identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main focus of this paper is on nationalism and national identity through a discussion of naturalized athletes in Chinese football. Thematic analysis was used to examine social media users' comments and posts about Chinese football naturalization. It demonstrates that people's attitudes and their understanding of what it means to be Chinese are divided. Specifically, football and national identity both reflect inclusion and exclusion in relation to these naturalized athletes in the construction of their controversial identity as new Chinese nationals depending on whether this is understood in an ethnic, cultural, or civic way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a study of Singapore's integration and naturalisation processes, this paper examines how the Singaporean state has negotiated the twin challenges of embracing cultural pluralism in its population while also forming a common national identity. Employing Benedict Anderson's conception of 'bound serialities', it argues that the Singaporean state has developed a framework of multiracialism to imagine the Singaporean nation through three serialities or collective identities. First, the Chinese, Malay, Indian and Other (CMIO) categories organise individuals into groups that have clear cultural identities. Second, the CMIO categories constitute a fixed image of the multicultural Singaporean nation. Third, being Singaporean requires an ethos of accepting the cultural differences that the CMIO structure represents. However, such a top-down imagining of the multicultural nation is increasingly challenged by the arrival of new citizens who embody alternative imaginings of their own ethnic and national identities, raising questions about the continued effectiveness of Singapore's multiracialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being Indonesian is experienced differently depending on age and generation. In 1970 senior Nuaulu men had been young adults under Dutch colonialism. Those who in 2020 occupied key politically influential positions grew up in an independent Indonesia. Conflict with state agencies over resources, plus practical difficulties arising from non-recognition of their religion, have been obstacles to national integration. However, the impact of Christian—Muslim conflict between 1999 and 2003, and the opportunities afforded by reformasi and otonomi daerah, emboldened younger Nuaulu to balance being good Indonesian citizens with the pursuit of a 'traditionalist pathway to modernity'. This paper charts how educational access and the emergence of youth culture and the category pemuda impacted after 1990 on the organisation of government work groups and appropriate forms of reward. These events threatened traditional authority and yet would ultimately provide a means for achieving territorial autonomy and state recognition for their beliefs and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how the collective remembrance of a specific historical event shapes the national identity that underpins a state's foreign policy objectives. By drawing on multidisciplinary insights, the paper explains how political actors frame past events in order to promote a certain conceptualization of a national community. Taking Ukraine as a case study, the paper demonstrates how Russia's intervention in Ukraine in 2014–2015 prompted Ukrainian policy-makers to re-define Ukraine's relations with the EU and Russia by re-evaluating the experience of Ukrainians in WWII. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the literature on public opinion, the mainstream framework is that in-group and out-group attitudes are distinct phenomena, especially with regard to racial attitudes. Elsewhere, in the literature on race and nationalism, scholars have concluded that the United States subscribes to cultural, color-blind racism, that has predominantly replaced biological racism. To explain the context in which white supremacy is again a viable political force in American politics, this paper argues that notions of biological racism that predate the Civil Rights Movement remain potent and continue to underlie cultural racism, and that that these out-group attitudes are not independent of in-group attitudes. This paper focuses on a form of dehumanization-simianization, or the depiction of racial groups (in this case African-Americans) as apes, tracing its origins in Enlightenment-era scientific racism, its historical role in shaping U.S. race and class relations, and as its role in defining American citizenship as hierarchical. Moreover, this paper presents evidence of simianization in contemporary political discourse surrounding African-Americans in the United States. The paper seeks to synthesize the literature on public opinion and that on race and nationalism in order to shed new theoretical light on our thinking about the relationship between in-group and out-group attitude formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the works of Alfonso Daniel Manuel Rodríguez Castelao (d. 1950) from the lens of art historiography, to show how Galician art historical contributions from the beginning of the twentieth century connected art and artistic styles from the past with identity significations. My discussion is mainly based on the discourse analysis of Sempre en Galiza (1944) and As cruces de pedra na Galiza (1950), along with mentions to other texts such as Alba de Groria (1948) or several essays from Revista Nós. The examination of these texts is complemented with the study of Castelao’s visual production. Two main arguments are extracted from Castelao’s approach to the history of Galician art: the Celtic ethnic foundation of Galicia and the establishment of two national styles, Romanesque and Baroque, which are seen as intrinsic to this territory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gobustan, a