Cultural policy research typically emphasises national and local policies in its studies, while studies of subnational and regional policies tend to be less common. Between the levels of country and city, however, there is a vast array of cultural policy-types that is often cast aside or underrepresented in the literature – this, despite the fact that a number of prominent subnational governments of national minorities have been extremely active in developing their own cultural policies and institutions. Unlike their national or local counterparts, however, these subnational governments often contend with an additional layer of complexity when developing cultural policies, as their history and their population differ from that of their country’s cultural majority – which often leads to a different understanding and appreciation of their cultural identity and sense of nationalism. It is with this complexity and difference in mind that this thesis examines the cultural policies developed and implemented by subnational governments expressing a different national identity from that of their country – in particular, the Canadian province of Québec, the United Kingdom nation of Scotland, and the Spanish region of Catalonia – with the purpose of exploring the ways in which cultural policies are used to shape and influence a sense of cultural identity. Drawing on the economies of worth framework elaborated by Boltanski and Thévenot and the theory of governmentality developed by Foucault, this thesis developed a type analysis of cultural policy for national minorities as a means of exploring not only the ways in which their policies differ from that of their majority counterparts, but to offer a unique understanding of their culture and cultural/social predicament. Through its type analysis, this thesis found that the cultural policies of national minorities exhibited a unique trend in terms of: their application of the cultural industries as vehicles for the development and growth of their cultural/national identities; their support of culture and art as drivers of economic development and social cohesion; and their appraisal of artists and cultural producers as symbolic and literal ambassadors of cultural identity both nationally and internationally. More specifically, far from simply introducing policies that endeavour to preserve and protect cultural traditions and heritages as it has long been suspected, national minorities are developing policies that emphasise the creative aspects of culture and seek to grow their cultures identities through the production and dissemination of new works or forms of culture and art. In other words, the cultural policies of national minorities exhibit a discursive temporality: there is an acute awareness and appreciations of the culture of the past, juxtaposed by approaches to culture that seek to ensure the culture continues (and evolves) beyond the present.

In political and popular discourse about immigration and integration, Europe is referred to as both fundamentally secular and fundamentally Christian depending on the context. Even if only a minority of the population in many Western European countries actually practise their religion, many continue to identify with Christianity as cultural tradition, without the beliefs and practice one would normally associate with a religious identity. Few empirical studies have analysed the relationship between religious and national identities in modern Europe. Using a combination of qualitative interviews and quantitative survey research with data from the International Social Survey Programme 2008 in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark and Ireland, this thesis explores how religious affiliation, belief and practice are associated with anti-immigration attitudes and regarding Christianity as important for nationality. Factor analysis is used to explore different dimensions of national identity and how they relate to religious conceptions of the nation, and multivariate regression models address how experiencing immigration as a threat to national identity is associated with Christian affiliation and practice. The main finding is that Christian identification is positively associated with seeing immigration as a threat to national identity, whereas churchgoing is negatively associated with anti-immigration attitudes. There are two identifiable mechanisms that explain this finding. Firstly, 'Christian' can signify national cultural heritage or white ethnicity rather than faith. Hence those who identify as Christian, however loosely, are on average more likely to be nationalist or xenophobic. Secondly, since churchgoers will be more sympathetic to religion in general they also tend to be less negative towards Muslims and other religious minorities. The findings are contextualised through the use of qualitative interviews and comparative analysis of countries, addressing both the external influences and internal experiences that contribute to specific associations.

This dissertation explores the construction of Filipino national identity by examining the Philippine national government’s appropriation of Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) between 1975 and 2010. FMA’s nationalization offers a window into the larger dynamics of nation-building in the Philippines. Having been colonized for nearly four centuries (1565-1946), the Philippine national government reified the Filipino nation by appropriating older symbols as national ones, and with the purpose of articulating a unique Filipino national identity. The nationalization of FMA is analyzed using Benedict Anderson’s constructivist interpretation of nations as ‘imagined communities’. The dissertation argues that in order to understand the logic behind the national government’s nation-building project using FMA, Filipino postcolonial anxieties over national identity (or their perceived lack of) must be taken into consideration. In this regard, FMA’s nationalization is engaged with Anthony Smith’s concept of the ethnie (ethnic community). Studying the history of how decentralized indigenous martial arts practice became institutionalized in FMA clubs, the dissertation finds that FMA as an ethnographic concept was formulated mainly since the 1970s in consonance with its commercialization, increasing popularity and nationalization. By looking at how national identity is represented in FMA films and in reconstructions of the national hero Lapulapu, the dissertation argues that FMA practitioners seek to highlight their localized identities by inserting their own symbols and interpretations into the national identity being articulated. This process, termed the ‘reverse appropriation’ of nationalism, was a way for FMA clubs to preserve their local institutions and identities from being totally consumed by the nationalization and nation-building project.

