This thesis is intended to respond to the extent to which South African textbooks on the subject of history is linked to the governmental policy documents and whether they are producing and reproducing national identity. The two textbooks are aimed at students in grade 10. Both books were produced in 2008 but published by different publishers. The essay is based on Norman Faircloughs critical discourse theory which has been supplemented by Michael Billings theory Banal Nationalism, which assumes that it is the national words that remind us daily of our homeland that is producing and reproducing national identity.   The survey shows that both textbooks are closely tied to the government policy document for the teaching of history. The textbooks refer to the policy, both explicitly and implicitly. The two textbooks reproduce a common national identity in South Africa based on the discussions taking place in society. In other words, the textbooks have been influenced by Rainbowism and African Renaissance. The books lift up both the idea of a reconciled South Africa and a proud nation in the continent of Africa. The texts and exercises in the books contribute to the production of national identity by reminding students that they can be proud to be South African in a unique multicultural nation. The analysis also shows that the textbooks strive to include all people in the national community regardless of ethnicity.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the cultural processes of how national identity is supported and/or created through sports in South Africa. To get a basic understanding of the South African sports culture data have been collected by using cartographic methods such as reading newspapers, watching sports on television and visiting live sport events. The final part of the method was to conduct interviews about sports as an additional way to collect data and understand the processes of national identity. The theories originates from social scientists like Èmile Durkheim and Karl Marx combined with post traditional perspectives that offers some explanations on how sports and national identity function as an important part that holds societies together.   The conclusion of the study shows that sports are strong factors in the creation and reproduction of national identities in the South African culture. The sport institutions with their norms and regulations on the one hand gives clear directions for how society and sports are organized. On the other hand the South Africans identities mold between a traditional identity and a modern identity where good sport performance can offer class journeys to western society and better opportunities.

1.MASTER THESIS: “Ethnic policy and its factors“ 2.AUTHOR: Kęstutis Trakšelys 3.OBJECTIVE: Analyse ethnic policy’s phenomenons and factors which influence its purposefulness and independence. 4. Nowadays in our modern life ethnic policy has became very urgent. Various worldwide processes and relationships are global. Integration into EU causes ethnic policy. As a result, each country tries to save its ethnic identity and traditions. Ethnic policy could not be separated from the nation. But we have to find the differences between the ethnic policy and ethnic politics, which is better known as state’s political policy to ethnic groups in its territory. Ethnic policy is an interaction of ethnic groups in political system. Lithuanian nation is our state’s foundation, therefore national authority must prosecute such internal and foreign politics that our nation’s interests should be represented. Politics of our nation depends on citizens’ political mentality and preference. In the future it will be obviously if Lithuania maintains national traditions and can resist to the influence of the other powerful countries. Now we can see the consequences, lots of people emigrate, youth is becoming cosmopolitan, less of them relate themselves with Lithuania. Nation, Its state is an entity, as well. Its a very complicated, social entity. The state, which prosecutes proper ethnic policy and resists the interests of the nation, fosters its... [to full text]