prehistoric site 60 km south of Baku, has an impressive collection of rock carvings from different prehistoric eras. Near the site, a national museum presents the prehistoric findings in a narrative that connects them with modern-day Azerbaijan, calling the hunter–gatherer tribes that lived in Gobustan 'our ancient Azerbaijani ancestors'. While many nation-building projects dig deep into the past, reconstruct it, claim ancient civilizations as their own and sometimes even invent historical narratives that never happened, the Gobustan Museum and the narrative it implies (that prehistoric people living in 15,000 BCE were Azerbaijanis) seems like 'overkill', an exaggerated effort to connect the past and the present. The data from the museum points to a larger story: the construction of national identity and collective memory in post-Soviet Azerbaijan. This paper presents some of the author's anthropological field research findings in the museum and explains why the narrative of 'ancientness' is so essential in post-Soviet Azerbaijan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the late 1980s, Taiwan has moved away from Mandarin-only language policy in favour of greater recognition of local Taiwanese languages as part of a greater localisation movement. While continuing to implement language policies aimed at promoting local Taiwanese languages, in December 2018, Taiwan announced intent to implement a bilingual language policy to incorporate English by 2030, titled Bilingual Nation. Applying Ball's (1993) policy as discourse framework, this paper endeavours to investigate the Bilingual Nation policy planning and rhetoric so as to shed light on Taiwan's official conceptualisation of national identity. The case study finds that English is the primary focus of Bilingual Nation policy documents and is relegated to the discursive arenas of internationalisation and global economic competition. English is rarely discussed in tandem with any other specific language or language category, with little consideration for the interaction of English and Taiwan's official national languages. In sum, Bilingual Nation acts as an affirmation of the current status quo in Taiwan's official conception of national identity: muddled, with the assumption of Mandarin at its centre. Questions remain for Bilingual Nation and its ability to push beyond a symbolic state effort for internationalisation or unproductive labours for international status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through her films, the Galician filmmaker Margarita Ledo Andión builds a singular benchmark on the margins of a peripheral cinema per se: the Novo Cinema Galego. Her performative and experimental narratives, in line with avant-garde films of other small European cinemas, her nationalist and feminist (political) discourse, and her condition as a woman filmmaker situate her filmography on the intersection of multiple peripheries. This paper analyzes her most recent film, Nación (2020), from the perspective of cinema made by women as minor cinema and an example of "fourth cinema" as an instrument to make visible the role of women in the class struggle and the construction of Galician national identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses how the government of Qatar has over the last years used practices of cultural diplomacy to enhance its standing abroad, and consolidate its legitimacy at home. Looking in particular at key initiatives of international collaboration of the Qatar Foundation and Qatar Museums, I argue that the Qatari government strategically uses cultural diplomacy to first produce and then disseminate an elite identity narrative of Qatar being a cohesive, future-oriented and rightfully engaged player in international affairs both inside and outside the state. To develop this argument, the analysis builds on observation during fieldwork in Doha between 2015 and 2016, and is enriched by a textual analysis of primary and secondary sources. As a timely contribution, the paper moreover shows that even in the light of considerable economic downturn, where budgets are cut and state-projects downsized, official narratives about Qatar’s global cultural ambitions have so far remained largely unchanged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A central issue in the academic discussion related to immigrant groups and their integration in 'their new home' is national identity. This paper focuses on the methodological choices during a case study of the students' subjectivity in an Intercultural School in Thessaloniki in Greece and on how immigrant students form their identities. Most students as second-generation immigrants constantly negotiate multiple identities. This negotiation leads to the construction of ambivalence and conflicting identities that are represented with uncertainty and equivocation in their discourse. In this paper, I will present briefly a conceptual placement in social constructionism and the distinction between primitive and modern nationalism and will continue focusing on how the ambiguous and conflicting identities of immigrant students are shaped based on conception of national identity, the role of nostalgia and memory and finally on the polycemy of the construction of national identity of students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

