This comprehensive book examines the crucial connections between national identity, territory, and scale. Providing a powerful theoretical and organizational framework, the volume identifies four ways in which scale operates dynamically in the formation and maintenance of national identity. Consolidating identities considers the strategies necessary to keep all parts within the fold through educational systems, minority policies, immigration controls, and other forms of traditional state power. Magnifying identities examines the consequences of shifting the scale up and unifying territories that have a sense of a larger, supranational identity. Connecting identities assesses how nations can bridge physical distance, water barriers, or sovereign boundaries. Fragmenting identities looks into the disintegration of national identities and those forces that have the potential to unravel a nation or block its effective formation. Nationalism and national identity remain critical flashpoints in the geopolitical order, as we have seen in the development of a quasi-independent Kurdistan in Northern Iraq, the resurgence of Native American identities in response to the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Chinese crackdown on its minority regions. Offering a rich set of case studies from around the world, this essential book affirms the global importance of national identity and scale.
Introduction: Scaling the Nation David H. Kaplan and Guntram H. Herb Part I: Conceptual Issues 1: Power, Territory, and National Identity Guntram H. Herb 2: National Identity and Scalar Processes David H. Kaplan Part II: Consolidating Identities 3: The Changing Context of German Nationhood Corey Johnson 4: Sociocultural and Territorial Aspects of Argentine Identity David Keeling 5: Construction of Postcolonial Tanzanian National Identity Kefa M. Otiso Part III: Magnifying Identities 6: Toward a Meaningful European Identity Alexander B. Murphy 7: Greater Caribbean Regional Identity Gary S. Elbow 8: Imagining the Arab Homeland and Palestine Karen Culcasi Part IV: Connecting Identities 9: Native American Resurgence and Scales of Identity Steven E. Silvern 10: The Reinstitutionalization of Island Identities in Japan Takashi Yamazaki 11: Chinese National Identity and Social Networks Susan M. Walcott Part V: Fragmenting Identities 12: Partition and National Fragmentation of Kurdistan Carl T. Dahlman and Sanan Moradi 13: Contested Identities in Transylvania George W. White 14: Indian Diasporas and the Creation of Subnational Identities Pablo Bose Afterword: Transcending Scale? Jouni Hakli Index About the Contributors