Tautiškumo, etniškumo, tautinio identiteto klausimų nagrinėjimas pasaulinėje mokslo plotmėje nėra naujas dalykas. Šie klausimai jau keletą dešimtmečių aktyviai tyrinėjami užsienyje (A. Smith, B. Anderson, M. Castells, J. C. Phinney, H. Tajfel, J. W. Berry, X. Chryssochou ir kt.) - ypač tose šalyse, kuriose gausi gyventojų tautinė įvairovė (Jungtinėse Amerikos Valstijose, Kanadoje, Australijoje, Didžiojoje Britanijoje ir kitur. Tautinės tapatybės klausimais, priverstinai pamirštais nuo pirmosios Lietuvos Respublikos laikų, prieš keliolika metų labiau susidomėta ir Lietuvoje - tautinį, etninį ar nacionalinį (individualų ar kolektyvinį) identitetą įvairiais aspektais yra tyrinėję: V. Leonavičius, D. Antininė, V. Liubinienė, R. Trimakas, A. Valantiejus, P. Subačius, V. Legkauskas, R. Grigas, I. Trinkūnienė, S. Kraniauskienė, V. J. Černius, V. Čiubrinskas ir kt. Daugelis autorių, kalbėdami apie tautinį identitetą, sutaria, kad jam išryškėti, atsiskleisti, keistis palankiausios sąlygos susidaro individui (ar tautinei grupei) atsidūrus multikultūriškame kontekste. Vienas pagrindinių šio darbo tikslų – ištirti, kaip konstruojamas lietuvių tautinis identitetas emigracijoje, koks yra jo turinys, kaip jis yra veikiamas vietinės kultūros. Taipogi aktualu sužinoti, ar stebima lietuvių tautinė saviugda išeivijoje. Šiame magistro darbe, remiantis Lietuvos ir užsienio moksline literatūra, analizuojamas tautiškumo / tautinio identiteto sąvokos turinys, tautiškumo ugdymo (saviugdos)... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Research of questions of nationality, ethnicity and national identity is not new within world’s scholar area. It has been in the field of attention of numerous foreign academics - A. Smith, B. Anderson, M. Castells, J. C. Phinney, H. Tajfel, J. W. Berry, X. Chryssochou and many others – especially in the countries with wide ethnic variety of population (the USA, Canada, Australia, the Great Britain, etc.). Questions of national identity were forcibly forgotten in Lithuania during the years of Soviet occupation (2nd half of XX century), but local academics regained interest in them after Lithuania became independent again in 1990. Since the national identity (individual and collective) has been analysed in various aspects by V. Leonavičius, D. Antininė, V. Liubinienė, R. Trimakas, A. Valantiejus, P. Subačius, V. Legkauskas, R. Grigas, I. Trinkūnienė, V. J. Černius, S. Kraniauskienė, V. Čiubrinskas, etc. Most of the authors agree, that national identity is best exposed when an individual (or a social group) is placed in a culturaly heterogenous context. One of the core ideas of this Master’s thesis is a research of Lithuanian emigrants’ national identity: what is the content of migrants’ identity how is it constructed and how does local cultural environment affect it. Another important issue is to find out if Lithuanian migrants tend to practice national self-education (if they consciously seek to maintain the features of national identity). Considering previously done... [to full text]

In a world of presumed nation-states, nation has been, and still is, an intrinsic part of political legitimization and identity formation. Thus, it is clear that the understanding of nationality and people's relationship too it is of great importance for our understanding of how a stable society, partly built on nationality, can prevail in a world of migration consisting of individuals with diverging moral, religious and cultural conceptions. This thesis examines national sentiments in a cross-country comparative perspective. It consists of an introductory chapter and five articles. The first objective is to study the relationship between policy regimes and supposedly related national sentiments. The question is whether there are differences in national sentiments that can be derived from differences in policy regimes or whether there are more universal features to be found. In examining this we have the possibility to further understand what factors that help to create and sustain national sentiments. The second objective is to study the relation between different national sentiments and other complex attitudes such as xenophobia and protectionism. This includes the study of national identities as well as of nationalism. The following conclusions are drawn. First, it appears that we need to reconsider the almost taken for granted assumption of a correspondence between regime types prevalent in a certain society and people's sentiments towards such a society. Second, there exist substantial cross­country similarities in the effect that different national sentiments have. It is shown that people who have more civic forms of national sentiments are clearly less inclined to hold derogatory preconceptions about people perceived as not belonging to the group, compared the ideas held by those who have more ethnic national sentiments. Moreover, the findings also supply empirical evidence supporting the notion that a clear-cut positive nationalism can never exist. All in all, it is shown that multicultural ideas are something worth striving for on an individual level. Moreover, the results seem to indicate that a liberal form of multiculturalism is preferable to a more communitarian version, which is explored and supported in the normative exposé of the two forms of multiculturalism. / digitalisering@umu