St Helena is a British Overseas Territory. This paper investigates how an imagined and ideological link between Britain and the island was created, maintained and eventually weakened. British citizenship was removed in 1981. Since its return in 2002, many St Helenians have migrated to the UK. Whilst an ideological sense of Britishness has weakened, a sense of lived Britishness has simultaneously occurred. Investigating the feelings, emotions and cultural values within this small migrant community, the islanders are far from deluded about their downgraded national identity and, as a community, are willing to articulate their mixed emotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on youth's constructions of their national identities in two contrasting Muslim-majority contexts – Senegal and Pakistan – with very different histories of nation-state formation and post-independence trajectories. Drawing on case study research, we take up the historical specificities of their respective state formations and emergence as independent nations from their colonial past. After describing our theoretical frameworks and research methodology, we present our analysis of the identity narratives of 65 Pakistani and 75 Senegalese youth. We show that youth in both contexts were proud of their democracies, although with different inflections in each context. Our analysis shows that youth's national imaginaries were predominantly produced with reference to significant external others which had deep historical roots. In Pakistan, this involved the external other of India, an articulation that has been historically sedimented on religious grounds since their partition. In more contemporary times, youth imaginaries of religion and nation remained intertwined, being constructed together against external others associated with the 'War on Terror'. Similarly, religion was central to the national imaginaries of Senegalese youth. Senegal's Sufi leaders were constructed as national icons and particularly valorised for their peaceful resistance to the colonial 'other'. Youth also valued Senegal's syncretic forms of Islam, constructing this against 'jihadist' Islam that they associated with other African, Middle Eastern and South Asian nations. Finally, our analysis highlights how the salience of external others in youth narratives in our two case studies worked to diminish the significance of internal differences and make internal power hierarchies invisible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Taiwan, where relations with China define the major political cleavage, voters have distinct preferences on the issue of independence. Do Taiwanese favor a symbolic or pragmatic approach to the Taiwan independence issue? What are the factors that account for their political preferences? We identify two types of voters, symbolic and pragmatic, according to whether their preferences on independence are conditional or unconditional on China's potential counter actions. Specifically, symbolic voters have unconditional preferences on independence, while pragmatic voters are more agreeable to independence under more favorable conditions. Using multiple wave data from the Taiwan National Security Surveys (TNSS 2002–2022), we investigate the individual- and macro-level factors and find that gender, age, education level, ethnicity, partisan strength, and economic growth rate shape the types of voters in Taiwan. This paper contributes to the study of political attitudes in Taiwan, and have important implications on the regional stability in East Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the group-centric perspective on immigration, previous studies argue that shared identities help citizens in a host state shape more favourable attitudes toward immigrants. Likewise, the existing findings suggest that, given both co-ethnicity and conationality, South Koreans are likely to have more positive attitudes toward North Korean defectors than other types of immigrants. However, in this paper, we present a different perspective to analyse South Koreans' attitudes toward North Korean defectors by taking the role of partisanship into account. Using an original survey experiment, we found that when the liberal incumbent government emphasises the inclusion of North Korean defectors, conservative partisans' attitudes become negative. In particular, this partisan bias appears with regard to ethnic national identity, but not to civic national identity. Conversely, under the same condition, liberals' attitudes do not change positively. Based on the findings, we conclude that South Koreans' attitudes toward North Korean defectors are related to negative partisanship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the normative function of historic narratives using the example of South Korean perceptions of twentieth-century history. The exploration of how relations between South Korea and Japan are perceived is based on 32 semi-structured interviews with academics, representatives of non-government organizations, and government officials in South Korea. The paper posits that the normative function of historical narratives is based on four mechanisms: (1) recognition: identifying problems in society that are associated with the aggressive and vicious actions of an outgroup in the past; (2) assessment: framing these problems as injustices; (3) connotation: establishing a specific meaning of national identity that promotes motivations for actions and agency (with specific duties and obligations); and (4) prescription: defining explicit strategies and tactics for action. An analysis of these mechanisms, which comprise the structure of historical narratives, reveals that in the case of South Korea, perceptions of the relations between South Korea and Japan have been shaped by Japan's brutal colonization of South Korea, the absence of Japanese accountability for this period, and a need for a South Korean identity premised on uniqueness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the impact of current nationalism studies on national narratives disseminated through secondary education. The paper draws on interviews and focus group discussions with 31 teachers in Slovakia as a case study and asks to what extent these teachers' understandings of national identity reflect primordialism, constructivism or ethno-symbolism. It also explores the teachers' awareness of these mainstream paradigms. The findings defy the straightforward