Culture and identity: two different notions

A clear, precise conceptual distinction between ‘culture’ and ‘identity’ is an essential precondition for analyzing social processes. The anthropological concept of ‘identity’ has been built up over time and enriched by studies on interethnic relationships, ethnic borders and ethnicity. The objective of this essay is to add to an already well-defined concept of culture by incorporating decisive contributions from theories on the nation. Culture and nation are not only highly complex theoretical notions with a long history; they both deal with heterogeneous and conflictive entities. The essay asserts that culture and identity allude to analytically different aspects of social processes. No relationship between the two can be presupposed or generalized to fit all cases. It is necessary to analyze cultural and identitary aspects separately.     

文化民族与政治民族:理论、应用及反思

在民族本质属性问题上历来存在着文化与政治的二元对立,由此对民族理论和民族实践带来诸多困扰。文化民族与政治民族的概念体系对此具有一定的消解作用,并有望为现实民族问题的解决提供新的理论视角和分析工具。本文从民族构建的基本纽带入手,对文化民族与政治民族概念体系的理论形成、应用领域和局限反思等问题进行了初步探究。     

中华民族认同与铸牢中华民族共同体意识

中华民族认同和中华民族共同体意识是研究中华民族问题时不能回避的两个概念。当前学界在研究铸牢中华民族共同体意识问题时出现了忽视中华民族认同问题,强调的“共同性”是指56个民族之间的共同性,把中华民族作为56个民族的总称,甚至否认中华民族是民族实体。中华民族认同是中华民族共同体意识的基底与主干,中华民族认同和中华民族共同体意识都体现着对“中华民族”的情感归属与赞同。铸牢中华民族共同体意识要建构科学的中华民族观,并在社会生活中传播中华民族知识,同时,要依据中华民族的结构、历史、文化等民族特点来构建中华民族的经济、政治、文化和命运共同体。     

身体•民族•国家——《沉沦》中的身体政治

郁达夫的短篇小说《沉沦》可以作为思想史文本来解读.小说的主人公"我"在空虚孤独中,发现了自然的身体,进而激发了欲望的身体,当欲望的身体得不到满足,"我"把原因归咎于欲望对象与自己不是一个民族,而自己民族所属的国家是弱国,因而得不到欲望对象的青睐.此时"我"的政治身体凸显,进而希望祖国富强,自己的身体欲望才能得到满足."我"在身体的煎熬中,以切身感受的方式,产生了强烈的民族和国家观念.在近代中国,个人身体始终被工具化的看待,身体(个人)必须服从于国家的富强和发展.对个体来说,民族国家观念可以通过"知识-权力"之下身体的自我规训的感受中产生.     

中华民族认同:中华民族共有精神家园的建设目标

从社会主义文化体系的内在构成来看,中华民族共有精神家园可以定位为"民族认同文化",其建设目标在于弘扬和强化中华民族认同意识.在中华民族共有精神家园的建设过程中,要把培养和强化中华民族认同意识作为导向和目标,要注意确认和保护少数民族文化的应有地位,要注意消除影响中华民族认同意识的地方主义思维和民族主义思潮,要加强对中国"多元一体"多民族国家形成的历史与现实的宣传教育.     

“民族”与“民族认同”问题研究述评

随着全球化的到来,民族主义开始在各国被激活,“民族认同”问题也就越来越成为热门话题.本文对近30年来关于“民族”与“民族认同”研究的有关概念、英译、概念间的关系、基本理论观点、研究方法等进行了较系统的梳理,并就分析存在的主要问题后,提出今后研究的新思考.     

The politics of indigeneity,identity and representation in literature from north Australia's Gulf Country

The Aboriginal author Alexis Wright's novels Plains of Promise, Carpentaria and The Swan Book have prompted scholars and critics towards enthusiastic comparisons with the ground-breaking work of a range of international writers. With her novels all set partly in the remote Gulf Country of north Australia, Wright's work arises from intellectual and political commitment to Indigenous people, and aspires to the idea of a distinctive ‘Aboriginal sovereignty of the mind’. Much less known yet, we argue, of complementary significance, are a broader suite of writings about this region, and we address representations of cultural identity and connections to place by authors with both Aboriginal and European ancestries. With our interest in a deliberately cross-disciplinary methodology, ethnographic research complements our focus on texts to facilitate analysis of diverse identities in a setting produced through both the resilience of Indigenous cultural traditions and the legacies of European settler colonialism. We argue that the range of authorial representations arising from this sector of Australian society provides a focus for understanding shared and contested postcolonial imaginaries about place, culture and identity.     