<p>This dissertation investigates colonial and postcolonial practices of cultural representations in Namibia. The state sponsored Annual National Culture Festival in Namibia was studied with a specific focus on the Kavango Region in northeastern Namibia. I was particularly interested in how cultural representations are produced by the nation-state and local people in a post-colonial African context of nation-building and national reconciliation, by bringing visions of cosmopolitanism and modernity into critical dialogue with its colonial past. During the apartheid era, the South African administration encouraged the inhabitants of its &bdquo / Native Homelands‟ to engage in &bdquo / cultural‟ activities aimed at preserving their traditional cultures and fostering a sense of distinct cultural identity among each of Namibia‟s officially recognized &bdquo / ethnic groups‟. This policy was in line with the logic of South African colonial apartheid rule of Namibia, which relied upon the&nbsp / emphasis of ethnic differences, in order to support the idea that the territory was inhabited by a collection of &bdquo / tribes‟ requiring a central white government to oversee their development. The colonial administration resorted to concepts of &bdquo / tradition‟ and &bdquo / cultural heritage‟ in order to construct Africans as members of distinct, bounded communities (&bdquo / tribes‟) attached to specific&nbsp / localities or &bdquo / homelands‟. My central argument is that since Namibian independence in 1990, the postcolonial nation-state has placed emphasis on cultural pride in new ways, and on&nbsp / identifying characteristics of &bdquo / Namibian-ness‟. This has led to the institution of cultural festivals, which have since 1995 held all over the country with an expressed emphasis on the notion of &bdquo / Unity in&nbsp / Diversity‟. These cultural festivals are largely performances and cultural competitions that range from lang-arm dance, and &bdquo / traditional‟ dances, displays of &bdquo / traditional‟ foodstuffs and dramatized representations. The ethnographic study shows that while the performers represent diversity through dance and other forms of cultural exhibition, the importance of belonging to the nation and a&nbsp / larger constituency is simultaneously highlighted. However, as the study demonstrates, the festivals are also spaces where local populations engage in negotiations with the nation-state and contest regional forms of belonging. The study shows how a practice which was considered to be a &bdquo / colonial representation‟ of the &bdquo / other‟ has been reinvented with new meanings in postcolonial Namibia. The study demonstrates through an analysis of cultural representations such as song, dances and drama that the festival creates a space in which &bdquo / social interaction‟ takes place between participants, spectators and officials who organize the event as social capital of associational life.</p>

Since its inception in 1956, the EurovisionSong Contest has been a stage for national representation and an opportunityfor countries to brand themselves. The 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Baku,Azerbaijan is a prime example of nation branding, both for the host country aswell as the participating countries. Hosting the event gives a country the opportunity to present a specific nation brand, but there are other opportunities for those countries which only have a three-minute time-frame for their performance in presenting a national image. These performances are themain subject of this thesis, which main question is: How do nation-states use the Eurovision Song Contest as a means of nation branding?            To answer this question, I use three sub-questions. First, I focus on the concept of identity: how does musical performance represent national and European identity in the context of the Eurovision Song Contest? Secondly, I study the translation of national identity into an image that should appeal to all of Europe, by creating a specific nation brand: how do nations use nation branding through culture as a tool to build an appealing image within the context of Eurovision? Lastly, I study the performance of these nation brands in specific cases during the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest: how is a nation-branded image performed in the Eurovision Song Contest?             The first two chapters of my thesis consist of an analysis of literature on identity and nation branding in combination with national representation in Eurovision. My third and last chapter consists of performance analyses of 2012 participants, focusing on performances from Romania, Russia, Ukraine and Montenegro, which in 2012 were some of the richest performances in terms of symbolism concerningnational representation.

Šio darbo analizės objektas – tautinio identiteto išraiškos teatre. Jame siekta išsiaiškinti, kokio pobūdžio tautiškumas atsispindi dramos teatrų spektakliuose. Pasirinkta analizuoti įvairius šaltinius (teatrų repertuarai, spektaklių recenzijos), taip pat atlikti interviu su teatralais bei padaryti visuomenės anketinę apklausą, siekiant išsiaiškinti, kokią vietą teatras užima visuomenės gyvenime. Lietuvoje veikia 13 valstybinių teatrų, iš jų 8 – dramos teatrai. Toks skaičius gali būti sietinas su nusistovėjusia tradicija Lietuvos kultūriniame gyvenime. Tyrimui pasirinkti 4 valstybinių dramos teatrų (Nacionalinio, Kauno, Panevėžio J. Miltinio ir Šiaulių) repertuarų analizė, siekiant išsiaiškinti, kokią vietą užima nacionalinė dramaturgija teatrų repertuaruose bei kokios yra vyraujančios tendencijos, susijusios su tam tikrais Lietuvos įvykiais ar jų pasekmėmis. Teatro svarba visuomenėje yra labai didelė. Jis – visuomeninio meno forma, leidžianti bendrauti, kalbėti apie visuomenei ar individui svarbias temas. Neatsitiktinai teatras yra viena iš tų kultūrinių įstaigų, kurių veikla yra kontroliuojama totalitariniuose ar autoritariniuose režimuose (galima prisiminti SSRS pavyzdį). Sovietmečiu Lietuvos teatras sugebėjo išlikti, kaip priešprieša buvusiai tvarkai, bei puoselėti tautinę savimonę, pavyzdžiui, per istorinius pastatymus. Po 1990 m., pasikeitus politinei situacijai, teatras perėjo į ieškojimų , eksperimentinių spektaklių statymų stadiją. Tautinio identiteto samprata teatre... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Subject of the present Paper is expressions of national identity at theatre. The aim of the present Paper is to find out what type of nationality is reflected at plays of drama theatres. Analysis of various sources (repertoires of theatres, reviews of plays) has been selected as well some theatre people were interviewed and questionnaires for the society have been prepared in order to find out what part of the society’s life was taken by theatre. There are 13 state theatres operating in Lithuania, 8 of them are drama theatres. Such a number could be related to the established tradition in the cultural life in Lithuania. Analysis of 4 state drama theatres’ (National, Kaunas, Panevėžys J. Miltinis, and Šiauliai) repertoires has been selected for the research in order to find out what part of theatre repertoires is taken by national dramaturgy and what are the prevailing tendencies related to certain events in Lithuania or consequences thereof. The importance of theatre is very great in the society. Theatre is a form of public art enabling communication, speaking about the subjects that are relevant to the society or an individual. There is no coincidence that theatre is one of those cultural institutions where activities are under censorship in case of totalitarian or authoritarian regimes (we can remember the example of USSR). During the Soviet period the Lithuanian Theatre managed to remain as an opposite of the former order and to foster national consciousness, for instance... [to full text]