categorisation of the teachers' views into these paradigms and suggest that nationalism studies have a limited impact, as the teachers' understandings remain unchallenged. The paper concludes with the implications for educational research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores Greek-Cypriot media representations of national identities during negotiations on a United Nation Plan (the Annan Plan), aiming to reunite ethnically divided Cyprus under a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation. The study analyzed thematically 57 editorials and lead commentaries published in all the daily Greek-Cypriot Press from the presentation of the Annan Plan in November 2002 to April 2004, at which point two simultaneous referenda were held. The study's findings are consistent with ideas that national identifications are not static and provides an in-depth exploration of exclusive forms of Cypriot identities vis-à-vis more inclusive forms and vis-à-vis hellenocentric identifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a historical overview of the emerging post-Islamist phenomenon in the Muslim world and discusses the scope for sustainable democratic politics in Bangladesh. In the process, a model is proposed that purports to exhibit a level of compatibility with the perceived political landscape in Bangladesh. The model adopts a version of the Hotelling–Downs principle of democracy and sets it within the ‘post-Islamist’ paradigm in such a way that, if it can be implemented, even if only partially, may lead to the sustained political stability of Bangladesh. The paper highlights illiberal and undemocratic practices of the two dominant Bangladeshi political parties as a major feature of the present status quo. These practices dominate Bangladeshi politics through the continuous attempts of their exponents to impose monopolistic views on the various symbols of national identity, despite the multi-racial, multi-religious nature of Bangladesh society. The paper concludes that a democratic system of politics, which accommodates aspects of secularism, language, Muslim identity and post-Islamist ‘Islamic ethical–moral–legal codes’, remains the feasible political discourse for forming and consolidating the country’s multi-racial, multi-religious national identity over the long run and its survival as a sovereign state. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of this paper is to explore the identification choices of highly skilled migrants employed by companies in the Wałbrzych Special Economic Zone in south-west Poland in order to discuss how their identity is constructed and performed, especially how conflictual identifications are managed. Analysis of qualitative data shows the migrants call both their place of origin and their new place of life home. They identify as inhabitants of their new city and talk about gaining some traits of Polish national identity but they stress strong national identity related to their home country. Conflicts of loyalties in these hybrid identities are solved through a label game. Migrants identify with groups at different scales, from local groups, through city and national, to supranational. By playing with the scale of groups they can avoid conflicting identifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1950s and 1960s, the modern Japanese state employed overseas cultural promotion as a way to maximise its interests and image not only in international contexts but also at home. By juxtaposing the Takarazuka Revue’s performances in the United States and Japan during the postwar period, this paper argues that the overseas promotion of this Japanese theatre troupe both depended upon and reinforced the Japanese populace’s nationalistic pride in its culture. The paper also addresses the ways in which the Japanese government used Takarazuka’s theatrical presentations as a means of pursuing its domestic and diplomatic agendas: improving Japan’s international position by proposing shared aspects of popular culture with the US and increasing its sense of nationalism by propagating cultural pride. In doing so, the paper explicates the ways in which Japanese popular cultural considerations interfaced with political concerns in the shaping of postwar Japan’s national identity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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This paper discusses sports hero formation in relation to national identity, arguing that it can be a critical component of the development of a hero. A netnographic approach, that encompassed a number of virtual spaces and methods of analyses, was utilised to examine the formation of sports heroes within the setting of a new professional sports team. Drawing upon the work of Joseph Campbell and Orrin E. Klapp, it contextualises the sporting hero in the wider narratives of hero typologies. It argues that the formation of sports heroes is shaped by established notions of national identity and longstanding mythological archetypes rather than heroes' personal traits or deeds. Universal hero myths, furthermore, provide recognised narratives that frame the emergence of new heroes in otherwise very different societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper starts from the assumption that geostrategic and security interests alone are not sufficient to explain China’s foreign policy choices. It argues that ideas about what China’s role as an actor in the increasingly globalised international system should be, and about world order in general, have a deep influence on China’s foreign policy decision-making process. Taking the North Korean issue as a case study, the paper postulates that China is currently engaged in a search for a ‘new’ identity as a global player. China’s actor identity is composed of various partly contradictory role conceptions. National roles derived from China’s internal system