This study examines the process of establishing and building the new South African Constitutional Court as the first intervention in the development of the Constitutional Hill precinct and as part of an endeavour aimed at creating a new national identity. The argument is reliant on the premise that an agency, in this case the judges of the constitutional court, actively seeking out means of transforming space and place and transferring significances in heritage resources, has contributed self-consciously in the process of social transformation. The study is intended to be descriptive of a social reality and explanatory of a special atypical case. Pierre Nora's seminal concept involving lieux de mémoire, their spatial and material potential, and the means by which lieux are formed and retained as lieux (memory objects/vessels/vestiges of heritage) has framed this study. The premise that space and place embodies and transmits concepts of cultural heritage has inspired ongoing and complimentary theories of the ways in which the built environment manifests narratives of power and the role of place in memory. Nora's lieux are social creations often involving built form and it is clear that historically significant built form can be used in social endeavors which contribute to the creation of a society's identity. Research and analysis of the Constitutional Court archive, selected published critique, examination of the artefact itself and by means of interviews with key professional individuals who participated in the programme of the building of the new Constitutional Court, all contribute to an exposure of the process of the endeavour of the judges of the Constitutional Court to establish a “lieux of cultural identity”.

National legitimacy played in the politics of post-war Communist Party of Czechoslovakia an important role. The addressees of communist policy should primarily be "members of the nation." The subject of my research work in this way was the formulation of national identity and its role in the Communist politics in the first postwar year, especially the cultural field. For the conceptualization of the concept of propaganda in the Communist Party, I was inspired discourse analytical approaches that have helped me in exploring answers to the question of the role of Czech national identity in the propaganda of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.

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This dissertation examines five distinctly different comic operas by Antonín Dvořák, composed over a period of almost thirty years. I demonstrate ample evidence of their reflecting Dvořák's national identity as well as that of the Czech nation at a time of rising nationalism. I also demonstrate how Dvořák's compositional choices reveal his capacity as a musical dramatist of comic opera. I have examined and analyzed the libretti, full scores, and piano/vocal reductions of the five operas for references to national identity and for comedy. Musical elements such as dance rhythms, orchestral dudy (bagpipe) drone, the ascending interval of a fourth, and familiar folk tunes are interpreted as Slavic, Czech, or Bohemian. I have considered Dvořák's musical illustration of stereotypical stock characters and situations, and musical exploitation of social conventions and norms. Comic effects of recurrence, reversal, and pre- and post-outcome responses are achieved through acoustic signals such as unexpected tempo, dynamic, rhythmic, and harmonic shifts, and repetition in excess. I address the limited scholarship regarding Dvořák's operatic contributions — particularly as regards comic opera — in the field of opera studies, and challenge the argument that while there may be a generic "folk-tone," there is very little musical evidence of his national identity. Dvořák's ability to communicate far more to the audience than what is contained in the libretti alone is demonstrated not only in the broad scope of these five distinctly different operas, but also in the depth of musical support, including rhythm, melody, motivic development, and rich orchestration. / 2024-11-30T00:00:00Z

Politics, Identity and Nation Abstract National identity is a current and frequently discussed topic. Nevertheless, there seems to be no consensus on its definition in the academic community. However, national identity remains a major part of the citizen's life and is essential for the functioning of a democratic rule of law. Therefore, I chose the aim of my work, to look at the topic of national identity from a normative point of view and ask the question: "Is it possible to actively redefine a national identity?" This redefining into more integrative identity could be an answer to many of today's challenges, such as the increasing number of migrants, polarization by identity politics or the growing separatist and nationalist groups within states. Because I chose a broad topic, I decided to describe it and map it from the perspective of different approaches. The first part deals with the concept of identity, where I use Tajfel's Theory of Social Identity in the field of social psychology. In the second part, I deal with the history of national identity and related concepts such as nation and citizenship, which I explain on theories of the field of political science and political philosophy. The theoretical understanding should then serve to orient and lay the foundations for understanding national...

G. Hays II American "Foreign Policy" in Film Abstract This work takes David Campbell's concept of "foreign policy," as applied to American elite identifiers, and expands its application to sub-elite identifiers as well. As with Campbell's analysis of American identity, the common context is international conflicts where the United States is a participant. The discourse of the elite is represented by State of the Union Addresses covering the times of the conflicts, while the sub-elite discourse is represented by major war films about those same conflicts. While Campbell's argument implies that there should be a common resultant identification of the elite and sub-elite identifiers, this is not the case. Across time, conflicts, and administrations, the elite identifications stress hierarchy and order, as was also concluded by Campbell. Across time, conflicts, and productions, the sub-elite identifications stress proximity of experience and right action. The identifications of the two groups, while both laying claim to the identity of "America", are in conflict with each other. Through the analyses and conclusion, this work challenges the dominant post-structuralist concept of the "inside"/"outside" of a political-identificational space (only relevant for the elite) and suggests in its place the more fluid and...

Rooted in adult identity development and social identity theories, this dissertation investigated the experiences of discrimination, ethnic and national identity, and psychological distress amongst immigrant adults (ages 40-64) in Canada. A mixed methodological approach was used to quantitatively investigate the links among discrimination, ethnic identity, and psychological distress as well as the links between social identity and identity management strategies. Open-ended questions and thematic analysis were used to identify the ways in which discrimination affects participants’ sense of belonging and connection to their ethnic group and Canadian society. The findings of this dissertation highlight the major protective function of (ethnic and national) identity affirmation, both in buffering discrimination-related stress and guiding the selection of adaptive identity management strategies. Equally, the qualitative work provides insight into the myriad of ways that individuals protect their sense of self when faced with discrimination. A major contribution of this work is an evaluation of the applicability of existing identity theories to adults in midlife and the integration of a number of disparate areas of identity theory. Clinical and policy implications as well as future directions for research are discussed. / Graduate