Dans cette thèse, nous analysons le Festival yougoslave du film documentaire et du court-métrage, dans le but de questionner la manière dont celui-ci a participé au processus de création d'une identité (nationale) commune dans deux contextes distincts et successifs – celui de la Yougoslavie socialiste multinationale (1943) et celui de la Yougoslavie postsocialiste, État serbe mono-national (1992). Parce qu’il montre des images de véritables personnes, des vrais lieux et des vraies situations, le documentaire, au lieu d'être perçu comme la vision artistique de la réalité, peut être confondu par le public avec la réalité elle-même. Dans cette optique, l'objectif de ce travail est de questionner à travers l'analyse des programmes du festival, le type de « réalité » qui était présenté aux différents publics à une époque marquée par la succession de deux régimes autoritaires, mais opposés sur le plan idéologique. L’analyse débute par la création du festival en 1954 et se conclue par son internationalisation en 2004. Il s’agit pour le festival, d’un adieu officiel à son passé yougoslave, plus d’une décennie après sa sortie effective du cadre yougoslave. / This thesis analyses the programs of the Yugoslav Documentary and Short Film Festival in order to examine how the festival participated in the creation of common (national) identities of two of its host-states – firstly, the multi-national socialist Yugoslavia (created in 1943) and secondly, the post-socialist Yugoslavia as a mono-national Serbian state (created in 1992). Due to its particular form, completely relying on the images ‘from the reality’ (real people, places and situations), the general audiences might tend to understand documentary cinema as a truthful representation of reality, instead of critically analyzing it as an artistic vision of reality. Bearing in mind the previous assessment, the study examines what kind of ‘reality’ was presented to the festival audiences in two distinct political periods, corresponding to the establishment of two different states, both born in wars, and both defined by authoritarian, but mutually opposing political regimes. The analysis starts with the creation of the festival in 1954 and ends with its internationalisation in 2004.

This paper examines the artist Sámal Joensen-Mikines (1906-1979) and how he and his work manifest Faroese national identity. The theoretical background used in thispaper is Anthony D. Smiths theory on the potential of art to reproduce and re-interpret national identity. He describes three different elements of how this can be achieved in art – evocation, commemoration and didactic. The paper examines the form, style and subject of three of Mikines’ paintings from this theoretical perspective, as well as how the artist positions himself and how he is positioned by critics and experts both during and after his lifetime. The results show that his home island Mykines and his identity as Faroese are central for Mikines and his work. His artwork is clearly identified as Faroese by experts, and he has a strong position in the Faroese art world. The form and style of his work is international, strongly inspired by Nordic and European artists, and he uses this as his language to communicate Faroese national identity in form of evocation and commemoration to both a Faroese and an international audience.

The Czech Republic has been regarded as a little troublemaker of the EU due to its Eurosceptic stances. This phenomenon was distinct in the 2000s regardless of the state's position, whether it was just an EU candidate or already a member state. Around the time, President Vacláv Klaus and his political party (ODS), as Czech leadership, contributed to promoting the Eurosceptic governments towards the EU. It could be seen as strange that such a trait was revealed both in the midst of preparations to join the EU and after its accession when it is the proper time to present a cooperative attitude. Thus, this thesis speculates that the skeptical national identity of the Czech Republic has been constructed throughout history, particularly about 450 years from the Bohemia Kingdom to Czechoslovakia (1525~1971), and affected then Czech domestic politics to formulate the official Eurosceptic positions towards the several EU integration matters (constitutional, security, and monetary integrations). In this context, this master's thesis aims to find an objective correlation that Czech identity had an influence on then Czech Euroscepticism. This way, this thesis expects to advance knowledge concerning Czech identity and its relevance to European politics.

This thesis attempts to analyze the American Thesis, also the American Creed or the American Ideology (the terms as used by Anatol Lieven in America Right or Wrong: An Anatomy of American Nationalism) as the United States` national identity. In interaction with a set of national myths, the American Thesis constitutes the narrative of US America`s identity, the nation`s 'common sense' and morality. The thesis begins with the definition of the phenomenon of the nation as a political and cultural community, then proceeds to discuss the specific contexts from which the narrative image of the US nation emerged. Next, the thesis studies the American Creed as the cultural instrument of fostering social cohesion and assimilating uncanonical dissent. Finally, the myths of US nationalism are analyzed in the context of their narrative structure and affective dynamics which account for the ontological and emotive power of the American Thesis. Key words: the USA, US nationalism, the American Creed, myth, nation-building, national identity