structures and its historical past lead to continuity in foreign policy, while the ‘new’ roles resultant from China’s rise to global power require an adaptation of its foreign policy principles. In the case of its relationship with North Korea, China’s foreign policy is oscillating between the two roles of ‘socialist power’ – as thus comrade-in-arms with its socialist neighbour – and ‘responsible great power’, which leads to it being expected to comply with international norms, and thus to condemn North Korea’s nuclear provocations and related actions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores the meeting point of photojournalism and death and maps the tensions involved. Most of the literature on news-media and death explores the problematics of covering death during wartime. Less attention has been given to violent death in civic settings (as opposed to war zones) and to mundane deaths. The civic death scenes are not subject to military or governmental censorship, and the moral and professional burden to report such events falls on the journalists' shoulders. This paper aims to fill this gap by studying the representation of death in Israeli news-media. Findings from interviews and a quantitative content analysis shed light on journalistic practices, and show how the news-media self-regulate their working practices. Lastly, the paper identifies breakdowns of this self-regulated mechanism as it points at two different approaches to presenting death images according to the national affiliation of the dead. The paper argues that these practices delineate and maintain the distinction between Israelis and “the Other”. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While scholars have long studied the relationship between nationalist beliefs and anti-immigrant attitudes, such work has proceeded largely independently from research on collective memory, which explores how nationalist narratives are created, maintained, and contested. In this paper, we bring these literatures together by asking how, at the individual level, receptivity to salient narratives about the nation's past is associated with dispositions toward immigrants and immigration policy. Specifically, we focus on two narratives common in a number of contemporary democracies that frame the nation as having been perpetually victimised over its history (i.e. the victimhood narrative) and as having been chosen to carry out a special mission in the world (i.e. the exceptionalism narrative). Using original data from Israel, we demonstrate that stronger agreement with these narratives, and particularly with exceptionalism, is associated with greater propensity to hold anti-immigrant views. Our analyses reveal that this relationship is mediated by ethnic conceptions of the nation's symbolic boundaries and, to a lesser degree, by perceived symbolic and material threats to the nation-state. Building on recent comparative work, we argue that in nations with a history of precarious sovereignty, victimhood and exceptionalism narratives can provide a fertile basis for the exclusionary appeals of radical-right political actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most significant and/or prevalent symbols of nationhood is to be found in the international (men's) sporting arena. Sport is often imbued with notions of national identity and war, although the sport of golf is generally devoid of flags and nationalistic tendencies and is thus often considered relatively insignificant in inculcating national sentiments – except in the exceptional cases of team golf events such as the Solheim Cup. This paper considers the way in which the competitors in the 2019 Solheim Cup were represented in the British print media. Results highlights that national identity is a key descriptor of the female competitors, legitimising their position in the battlefield of international sport. We conclude that, in an era of increasing significance of women's sport, there exists an ideological space for women to be seen as 'proxy warriors' in sport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the myth of the Blitz spirit in British newspaper discourses of the City and economy after the London bombings on 7 July 2005. The Blitz spirit is a popular story of Britain during the Second World War, uniting together with defiance and resilience to overcome the threat of invasion from Nazi Germany. Through Barthes’ model of myth, this paper discusses the myth of the Blitz spirit in memories of wartime London. A critical discourse analysis then explores the ideological impact of Blitz spirit discourses in hyperbolised coverage of City traders and the economy in 2005. I argue that the ideological complexities of Western economics and the free market were suppressed by a myth that sought to bind social classes together through evocations of British, wartime solidarity and defiance. But, this paper also argues that Blitz spirit evocations among City traders were contradicted by discourses that discussed British citizens as consumers through anxieties about the economy after the bombings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This essay shows that middle-class men engaged with fashion often and openly in nineteenth-century Spain. Through a survey of previously unstudied archival materials, it also recasts Spanish men's fashion as part of a larger, interconnected system of producers, distributors and consumers. By historicizing textual and visual evidence (e.g., paper garment patterns, fashion plates) printed in professional tailoring journals, the following study challenges the notion that fashion was an exclusively feminine and feminizing pursuit during the second half of the nineteenth century. Apprentices, journeymen, master cutters and their professional journals, such as El Arte Español (1871–1878), El Genio y el Arte (1881–1888) and La Moda de Madrid (1884–1887), identified fashionable