As colonized peoples Native Americans have had a complicated relationship to the United States. They have faced the question of whether they should demand tribal independence or embrace American citizenship. During the early 1970s, when radical ethnic and political movements occupied center stage in the United States, and in 1992, when the 500 year anniversary of Columbus discovery of America was celebrated, the issue of Indian American identification was actualized. The various possible ways in which Native Americans could identify in relation to the United States made their identification often seem contradictory. The same group and even the same individual could  identify as both part of and apart from the United States. Likewise, the same event could trigger different identifications in relation to the United States. How can this be explained? In this thesis I offer an explanation of Indian American identification that combines the perspectives of world view and historical context. Native Americans have related to two different world views, a Western world view which imagines a world made up of states, and a "traditional" Indian world view which imagines a world made up of peoples placed on their lands by the Creator. Different ways of understanding the world impacted how Native Americans understood "America," as USA or Indian ancestral homelands. Different world views provided different images of Native American relationship to the United States. These images could be put forward or be actualized in different contexts. The historical context influenced which images were most commonly chosen. During the 1970s, given the period's generally revolutionary discourse, more separatist images were prominent. In 1992, when a government-to-government relationship between tribal and federal governments was firmly established, Indians chose a more inclusive relationship to the Untied States.

This study examined the representation of national and religious dimensions of Iranian history and identity in Iranian middle school history textbooks. Furthermore, through a qualitative case study in a school in the capital city of Tehran, teachers’ use of textbooks in classrooms, students’ response, their perceptions of the country’s past, and their definitions of national identity is studied. The study follows a critical discourse analysis framework by focusing on the subjectivity of the text and examining how specific concepts, in this case collective identities, are constructed through historical narratives and how social actors, in this case students, interact with , and make sense of, the process. My definition of national identity is based on the ethnosymbolism paradigm (Smith, 2003) that accommodates both pre-modern cultural roots of a nation and the development and trajectory of modern political institutions. Two qualitative approaches of discourse analysis and case study were employed. The textbooks selected were those published by the Ministry of Education; universally used in all middle schools across the country in 2009. The case study was conducted in a girls’ school in Tehran. The students who participated in the study were ninth grade students who were in their first year of high school and had just finished a complete course of Iranian history in middle school. Observations were done in history classes in all three grades of the middle school. The study findings show that textbooks present a generally negative discourse of Iran’s long history as being dominated by foreign invasions and incompetent kings. At the same time, the role of Islam and Muslim clergy gradually elevates in salvaging the country from its despair throughout history, becomes prominent in modern times, and finally culminates in the Islamic Revolution as the ultimate point of victory for the Iranian people. Throughout this representation, Islam becomes increasingly dominant in the textbooks’ narrative of Iranian identity and by the time of the Islamic Revolution morphs into its single most prominent element. On the other hand, the students have created their own image of Iran’s history and Iranian identity that diverges from that of the textbooks especially in their recollection of modern times. They have internalized the generally negative narrative of textbooks, but have not accepted the positive role of Islam and Muslim clergy. Their notion of Iranian identity is dominated by feelings of defeat and failure, anecdotal elements of pride in the very ancient history, and a sense of passivity and helplessness.

Current scholarship recognizes that music is a powerful channel that can manifest individual identity. But such research takes for granted music as a symbol of collective cultural identity, and, therefore, neglects examining how music in general, but musical performance in particular, functions to produce and reproduce a society at large. Indeed, what is missing is a rigorous understanding of not only how the act of performing forms collective identity, but also how it acts as an agency, indeed, perhaps the only agency that enables this process. As Thomas Turino suggests, externalized musical practice can facilitate the creation of emergent cultural identities, and help in forming life in new cultural surroundings. The present thesis examines the dynamics between cultural identity and music from the perspective of the performing musician. By examining musical situations in the context of the Armenian – Canadian diaspora, I will show how performers themselves both evoke feelings of nostalgia for the homeland and maintain the traditions of their culture through the performance event, while simultaneously serving as cultural ambassadors for the Armenian – Canadian community. My thesis outlines four key themes that are crucial in understanding the roles of musicians in Armenian culture. They are tradition bearer, educator, cultural ambassador, and artisan. As boundaries between peoples and nations progressively blur, I conclude that performance proves a vital medium where a search for national identity can occur, frequently resulting in the realization of one’s ethnic identity. Ultimately, without the labors of the performing musician, music would be unable to do the social work that is necessary in forming cultural, social, or even personal identities.

