Download LECTURE 12: The Politics of Propaganda: Nationalism

LECTURE 13: The Politics of Propaganda: Nationalism
I.
Last time we had a lecture about Marxism and Social History and we're beginning today
with a discussion of "The View from the Bottom Rail"
II.
Nationalism Defined
A. A modern Notion—relatively speaking. The idea of the "nation" part of
enlightenment, or late eighteenth-century ideals. Emerging in very basic form with
the American and French Revolutions, nationalism really took off in the late
nineteenth century with the rise of imperialism and the creation of two states, Italy
and Germany. Part of nationalism is drawing borders around "desires"—of creating
an "us" vs. "them" (or self vs. other mentality) in order to unify the people in one
location based on shared customs and traits. Nationalism unified the people under
the idea of a "nation" rather than getting allegiance to a dynasty (kings and queens
and such) or to a city-state (a kind of localism). So, to describe again:
B. Desires—there were certain desires of people to mesh culturally with others like
them, to unify a group of people as a "nation": These "desires" can be encapsulated
in to three categories
1. to live with those of same ethnicity—very much a racial category. Germans in
the 19th century wanted to live with other Germanic peoples, not Slavs (Bosnians,
etc.) or any other group
2. who speak same language—they also wanted to be united linguistically. While
there may be many dialects, there are certain characteristics of a language (like
French or German or Italian).
3. on a "historic" homeland—nationalists, especially political nationalists, wanted to
bring the cultures together on a homeland that they believe has some type of
historic significance. Thus, in the 19th century, Germanic peoples and Italian
peoples wanted to unify under single nation-states rather than live in lots of
separate principalities. This "unification" occurred in 1861 (Italy) and 1871
(Germany). Moreover, other ethnic groups in Europe at the time fought for
national self-determination. For example the Austro-Hungarian Empire ruled by
the Hapsburgs was a multi-ethnic empire ruled by a German minority/dynasty.
The declining Ottoman Empire based in Istanbul was also a multi-ethnic empire
that had Southern Europeans, North Africans as part of their constituents. Thus
Hungarians and other Eastern and Southern Europeans fought for the right to
have their own nation, comprised of their own peoples in their homeland—and
NOT be subject to the rule of someone "different" from them.
Political nationalism rose in the last third of the 19th century with the resurgence of
European imperialism. This will be important, not only for European nationalism, but
for the growth of indigenous nationalism in various colonized areas in the 20th
century
C. Post- 1945 Rise—After 1945, nationalism is again on the rise. The reason is simple.
With only one power coming out of the war economically powerful (US) and with the
world being divided into two extreme camps (capitalism/communism), the end of
colonization was fast on its way. As the Europeans colonized, they forced European
language and education on many of their colonized peoples. Those people then
took their education, their language and used them as revolutionary tools to end
political rule from another power. They also used the rhetoric of nationalism/national
self determination to push for change.
1. wars for independence—The Philippines (US) were the first area of
decolonization (unless we count the many Asian countries who were decolonized
because Japan lost the war. NB Japan had a very strong empire from the end of
the 19th century to 1945)
2. decolonization—Decolonization and wars for independence were intricately
connected. In many instances, Europeans simply realized that they could no
longer maintain the economic burden of supporting colonies, so places like India,
Indonesia, Western Africa, were simply let go. In these cases, the process of
decolonization (or removing colonies) was relatively diplomatically painless,
despite the domestic crises which emerged following pullout). In other cases,
decolonization had to be obtained through violent struggles that lasted years.
The French withdrawal from Algeria in the early 1960s is one of the most widely
known. The French simply wouldn't give up, even sent military in, and then the
colonists wouldn't leave even when the French told them to. The Algerians
engaged in guerilla warfare to remove them. The French also had problems in
Indochina (Vietnam, etc), and when the Americans told them to leave, they
established a set of military advisors so that Vietnam wouldn't "go Communist."