ecosystems as fertile ground for the flourishing of an aspirational national image that cohered around sartorial craftsmanship and intellectual capital, pride in Spanish métiers and the cultivation of male homosocial bonds of confidence and trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the visibility of different languages within the landscapes of two capital cities, Suva (Fiji) and Port Vila (Vanuatu), as an exploration of symbolic constructions of national identity. Data from digital photographs is analysed from four different angles: the languages that appear to be used to serve and sell to the multilingual public of each city; the languages that are found on top-down official signage; the presence or absence of the indigenous languages of the land from which independent nations have been created; and the fusions of multiple linguistic resources together as signs of a national linguistic hybridity that is meaningful to all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The careers of professional golfers offer a noteworthy opportunity to examine the ways in which national identity is imagined, constructed and experienced. This paper examines the nexus of national identity and golf in 'Ireland', and more particularly, Rory McIlroy's public statements on the identity politics surrounding his country of choice for the 2016 Olympic Games. In so doing, it reveals aspects of McIlroy's personal and sporting habitus, the value he associated with being 'Irish', his legitimization of Northern Ireland (NI), and the possible effect of his decision on others' orientation towards his sporting identity on the island of Ireland. Given the current political instability in NI, it remains to be seen whether McIlroy's talent as a golfer and his transnational social status will translate into him being a powerful cultural intermediary for sport in/and NI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores how humour in tourism can communicate facets of national identity. In particular, the paper focuses on the presentation by guides of two English and two Scottish castles. Drawing on multiple sources, including an analysis of promotional materials, the text of the guide's narratives, on-site observation, and TripAdvisor comments from tourists, it was revealed that the guides repeatedly jokes to create clear boundaries between being English and Scottish. The guides' command of nuances in language was a pivotal skill underpinning the humour. Through employing interactive jokes, the guides engaged the tourists' attention and drew attention to the contrasts between English and Scottish characteristics. The research not only captures how the role of tourism-linked humour can function to interpret the distinctiveness of a destination, but also suggests further possible implications of humour in heritage tourism contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issues related to the definition of national identity are increasing across the world, even though they are not new. Since their own rise in the mid-1950s, minority nation governments, for political reasons and "identity and cultural survival," have been dealing with the conundrum of promoting their national identity while including newcomers. Our paper highlights the approaches of one illustrative minority nation government – Québec – in managing national identity and its cultural development. Building on Saint-Pierre's (2004) framework of cultural policy and Bergeron's (1982) theory of the state, we divide our analysis into distinct time periods and show that the political and socio-economic context affects the development of culture and language policies, as well as the identity and nationalism of Québec. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Do contemporary governments adapt to rising social movements or do they actually cause them? This paper endeavours to argue that although it is often difficult to determine the origins of social transformations, there are reasons to believe that there exists not only a co-option but also a conscious shaping of social changes by political projects or governments for their own benefit. Building on other contributions that state that popular culture and youth consumerism are used in favour of nation branding, the present study moves beyond this to analyse the active role that governments play in the marketisation and consumption of culture, thus artificially multiplying the effective impact of some cultural waves that ultimately serve political purposes. In particular, I examine the so-called “Cool Britannia” phenomenon that, founded on the flourishing of new creative industries, withBritpopin the lead, had a significant historic impact in Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of International Journal of the History of Sport is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

School history textbooks have typically served to reinforce a sense of national identity and national belonging, often through constructing or reinforcing a distinction between the national "self" and foreign "others". What have often been overlooked in history textbook researches is how ethnic minorities have been portrayed to incorporate them into a multi-ethnic vision of nationality. This paper investigates this issue through comparing the portrayal of minority ethnic groups in two successive editions of China's most widely used secondary-level history textbooks, published in the 1990s and 2000s. We analyse these changes in the context of broader political and ideological shifts, while also considering the agency of the key editors involved in producing these texts. We find that, rather than exhibiting a steady progression towards greater inclusivity and a more "multi-ethnic" vision of Chineseness, these editions evince a movement away from the latter and back towards a more Han-centric narrative of the national past. We argue