Modern Roots: Studies of National Identity

by Alain Dieckhoff, Natividad Gutierrez

Interest in the study of national identity as a collective phenomenon is a growing concern among the social and political sciences. This book addresses the scholarly interest in examining the origins of ideologies and social practices that give historical meaning, cohesion and uniqueness to modern national communities. It focuses on the various routes taken towards the construction of cultural authenticity as an inspirational purpose of nation-building and reveals the diversity of the themes, practices and symbols used to encourage self-identification and communality. Among the techniques explored are the dramatization of suffering and tragedy, the exaltation of heroes and deeds, the evocation of landscape, nature and the arts and the delimitation of collective values to be pursued during reconstruction in post-war periods.

318 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Alain Dieckhoff is Senior Research Fellow, Centre for International Studies and Research, and teaches at Sciences Po, Paris. As an academic he has worked extensively on various aspects of contemporary Israel and the Arab-Israeli conflict. He has also undertaken a major comparative project on nationalism in the Western world.