从地缘安全角度理解中国的民族与跨界民族

对民族和跨界民族问题已经有了大量的卓有成效的研究,但是,从地缘安全角度重新诠释中国的民族和跨界民族,却是在新形势下对中国跨界民族和地缘安全关系的理论尝试,因此,文章对民族、跨界民族和族群等以往的认识进行了批判,力图在确立新的范畴中构建跨界民族与中国地缘安全的理论体系。     

Constructions of identity,belonging and exclusion in the democratic welfare state

This article investigates the conflict between a shared national identity and immigration, posed by liberal, instrumental nationalists. They worry that immigration will undermine a shared national identity that is needed to generate trust and solidarity within the democratic welfare state. The article consists of a qualitative study of Swedish and British respondents. The main conclusion is that people experience and interpret their shared identity, ideas of belonging and exclusion in the democratic welfare state differently, with different consequences for the proposed conflict. When identity and belonging was tied to contributions or to institutions, rather than a nation, the conflict between a shared identity and immigration was cushioned.     

抗击疫情与铸牢中华民族共同体意识

铸牢中华民族共同体意识是中国作为统一的多民族国家实现治理体系现代化和提高治理能力的需要,也是充分发挥国家制度和国家治理体系显著优势的保障。在抗击新冠肺炎疫情这个重大事件中体现出铸牢中华民族共同体意识与发挥国家治理的制度优势具有内在一致性。基于"国家-民族"理论视角,探讨铸牢中华民族共同体意识的现实路径:从单向式到双向式。即不但有自上而下的国家主导力量,也有自下而上的民族地区及非民族地区的支持力量;既有纵向维度的国家与民族地区及非民族地区的双向互动,也有横向维度的民族地区和非民族地区之间的双向互动。新冠肺炎疫情防控下铸牢中华民族共同体意识为完善现代国家治理体系提供了实践参考,即国家治理要推动形成集中统一的更具灵活性的纵向协调机制和横向协调机制。     

共生理论视阈下中华民族共同体建构的五维向度

中华民族共同体建构的基本逻辑是一个从"求同存异"到"聚同化异"的过程,旨在构建一个多民族休戚与共、血脉相连的共生关系与共生状态。中华民族共同体的有效建构必须赋予"共生"的理念,以责任、族际、文化、利益、命运为共生单元的建构逻辑,进而推动中华民族政治共同体、文化共同体、价值共同体、利益共同体、命运共同体的全面建构。     

全球化与国家的民族属性

本文首先提出了国家具有民族属性的命题 ,然后指出 ,国家的民族属性是在民族国家形成阶段明晰起来的 ,而它的基本动因是全球化。文章认为 ,在全球化迅猛推进的当今世界 ,国家的民族属性仍有着坚实的社会文化基础和经济基础 ;民族国家仍有着蓬勃的生命力 ;但在全球化时代的未来 ,国家民族属性的消解将不可避免 ;这种消解将使人类彻底摆脱民族主义政治的困扰 ,同时也将开启民族消亡的行程     

Significant others and the importance of ancestry for Czech national identity

ABSTRACT

Nations are viewed as metaphorical families having common ancestors. Czechs, for example, share the legend about a forefather ?ech who brought his people into Czechia. Analysing the Czech ISSP 2013 data we examine how the importance of having Czech descent depends on Christian denomination, openness towards immigration, perceived commonality with ‘significant Others’, foreign-born parents, and socio-demographics. Results of the analysis suggest that Czech ancestry is less important part of national identity among younger cohorts, people living in big cities and towns, descendants of foreign-born parents, and people who are in favour of immigration from poor countries outside the EU.     

Contesting exclusion in a multi-ethnic state: rethinking ethnic nationalism in Nigeria

On the surface, ideas of a Nigerian state with common citizenry, free from ethnicity, religious bigotry and regionalism were pursued by Nigerian nationalists. Generally, a state united in common political practices, equal opportunities and under the same law was envisaged. However, the process leading to independence was characterised by ethnic nationalism. In the decolonisation era, group interest was reified and elevated above national struggle for self-government. The post-colonial project of constructing a common citizenry with the same aspirations, one Nigerian identity with a cosmopolitan outlook instead of ethnic loyalty, therefore largely eluded the country. Over the last five decades, the deepest attachment has increasingly been that of ethnic and regional consciousness. Ethnic nationalism has increasingly won support in an atmosphere of greed and clientelism. Several complex crises are currently manifesting themselves in ethnic forms. The situation has been exacerbated by political and economic exclusion, which has awakened forces and organisations that fight for ethnic and regional aspirations. This paper deals with the issue of group identification during the colonial period, especially from 1945. It also explores the extent to which the pattern of nationalist struggle defined the crucial issues of ethnic crises in post-colonial Nigeria. Finally, it examines the dimensions of the contest for citizenship.     