The objective of Visitors of Karlštejn study is to identify socio-demographic profile of visitors of this particular Czech castle during the side-season, to describe considered alternatives to leisure time spending competing to Karlštejn castle and to find out satisfaction of visitors with individual areas of their visit of castle and surrounding. Also spontaneous association concerning Karlštejn is in our focus in terms of national identity. Data used for this study was collected by quantitative research methodology conducted during October 2011 to January 2012 among visitors after their tour route. Results of this study should help the castle management set content of communication campaign and improve provided services.

The thesis is focused on the influence of National Theatre on Czech national emancipation and creation of national identity. In the first chapter I analyze general meaning of national theaters in other countries and process of their development. Later I focus on circumstances of the development of Czech National Theatre. The next chapter concentrates on problems of the construction of the theatre and the meaning of decoration. The third chapter shows significant occasions of 20th century, when National Theatre played important role.

1. Abstract The European Union has transformed enormously during the last three of decades from a purely economic institution to a political project which has generated a strong nationalist backlash from several countries, especially in post-Soviet nations, such as Hungary that gained independence not long ago in 1991. However, such signs of Euroscepticism were apparent also elsewhere in Europe, including in Finland where a resurgence of nationalism happened in the form of populist parties and increased Euroscepticism among traditional conservative segments of society. This thesis will examine these phenomena through a historical analysis of Hungary and Finland with the aim of examining and highlighting important features in their national identities that are seen to be triggered through various developments in the context of the European Union, such as the 2008 Financial Crisis, the 2015 refugee crisis and other types of change that has occurred in the enlargement process of the political union that the EU is striving to further. Such developments will be discussed using a theoretical framework of nationalism and through examining different features of a nation, specifically through the ideas of Johann Gottfried Herder, Anthony Smith, and Hans Kohn among others. Hungary and Finland were chosen due to...

This essay is a qualitative interview study of how six upper secondary school history teachers view and work with students’ diversity of identities in teaching. The questions that the study sought to answer were how history teachers viewed and worked with students’ diversity of identities, as exemplified by specific assignments, along with their selection of teaching materials, and the impact of their own identity on their teaching. These questions were analysed using Manuel Castells’ three aspects of legitimate identity, resistance identity, and project identity, complemented by Carsten Ljunggren’s reasoning concerning a national identity, as the main theoretical framework. In doing so, the study concluded that the teachers viewed working with identity in the history subject as a luxury, dependent on factors such as lesson time, adaption to students, citizen education, and the room for a norm-critical approach. Due to these factors, it was concluded that the history subject unintentionally and mainly conveyed a legitimate identity to the students.  From their exemplified assignments, the study found that student-centred assignments more often enabled the inclusion of resistance identities as well as project identities. The teachers claimed that teaching materials such as textbooks were Eurocentric and needed to be complemented by other material to include other perspectives. It was also concluded that teachers’ gender, social class, and ethnicity had an impact on their teaching. The study found that a new national identity in the history subject, as illustrated by the inclusion of project identities, was linked to the use of intercultural pedagogy and student-centred assignments.

