A note added as this blog was being edited and finished is the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As I mentioned in my post on national identity, Belarus is tied to Russia through a very strong alliance. At the current moment of this addition, Belarus is allowing Russian troops, including tanks, to invade Ukraine through Belarussian territory, giving them a shorter route to the capitol. For most countries, allowing large numbers of foreign troops, especially an invasion force, is out of the question even for close allies. Belarus’s allowance of this action is certainly very telling of their position with Russia, and perhaps hinting at their issues with a strong national identity as I mentioned in my previous post. Introduction Belarus’s submission to Eurovision 2019 was a performance of "Like It" by the performer known as ZENA, whose actual name is Zinaida Kupriyanovich. It’s a pop song featuring smoke machines, pyrotechnics, love, and skilled backing singers and dancers, eve...
Published 1/27/2022 Revised 2/10/2022 National identity is a difficult concept, filled with complex issues which are constantly shifting. It consists of numerous things, such as culture, political opinions, religion, and more. Triandafyllidou (1998) simplifies it in her article National identity and the `other’ where she argues where national identity arises, “…the close link established between the individual and the collective self, namely the nation” (p. 598). This link is the feeling that each person has about what defines the nation, and the collection of those feelings being expressed. That feeling is based on culture, history, language, religion, and all sorts of other factors, and as such, can easily fluctuate. In addition, a nation controlling one territory could have the same language, religion, or other factors as a neighboring nation with an adjacent territory, but still have a unique national identity which the citizens of these nations would insist on. Triandafyllidou (19...
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