National Identity Information
National identity is the person's identity and sense of belonging to one country or to one nation, a feeling one shares with a group of people, regardless of one's citizenship status.
National identity is not an inborn trait. Various studies have shown that a person's national identity is a direct result of the presence of elements from the "common points" in people's daily lives: national symbols, language, national colors, the nation's history, national consciousness, blood ties, culture, music, cuisine, radio, television, etc.[citation needed]
The national identity of most citizens of one country or one nation tends to strengthen when the country or the nation is threatened militarily. The sense of belonging to the nation is essential as an external threat becomes more clear.[citation needed]
There are cases where national identity collides with a person's civil identity. For example, many Israeli Arabs associate themselves or are associated with the Arab or Palestinian nationality, while at the same time they are citizens of the state of Israel, which is in conflict with the Palestinians and with many Arab countries. Also, there are cases in which the national identity of a particular group is oppressed by the government in the country where the group lives. A notable example was in Spain under the authoritarian dictatorship of Francisco Franco (1939-1947) who abolished the official statute and recognition for the Basque, Galician, and Catalan languages for the first time in the history of Spain and returned to Spanish as the only official language of the State and education, although millions of the country's citizens spoke other languages.
The positive expression of one's national identity is Patriotism, and the negative is Chauvinism.
Other resources
- Anthony D. Smith (Mar 1, 1993). National identity (Ethnonationalism in Comparative Perspective) University of Nevada Press ISBN 978-0-874-17204-1
- Samuel P. Huntington (May 2004). Who Are We: The Challenges to America's National Identity Simon & Schuster ISBN 978-0-684-87053-3
See also
Categories: National identities
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