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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.