The 'Beyond' as Bhaba1 (1994:1) conceives it, is "neither a new horizon, nor a leaving behind of the past"; rather it is the borders to the present. These boundaries of the present are the "that from which something begins its essential unfolding", according to Heidegger (1978:356). Unfolding as a consequence of the intersection of time and space, produces complex, as opposed to unitary or reductive, figures of difference and identity in Bhaba's (1994:2) view. It is with these 'complex figure of difference and identity' which enact 'hindsight' to re-describe our cultural contemporaneity; to re-inscribe our human, historic commonality, that this study is interested in. Within the context of nation branding, these figures offer an alternative to the archetypal western approach to identity construction. The western approach to nation branding is based on two critical assumptions; firstly, that modern nations are composed of homogeneous societies, and secondly, that these societies share a common culture. It is here that the problem lies, for at its essence, South Africa is pluralistic. We are a multicultural rainbow nation. We do not have typical shared myths, historical memories and a mass public culture due to historical and more recent political struggles within our country. Consequently, we do not follow the typical western approach to nation branding. It is therefore the intention of this study to make use of Bhaba's (1994) theory of the 'Beyond' and his notions of Interstices and Cultural Hybridity as adjectives and means of complex culture production, introduced above, to propose an alternative multicultural South African identity to be spatially transcribed into the South African pavilion at the Expo 2020, Dubai UAE. To this end, the study conducted a Hermeneutical, Social Visual Semiotic and Lexical analysis of I-JUSI, the selected hybrid culture. The results of the examination produced seven brand indicators. These indicators in conjunction with a set of design principals; established via a precedent study of artifacts, interiors, buildings and landscapes that explored or expressed the nation's new emerging collective national identity, will be used to spatially embody the design concept for the pavilion. / Die "Anderkant" (1994:1) soos Bhaba dit verstaan, is nie 'n "nuwe horison" maar ook nie " 'n vergeet van die verlede" nie, dit is liewer die grense van die huidige. Hierdie grense van die huidige is "dit wat waarvan iets sy noodsaaklike ontplooing begin", volgens Heidegger (1978:356). Ontplooing, as 'n gevolg van die kruising van tyd en ruimte, skep komplekse beelde in kontras met die unit?re of reduserende, beelde met verskille en identiteite uit Bhaba (1994:2) se oogpunt. Dit is met hierdie "komplekse beeld van verskil en identiteit" wat "nawete" implementeer dat ons ons kulturele tydelikheid kan her-definieer; om ons menslike, historiese ooreenkomste te her-graveer, dit is die studie waarmee ons onself mee bemoei. Binne die die begrip van handelsmerking bied hierdie beelde 'n alternatief tot die argetipiese westerse benadering tot identiteits konstruksie. Die westerse benadering tot handelsmerking is gebaseer op twee kritiese aannames: eerstens, dat moderne nasies van homogene samelewings saamgestel is, en tweedens, dat hierdie samelewings 'n algemene kultuur deel. Dit is hier waar die probleem l?, want Suid Afrika is wesentlik pluristies. Ons is 'n multi-kulturele re?nboog nasie . Ons besit nie tipiese legendes wat gedeel word onder ons nie en historise herinneringe en 'n massa publiek as gevolg van historiese en meer onlangse politiese stryd in ons land. Dus as 'n gevolg, volg ons nie die tipiese westerse benadering tot nasie handelsmerking nie. Die doel van hierdie studie is dus om gebruik te maak van Bhaba (1994) se teorie van die "Anderkant" en sy nasies van tussenruimtes en kulturele hibridisasie as byvoeglike naamwoorde, en wyses van kompleks kultuur produksie, soos hierbo bekendgestel, om 'n alternatiewe multikulturele Suid Arikaanse identiteit voor te stel en om die studie op 'n ruimtelike wyse op skrif te stel binne die Suid Afrikaanse Paviljoen by die "Expo 2020, Dubai UAE". Vir hierdie doel omvat die studie 'n hermeneutiese, sosiaal visuele semoitiese en leksikale analise van l-JUSI, die verkose hibried kultuur. Die resultate van die ondersoek het sewe handels indikators gewerf. Hierdie merke, tesame met 'n stel ontwerp beginsels ,het deur middel van 'n presedent studie van artefakte, interieurs, geboue en landskappe wat die nasie se nuwe ontluikende kollektiwe persoonlike identiteit uitdruk, gaan gebruik word om die ontwerp konsep van die pawiljoen ruimtelik uit te druk. / Mini Dissertation (MInt (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Architecture / MInt (Prof) / Unrestricted

The goal of the master thesis "National identity in contemporary Czech theatre plays" is to analyse some chosen features of the contemporary Czech national identity based on examples from texts written by David Drábek and Miroslav Bambušek. In the first part, some basic categories are interpreted, that create the Czech identity, from the historical and sociological point of view. The chosen features of the Czech identity are analysed in the second part with regard to the theatre plays by two authors mentioned above. A summary of these features follows, as well as a characteristics of the tools both authors use to interpret topics related to this master thesis.

The thesis seeks to examine the development of the US-Japan, US-South Korea, and US- Australia alliances, during the implementation of the rebalance to Asia policy under the Obama administration. It discusses the application of three major international relations theories, realism, liberalism, and constructivism, in studying the causes and effects that resulted in different outcomes across the three dyads, from security, economic, and cultural perspectives. To establish a causal relationship, the thesis employs a qualitative case study method, controlled comparison, to test the theories and identify the factors that play a decisive role in determining the differences. It then concludes that between the three alliances, it was the rational choice of policymakers, focused on state survival and economic interests, that influenced state behaviour in cross-border relationships. The US alliances in Asia-Pacific have been operating mainly on pragmatic foundations and principles, to serve strategic purposes, and have little to do with normative, ideational factors. Keywords Asia-Pacific, alliance, economic interdependence, foreign policy, hegemony, national identity, rebalance, security threat