National identity
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
"The second major assumption was nationalism. It is no accident that German philology and Germanic textual criticism coincided with the dynamic rise of the German national consciousness (and let us not forget that it was on the genius of the German scholars that the rest of Europe, England, and America drew so heavily). As Herder, the Grimm brothers, and the whole lineage of German literary teachers and critics were frank to proclaim, the study of one's own literary past played a vital part in affirming national identity. To this point of view Taine and the historical positivists added the theory that one gets to know the unique racial genius of a people, of one's own people, by studying its literature. Everywhere the history of modern literary studies shows the mark of this nationalist ideal of the mid-and late-nineteenth century." --"To Civilize Our Gentlemen" (1965) by George Steiner |
![This page National identity is part of the politics series.Illustration:Liberty Leading the People (1831, detail) by Eugène Delacroix.](/images/thumb/200px-Eugène_Delacroix_-_La_liberté_guidant_le_peuple.jpg)
Illustration:Liberty Leading the People (1831, detail) by Eugène Delacroix.
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National identity is a person's identity and sense of belonging to one state or to one nation, a feeling one shares with a group of people, regardless of one's citizenship status. Yoonmi Lee sees national identity in psychological terms as "an awareness of difference" - "a feeling and recognition of 'we' and 'they'".
National identity is not an inborn trait; various studies have shown that a person's national identity results directly from the presence of elements from the "common points" in people's daily lives: national symbols, language, national colours, the nation's history, national consciousness, blood ties, culture, music, cuisine, radio, television, etc.
The expression of one's national identity seen in a positive light is patriotism, and the negative is chauvinism.
See also
- Dual citizenship
- Ethnic identity
- Patriotism
- Nationalism
- American identity
- Armenians
- Jewish identity
- Scottish national identity
- Ukrainian national identity
- Identity (social science)
- Identity crisis