By Elinor George, MA in International Development, University of East Anglia

At this point in Nepal’s development, the issue of national identity is of particular importance. Having become a secular, federal republic in 2007, Nepal’s democratic experience is at a relatively infant stage, and the divisions within its society continue to be reflected in its politics. Since Nepal’s conception in 1768, the Hill Hindu high caste groups have been dominant within the society, and have focused national identity around their fundamental characteristics. As such, one of the most repressed groups, both historically and contemporaneously, are the Madhesis, who mainly live in the lowland area close to the Indian border. They have frequently protested for the recognition of their rights by the state, most notably in their 2015 blockade of the Indian border, which nearly brought the country to an economic and political standstill. Given this major division in society, which threatens the stability, and potentially, unity of the country, this blog asks the question – to what extent is it possible to create a truly inclusive, national identity in a multi-ethnic society like Nepal?

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By Michael Skey

That is all folks! France won, Croatia should have won, and Russia managed to bolster its poor international image. However, the recent outbreak of flag-waving, goal cheering and meme-making, otherwise known as the world cup, also offers a partial rebuke to the idea that in an era of rapid globalisation nations are no longer relevant to people’s lives.

In England, the ability of the national team to avoid abject humiliation, and somehow stumble into the latter stages of the competition, generated scenes of wild celebration and led some to ponder on the difference between ‘healthy patriotism’ and nasty nationalism. This is in accord with most people’s understanding of nationalism as something pernicious, extreme or uncivilised that generally involves snarling, shaven-headed brutes or callous right-wing ideologues.

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By Dr. Michael Goodrum, Department of History, Canterbury Christ Church University

Nations exist as constructed spaces, both geographically and emotionally.  Political projects of defining borders and allocating national identity to the incumbents of those spaces, as in President Woodrow Wilson’s rhetoric of ‘self-determination’ after the First World War, can only do so much.  The national spaces carved out by Wilson were homogenous, a move away from the polyglot empires of the long nineteenth century such as the Habsburg and the Ottoman. Nationalist projects have often fallen back on mythic histories to provide a sense of permanence, the notion that rather than a political construct imposed on the landscape, this space is historically ‘ours’, and to foster a sense of community among those who live there.  Language plays a key part in this, as do the products of language such as literature, both academic and popular.

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