Edensor T. National Identity, Popular Culture and Everyday Life

Oxford, New York: Berg 3PL, 2002 — 228 p. — ISBN10: 1859735142; ISBN13: 978-1859735145.The Millennium Dome, Braveheart and Rolls Royce cars. How do cultural icons reproduce and transform a sense of national identity? How does national identity vary across time and space, how is it contested, and what has been the impact of globalization upon national identity and culture? This book examines how national identity is represented, performed, spatialized and materialized through popular culture and in everyday life. National identity is revealed to be inherent in the things we often take for granted - from landscapes and eating habits, to tourism, cinema and music. Our specific experience of car ownership and motoring can enhance a sense of belonging, whilst Hollywood blockbusters and national exhibitions provide contexts for the ongoing, and often contested, process of national identity formation. These and a wealth of other cultural forms and practices are explored, with examples drawn from Scotland, the UK as a whole, India and Mauritius. This book addresses the considerable neglect of popular cultures in recent studies of nationalism and contributes to debates on the relationship between 'high' and 'low' culture.Popular Culture, Everyday Life and the Matrix of National Identity
Geography and Landscape: National Places and Spaces
Performing National Identity
Material Culture and National Identity
Representing the Nation: Scottishness and Braveheart
Exhibiting National Identity at the Turn of the Millennium