The recent popularity of mass-market New Zealand historical fiction coincides with the increasing vocality of particular cultural discourses that resist the influence of revisionist histories on dominant understandings of national identity. This thesis examines how the depiction of colonial history in four such novels legitimates and sustains hegemonic understandings of New Zealand as culturally European. The novels analysed are The Denniston Rose (2003) by Jenny Pattrick, Tamar (2002) by Deborah Challinor, The Cost of Courage (2003) by Carol Thomas, and The Love Apple (2005) by Coral Atkinson. The cultural context in which these books have been produced is situated within a history of nationalist discourses and Raymond Williams’s theorisation of hegemonic cultural processes is employed to explain how contemporary national culture continues to rely on colonial principles that sustain settler cultural dominance. Close analysis of the temporal and geographical settings of the novels reveals how the portrayal of history in these novels evades colonial conquest and the Māori cultural presence. A comparison of the historical and contemporary cultural significance of the spatial settings employed in these novels – the wilderness, pastoral, and colonial urban spaces – highlights how these settings tacitly communicate that New Zealand is culturally European. Nevertheless, the problematic cultural legacies of colonialism still haunt these novels. The way in which the narratives resolve these issues reveals that hegemonic New Zealand identity is reliant on a dehistoricised view of settlement and therefore perpetually vulnerable to the intrusion of Māori memory.

Self and nation, popularly considered to be of natural origin in the Western world, are in fact constructed through social processes. One of these processes is narrative: the stories that purport to describe the nation and the self actually bring them into being. This thesis argues that national identity and the individual subjectivity of citizens are mutually and simultaneously constitutive, as the stories that construct both phenomena draw on the same discourses. Nations are constructed through narratives told about their citizens, whilst individuals draw on shared discourses within the national domain in order to narrate their identities. According to scholars like Dawson (1994) and Summerfield (1998), who use the term “subjective composure” to describe this process, narrating life experiences allows people to construct an “acceptable” version of their past and their selves that can be comfortably lived with. When a person’s stories are authorised the identity produced by those stories is socially validated. In this thesis I explore the processes of the simultaneous construction of self and nation via an analysis of the narratives told about one event: the deployment of the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s 40 Squadron to the coalition force that fought Iraq in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. 40 Squadron’s own narratives of the event, collected in interviews in 2007, as well as media representations and government statements from the time of the Gulf War, are analysed in regards to their various identity projects, alongside memoirs and histories of both the Gulf War and earlier wars in which New Zealand has taken part, in order to illuminate the shared discourses against which New Zealand narratives of the Gulf War must find affirmation. I find that the identity project of the nation is at odds with those of individual 40 Squadron members; so that the same discourse cannot be used to achieve both projects. This results in several different definitions of 40 Squadron’s deployment. Whilst the government and media categorise it as a peacekeeping mission, members of 40 Squadron construct it as an instance of their either being “at war” or “on holiday.” Because only the peacekeeping categorisation circulates in the public sphere, 40 Squadron struggles to find affirmation for the stories they tell about their experience and therefore for the identities they narrate through those stories. National discourses may not always be workable for citizens attempting to compose acceptable selves.