"新冠肺炎"疫情防控背景下的中华民族认同与民族主义的应对

新冠肺炎疫情发生后,全国各族人民一条心投入疫情防控,进一步铸牢了中华民族共同体,再一次感受了中华民族灾难治理传统和独特制度优势,又一度激发了中华民族自尊心和自信心,再一次凝聚到构建人类命运共同体的目标上。但治理体系能力不完善、舆论宣教引导不充分、国际反应的心理预期和实际状况不对称,可能诱发民族主义情绪,必须防范其非理性化发展和表达。因此,在爱国主义旗帜下,深入有效地推进疫情防控工作,铸牢中华民族共同体意识,具有构建人类命运共同体、促进世界持久和平、繁荣发展的重要意义。     

Icon-ising national identity: France and India in comparative perspective

The article embeds the arguments of cultural theory and art history in a political science framework, in order to explain the construction of national identities. In comparing the French national allegory Marianne and her Indian counterpart Bharat Mata, the authors set out to trace the conceptual development of the icons, the psycho-history underlying their ongoing formative processes and their strategic function as signifiers that reinforce national identity. The conceptual prism of icon-ising, as one learns from this comparative analysis is what makes the study of processes of cultural negotiation, and an exploration of their impact on identity-formation possible.     

Postcolonial guilt and national identity: historical injustice and the Australian settler state

In nations with a record of historical injustice, guilt about the past is deeply implicated in both efforts towards reconciliation and the construction of national identity. This is as true in notionally postcolonial nations, where past injustice is often denied or avoided, as it is in situations where conflict and injustice have been more recent, overt or visible to the rest of the world. Taking the Australian case as an example, this article considers the dimensions of historical collective guilt, and explores the implications of that guilt for contemporary national identity in postcolonial nations. It argues that until a nation is able to deal with social psychological barriers to addressing historical injustice, it is likely to construct and maintain a narrow and defensive form of nationalism.     

Nations,national identity and prestige

Prestige is a concept or factor that receives relatively little sustained attention in the specialist academic work on nations, national identity and nationalism. It is, however, an implicit influence in much of this literature. Evidence, perspectives and insights, suggesting that prestige is a vital element in the psychological constitution of nations, emerge from a diverse range of sources.     

Institutions,inculcation, and black racial identity: pigmentocracy vs. the rule of hypodescent

This research paper investigates the effect political institutions have on black racial identity. In particular, I study individual inculcation in contexts where political institutions institutionalize either of two forms of racial social structures – a pigmentocracy (the Dominican Republic), or the rule of hypodescent (the US South), and the effect such inculcation has on black racial identity. I sampled 101 respondents from the Dominican Republic and 102 from the state of Mississippi, USA. Consistent with the basic assumptions of my hypotheses, respondents in the Dominican Republic study sites showed a weaker degree of identification with blackness vis-à-vis something ‘whiter’. Nevertheless, respondents in the Dominican Republic sites demonstrated a stronger identification with blackness than what most conventional observers would have anticipated. Respondents in the Mississippi study sites showed a stronger sense of identification with blackness. Surprisingly, however, Mississippi respondents demonstrated a larger degree of neutrality than expected in their belief of being of a mixed racial heritage rather than just a black African heritage.     

Immigration,national identity and political trust in European democracies

This article argues that discrepancies between individual-level conceptualisations of national identity and official government approaches to national identity, as reflected in policies towards migrants, contribute to reduced levels of political trust in Europe. Public opinion data matched with contextual data measuring immigrant incorporation policies are used to investigate this proposition. The findings indicate that individuals who take a more exclusive approach to national identity but live in political systems that are comparatively more welcoming of immigrant incorporation into the national political system tend to be the least trusting of their political systems, and this is closely followed by those individuals who adopt a more inclusive form of identity but live in countries that are relatively less welcoming in their treatment of immigrants. Where individual identity and immigrant incorporation are both inclusive, trust tends to be relatively high.