Lecture 5: Identity, Imagined Community, the Nation, and Transnational Influences Flashcards
1
Q
Historic Canadian Identity
A
- have a lot of ties to the British
- when we were considering the national anthem, “Maple Leaf Forever” was an option that were more politically correct (included Britain, Scotland, and Ireland)
- we don’t consider most of these things to be part of our identity anymore; it’s not all about God and King (like in WWII)
- there’s also the French/Quebec section
- there are also regional versions, i.e. someone from BC or Alberta doesn’t have the same outlook as someone from Ontario
- all of the above are slightly obsolete and old-fashioned
- now, we’re multicultural
- something subtler is that we’re not American
- e.g. we say that we’re politer than the US, but not the Japanese or anyone else
- there’s more contest to multiculturalism in the US, but they’re not a melting pot anymore
- we also have a North American identity
2
Q
Who is “Canadian”?
A
- there are degrees to being “Canadian”
- if you ask someone, “what’s your nationality” you’re asking what passport they have or their citizenship
- but when the answer, they usually answer with ethnicity
- some people will just say “Canadian” and some won’t if they’re mixed
- legal citizenship and practical citizenship are not the same thing; practical citizenship means having their voice heard, making a difference in their community, being recognized and cared for by the state, and being recognized by others in the community
- remember that anthropologists aren’t trying to say what’s “correct” or how things should be; they’re just describing how things are
3
Q
Imagined Community
A
- the idea comes from Benedict Anderson, Cornell University
-
imagined community: a group who doesn’t know each other face-to-face but feel and act like a community
- somehow we’re close to each other, as Canadians, but there’s no way for all of us to know each other
- the way we use “community” is almost like a plural; e.g. gay community means “gay people” and Jewish community means “Jewish people”
- in anthropology, we use community to mean groups of people together
- Kalmar: but a group of people doesn’t automatically make a community, e.g. Ontario isn’t a community but BC and Quebec are
- religious communities are also imagined; this is sanctified by the religion; they’re supposed to feel a connection with each other
- religious communities are an older idea than nations
- religious identities have often been (most of the time unsuccessfully) turned into national identities; e.g. Islam
4
Q
Hockey
A
- hockey is Canada’s national winter sport, and lacrosse is the national summer sport
- in order for a community to be practiced, we must:
- play hockey
- watch hockey
- talk about hockey
- it’s a spectacle of imagined community; even though Russians probably play and enjoy hockey just as much, it’s not as much a part of their identity; it’s a means for us to imagine the nation of Canada
- consider: Canada vs. Russia or Canada vs. the USA in a hockey game
- it’s more intense when we play against the Russians; the USA are like our rival friends, but the Russians are like our “enemies”
5
Q
What is a “Nation”?
A
- it can mean a “state”, a political unit
- can also be an imagined community; some states don’t have an imagined community (although most modern ones do, it’s more successful this way)
- again, nations as an imagined community is a relatively new concept (although nations as a state has been around for a while, which will be discussed in another lecture)
6
Q
What Comes First? State or National Community?
A
- e.g. the “German nation” was talked about before Germany was founded as a country 1871; but we tend to think about Germany as being older than Canada
- e.g. Italy was founded in 1861, but even before it was founded, they felt like they were a nation state
- in these cases, the imagined community (“the people”) is the justification for the political nation (“the state”)
- it’s hard for people to reconcile accepting new people into their state while maintaining they’re national identity, since their reason for existence is this imagined community
- this is why it’s easier for us to be multicultural, compared to Germany
- in Canada, the imagined nation is the result of, and supports, a pre-existing political nation (state)
- it’s not like people just started feeling Canadian the day the nation was established
7
Q
Nations Are Always Constructed
A
- even if you identify strongly as a Hungarian (or whatever else), it’s still constructed
- this feeling is only a few generations old
- even if you feel that it’s so ingrained in you, so naturally given, that you’d be willing to die for your nation, there’s nothing intrinsic about this feeling
- we’re not saying it’s not real, it is, but it’s still constructed
- but remember that an imagined community is not imaginary
- a national “identity” is important for a nation’s existence
8
Q
Language and National Identity
A
- languages (not the ability to have language itself) are constructed
- the 19th century in Europe is when this linguistic nationalism started to rise
- e.g. German because they spoke German; but in reality, German dialects were very different from each other
- in the villages the border between Germany and Holland, their language is much closer than what’s spoken between Berlin and Amsterdam
- nations defined themselves by a common language; they decided the borders based on language
- language and dialect are a political difference that has to do with the construction of a nation; they are not a linguistic labels, but political labels
- examples of languages that are very similar and the speakers can understand each other:
- Russian and Ukrainian
- Czech and Slovak
- Danish and Norwegian
- Serbian and Croatian
- Hindi and Urdu
- but there are many Chinese dialects that other Chinese people don’t understand; these dialects are further apart from each other than Russian and Ukrainian or Hindi and Urdu, but are not different languages
- this is because politically, China is one nation, and historically always has been
- there’s no other real good explanation for why else this would happen
9
Q
African National Identities
A
- these countries typically lack a common, distinctive, local language
- they were derived from colonial state formations rather than their own imagined communities
- this is one explanation for why African nations are so prone to separatist movements; they don’t really consider themselves a community
10
Q
National Identity, Minorities, and Immigration
A
- in Europe, minorities were “trapped” in new states when national borders were drawn based on linguistic-national identities
- in Canada, the French minority was the result of British military victory over the French
- there are immigrants who bring into Canada identities that weren’t there before
- multiculturalism is a solution to all of the different cultures being brought in
- in Quebec, the French people do have the feeling of primordial kinship, which is reflected in the debate of, “how many nations is Canada?”
- people outside Quebec generally answer there’s one, but surveys from within Quebec would say that there’s two
11
Q
Case Study: Afro-Antillianness in Panama and Transnational Tourism and Local Identity
A
- they (generally) live along the coast of Panama
- history of the title of the article; it was once forbidden to use African drums when the Spanish ruled these areas, and afterwards, since African culture was considered inferior
- the Afro-Antillians are black people who speak versions of English, which we call creole
- the tourists come to these places to have a good time and to encounter “native culture”
- tourists generally have knowledge of calypso or reggae, which is not really Panamanian form, but they play it for tourists to be good sports
- there’s a group called Samy y Sandra, who play tipico music, but blended with reggae so it’ll be more attractive to the tourists
- the tourists are happy with this, but the locals are actually happy as well because it sells
- instead of making the place more American by introducing tourists, the music as actually become more Antillian