This, too, the Vietnam War, was a violent vitriolic struggle. Even the Brits, who
for the most part simply gave up, had a struggle in Kenya against the Mau Mau
guerilla fighter for freedom (Uhuru). 100 Europeans and 1700 Africans lost their
lives convincing the British in 1959 to promise independence. Many other
examples…
III.
How Propaganda?—Part of the title of today's lecture is "the politics of propaganda."
You may ask yourself how could people striving for their own nation to be free from
others be "propagandists"? We generally think of propaganda in very negative terms,
but what would you say if I told you that the DofI was a piece of propaganda? In order to
understand why I chose this title, we need to understand, again, the definition of the
word being used.
A. Propaganda defined-is simply this: "any organization or movement working for the
propagation (spread) of particular ideas, doctrines, practices, etc." But, just so we
know that there is a negative definition, the dictionary also has this to offer: "any
systematic, widespread, deliberate indoctrination or plan for such indoctrination; now
often used in a derogatory sense, connoting deception or distortion." I think we can
thank the Cold War for the last definition, because this kind of information (or
misinformation as it was popularly called) was crucial to convincing Americans (and
Soviets) that their "ideas" were right or wrong. I would argue that propaganda is
merely a means of argument, of getting people to side with your point of view.
Certainly, if we look at the Declaration of Independence this way, we can understand
better the types of appeals being made. There are logical appeals (logos),
passionate, emotional appeals (pathos), appeals to the authority of the speaker
(ethos), all designed to SWAY THE AUDIENCE TO A PARTICULAR POINT OF
VIEW. As you read the documents, and when you watch the video, please pay
special attention to the argument being made and what kinds of appeals these
writers/authors/leaders/scholars make to their audience.
B. Rise of access—Remember I talked about Social Commentary having a formative
moment after WWI because of the new media (radio, film and then TV, rise of the
print culture, etc)? Well, we can examine these same types of phenomena
1. world shrinking—with the world shrinking because of increased access to this
new media, it is easier to associate oneself with a larger community than merely
the local. Historian Benedict Anderson coined this association with people you
will never meet, places you will never see, "Imagined communities." You have
something other than merely locale connecting you to your "nation."
2. associating w/ large community—you begin to associate yourself with a larger
community, defined by culture and customs and political ideology.
3. unified language—there is also a myth that your nation is unified linguistically.
However, very few countries actually have only one language or one ethnicity.
According to Nikki van der Gaag, less than 10% of all states in the UN consist
mainly of one ethnic group. Most are polyethnic." She then provides the
example of Cameroon, which has 124 languages and dialects, 4 different
religions and over 200 separate tribal groupings. There are other countries in
which there are two or three primary ethnic/language groups which fight for
control. Nigeria has three main language groups, the Hausa, the Ibo and the
Yoruba. Nevertheless, despite the myth that nations can be divided into one
specific ethnic/language/religious order, especially in this ever-shrinking world,
nationalists continue to fight to separation, for determination based on precisely
these motives.
4. pledges to "help"—and they are often fueled in their desires from pledges to help,
from both inside and outside their areas.
IV.
Case Study: Yugoslavia –SEE ATTACHED NOTES…
A. "Pre" History – 1918
B. Tito and Communism
C. Collaboration
D. Tito unifying ethnics
E. Death of Tito, Death of Unity
F. The Bosnian Wars
V.
How Related to Us?
A. Nationalists use the media
B. We're moving beyond confines of historical writing—to examine specific historical
events/actions. We're now learning to read the way a historian reads…to read the
world around you.
C. To understand context and audience to which they appeal. We are also going to
read the material not to condemn it outright, but to understand the logic they use to
claim national space for themselves. What is the "propaganda" at work?
Tomorrow we're watching a film entitled The Road to Nowhere about the 1st Bosnian War (19911994). Thursday we will discuss all of the material—lectures, film and nationalism readings.