National Identities: Temporality and Narration

Abstract

National identities are social phenomena with concrete-both political and social-effects in society, but a fundamental part of their constitution takes place through narratives about the collective. The existence of collective identities thus depends on drawing boundaries between the collective 'we' and the 'others', as well as on disseminating coherent ideas about the fundamental identity of the we-group. These narratives thus constitute a privileged object for investigating how collective identities are constructed and legitimised in a discourse that places the collective in time, that is, with a coherent and logical narrative about the past and a trustworthy projection into the future. This article defends, first, the concept of the 'master narrative' as a useful analytical category for investigating how national history is constructed, and, second, the concepts of 'sites of memory' and 'Vergangenheitsbewältigung' as means of accessing this narrative. These concepts represent instances of creation and rewriting, respectively, of the narrative and are thus useful tools for analysing how a sense of connectedness with the community through time is created: that is, how a sense of continuity with certain distant epochs is conveyed, and how, on the other hand, a sense of discontinuity with other periods is favoured.

Sweden – a nation of seafarers or peasants? Swedish naval officers and national identity as revealed in the magazine Vår Flotta, 1905–1939

“…History often plays an important role in national-identity narratives as it is important to show a nation's ancient roots and generate pride in the nation's past successes. 58 Vår Flotta was no exception, turning often to history to underline the importance of the maritime and naval sectors to Sweden and its future. Normally, Vår Flotta did not turn its gaze to the distant past but focused on the period from the sixteenth century onwards.…”

“…version of Swedish national identity, or the national master narrative, 1 has long been associated with rural traditions and the values ascribed to traditional freeholding peasants. As part of this, the landlocked province of Dalarna is commonly regarded as the most Swedish of all the Swedish provinces.…”

Metropolitan Research. Methods and Approaches

“…They also contain a story of origin that justifies the way the nation has developed. Narratives are closely intertwined with processes of identity formation and with power relations: While they certainly help people understand the past, their true power lies in the present (Humlebaek 2018) -Anderson (1983 connects this idea of power in the present directly to the rise of nationalism.…”