that, while shifts in the editorial personnel involved may have contributed to this, a more fundamental factor is the shifting emphasis in ideological or "thought" education in the post-1989 period away from orthodox socialism and towards an increasingly strident and ethnocentric form of patriotism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Cool Japan' is an instance of Japanese government's nation branding exercise as part of its soft power projection in which the unique selling point is identified as Japanese national identity. In this paper, I examine the relationship between Cool Japan and Japanese national identity and highlight a tension in the construction. Cool Japan is about emphasizing Japan's attractiveness for public diplomacy, while the top-down nature of the branding undermines the imagery that the branding is designed to convey. I show that policy elites resolve this tension by invoking the traditional Japanese identity narratives that construct Japan into both a non-Western and an un-Asian entity, reproducing the myth of Japanese uniqueness. I argue that the elite narratives surrounding Cool Japan readily replicate the language reminiscent of prewar identity construction. Despite the contemporary popularity of manga and anime, the purported 'coolness' of these products are framed within older constructions of Japanese Self that can trace their pedigree back to the nineteenth century. Using the minutes of committee meetings, policy documents, as well as media interviews given by policy- and business elites, I show that Cool Japan is effectively a twenty first century rendition of the familiar Japanese identity construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State-assisted return programmes (SARPs) have emerged as key components of diaspora mobilisation strategies in countries of origin. Especially in countries where the principle of jus sanguinis underpins citizenship regimes, these programmes have often been drawn from ostensibly national(istic) discourses in order to encourage the repatriation of (mostly highly skilled) citizens residing abroad. Drawing on interviews with public officials and migrants as well as content analysis of primary and secondary materials, this paper examines SARPs deployed by Israel and Germany. It argues that while the discourse and practice within which state programmes are embedded (re-)construct the nation in certain ways that are commensurate with perceived determinants of return, migrants have often rejected these formulations, underscoring instead a range of neglected personal and professional return-oriented risks. The paper's main contribution lies in better clarifying the links between highly skilled return migration policy, national identity and migration determinants and uncovers the diverging articulations of return used by state and migrants alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across Europe there are growing concerns about Islamophobia and far-right and anti-democratic movements. Until Anders Behring Breivik’s July 2011 attacks in which 77 died, Norway’s vulnerability was not perceived as great as that of other jurisdictions. Breivik declared his abhorrence of multiculturalism but also drew the world’s attention to intolerance and xenophobia in Europe, increasingly directed towards Muslims. In response, Prime Minister Stoltenberg spoke widely of ‘the new Norwegian we’, cautioning against exclusionary discourses and underlining that minorities are an equal part of Norwegian society. This paper examines education policy in the context both of extreme right political activity and national and international debates about nationalism and cosmopolitanism, considering ways in which policy supports an inclusive notion of nationhood, and ways in which it promotes an exclusive model of national identity. Drawing on framing questions from the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement’s 1995 civic education study, relating to national identity and social cohesion, it examines how programmes address social cohesion, human rights, cultural diversity, and conceptualise minorities. It assesses the effectiveness of cross-curricular approaches to contribute to justice and equality and challenge racism in a multicultural society, proposing an inclusive model of education for cosmopolitan citizenship, which incorporates diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Since devolution many museums in Scotland have attempted to represent national identity in plural and inclusive terms – emphasising regional and historical differences within the nation and highlighting the contribution of so-called “New Scots” to Scottish society. However, it remains to be seen whether attempts to deconstruct homogenous discourses of nationhood at the level of the state or institution are capable of radically altering individual understandings of national identity and belonging. Further empirical research is therefore needed into the way in which heritage is produced and negotiated in everyday social environments beyond the museum in order to understand what – if any – impact museums may have on challenging prejudice and producing inclusive definitions of national identity. Drawing on Mason's (2013) “cosmopolitan museology” and Rounds' (2006) theory of “identity work” in museums, this paper analyses the narratives of young people aged between 13 and 18 years old from six schools in Glasgow, Edinburgh, the Scottish Borders and the Western Isles. It argues that when negotiating national identity and cultural diversity, individuals adopt narrative strategies in order to accommodate new information without necessarily changing their own definitions of national heritage or attitudes towards minority groups. The implications of this finding for both museum practice in Scotland and the wider European context are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]