[pt] Este estudo investiga as relações, as disputas e os debates no Reino Unido entre partidos de esquerda (Labour), direita (Tories) e extrema-direita (UKIP) durante o referendo do Brexit, entre dezembro de 2015 e julho de 2016. Com base na leitura de jornais, artigos na internet, discursos, programas partidários e leis britânicas, o trabalho destacou a centralidade dos temas da imigração e da construção das identidades nacionais no referendo. O estudo desenvolve dois argumentos principais. O primeiro argumento afirma que os partidos britânicos não atuaram de modo isolado ou autônomo, mas constituíram e responderam a um sistema geral da ação política. Isso implica ver a atuação da extrema-direita como parte dos atores políticos partidários que se influenciaram de forma mútua e permanente. O segundo argumento defende que a votação marcou a estruturação dos espaços políticos no Reino Unido por meio de duas lógicas contraditórias: complexificação e simplificação. Por um lado, o Brexit representou um excedente de significação, levando as disputas a lugares cada vez mais improváveis. Por outro lado, o boletim de votação do dia 23 de junho de 2016 comportava somente duas opções: Leave ou Remain, isto é, deixar a União Europeia ou permanecer na mesma instituição. Nesse sentido, o referendo anunciou uma promessa difícil, de modo que as discussões transbordaram a própria moldura da votação. Por meio de um jogo entre excesso e falta, completude e incompletude, significação e contradição, o evento funcionou como um espaço privilegiado para as disputas políticas por hegemonia na construção da coletividade nacional britânica. / [en] This study investigates the relations, disputes and debates in the United Kingdom between left-wing (Labour), right-wing (Tories) and radical right (UKIP) parties during the Brexit referendum, between December 2015 and July 2016. Based on the reading of newspapers, articles on the internet, speeches, party manifestos and British laws, the work highlighted the centrality of the themes of immigration and the construction of national identities in the referendum. The study builds two main arguments. The first argument states that British parties did not act in isolation or autonomously, but constituted and responded to a general system of political action. This implies seeing the performance of the radical right as part of the party political actors who influenced each other mutually and permanently. The second argument argues that the voting marked the structuring of political spaces in the United Kingdom through two contradictory logics: complexification and simplification. On one hand, Brexit represented an excess of meaning, leading disputes to increasingly unlikely places. On the other hand, the ballot paper on June 23rd 2016 carried only two options: Leave or Remain, that is, leave or stay in the European Union. In this sense, the referendum announced a difficult promise, so that the discussions overflowed the very frame of the vote. Through a game between excess and lack, completeness and incompleteness, meaning and contradiction, the event functioned as a privileged space for political disputes for hegemony in building British national collectivity.

During the migration waves in the 19th century many Czechs immigrated to America. One of their final destinations was the city of Chicago. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries this became the largest Czech occupied base abroad. Over a hundred thousand Czechs lived in Chicago at that time so it was therefore considered to be the third largest Czech city. The topic of the dissertation thesis is the analysis the course of Czech migration to Chicago and the related development of the Czech minority. Key attention is devoted to the socio-cultural, economic and political development of the Czech minority in terms of ethno-historical methods. Furthermore, the author will focus on important historical milestones and events of this city, which in some way influenced the Czech minority. Time definition of work is 1852-1945 and follows from a historical perspective, because the first Czech immigrants arrive in greater numbers to this American territory only in the fifties of the 19th century. On the other hand, the Second World War concludes a period that was important for the Czech ethnic group in Chicago. After 1945 there is a significant assimilation process (the Czech minority is massively Americanized) and the Czech expatriate center is declining in importance.

Title: National identity and assimilation in relation to the social environment in Plovdiv (18th - 19th century) Abstract: The dissertation presented here arises from the perception of national identity being a kind of collective identity, which is designated by state (political) as well as non-state (cultural) nation-constituting symbols. I have tried to examine the permanence, stability and objectivity of these symbols in relation to the social environment in Plovdiv during the process of national awakening as part of Bulgarian national movement (18th - 19th century). During this period the central position in Plovdiv's social environment was held by a numerous group of people so-called Graecomen. Graecomen voluntarily renounced their Bulgarian-origin identity and exchanged it for a Greek identity. The origins of Graecomania may be found in the long-term cultural and economical co-existence of the Bulgarians and the Greeks. Since the Middle Ages there was a stable Greek community in Plovdiv, which dominated significantly the social climate. This dominance became the key motivating factor for the spread of Graecomen as Bulgarian burgers tried through the means of a favourable marriage to infiltrate the Greek community and in this way to achieve a higher social status. The highest level of intensity of...

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Few issues in the contemporary American political and social environments are as salient and emotionally charged as the debate over immigration. The thesis tests several competing hypotheses concerning the determinants of public opinion – among white respondents – on immigration issues. These include: the contextual considerations of southern residence and proximity to large numbers of Hispanic immigrants, as well as the individual-level factors of economic insecurity, political knowledge, national identity, group pride, and racism. Using data from the 2004 American National Election Study, the thesis provides a critical test of the competing hypotheses using multivariate analysis. Furthermore, conditional relationships are posited, facilitating a more refined analysis of the structure of attitudes on immigration issues. The results indicate that racism, group pride, symbolic patriotism, ideology, and isolationism are the most consistent and significant predictors of immigration policy preferences. The use of four distinct dependent variable questions also highlights the inconsistency in public opinion regarding immigration and the division between public perception of documented and undocumented entries. Future research should focus on the interrelationship between variables that are used by the individual to define group associations, as well as the change in national and personal identity brought about by the events of September 11th, 2001.

National identity has in a growing field of literature been proposed as a possible tool which, if manipulated, can be used to construct institutions of social justice and particularly a redistributive welfare state. In contrast, decades of welfare state research is largely in consensus that redistributive welfare states were created in response to societal issues such as poverty, emigration and declining fertility rates. In arguing that a redistributive welfare state cannot be treated as dependent on national identity, this study constructs an analytical framework combining literature from welfare state research, institutionalism, and political psychology to argue that welfare state generosity is a determinant of national identity. The study distinguishes and investigates three dimensions of national identity – national attachment, national pride, and national chauvinism – and explores their relationship to welfare generosity. Employing multilevel modelling, the study finds a positive but not statistically significant relationship between welfare generosity and national attachment. Welfare generosity is, further, found to have a negative and statistically significant relationship to both national pride and national chauvinism.