“Decolonizing the Civic/Ethnic Binary”
ABSTRACT: The founding works of nationalism theory identify two overarching categories of nationalism: civic and ethnic. While the former is lauded as liberal, inclusive, and rational, the latter is derided as regressive, restrictive, and exclusionary. More recent work on nationalism has problematized these characterizations, but has largely retained the civic/ethnic binary. This article critiques the civic/ethnic binary from the perspective of postcolonial theory. Drawing on de Sousa Santos’s abyssal line and Fanon’s zones of being and non-being, the article argues that the relationship between metropolis and empire is foundational to the relationship between civic and ethnic nationalism. Yet the category of civic nationalism obscures racialized patterns of exclusion within civic nations, such that the standards of inclusion within a civic nation are constructed on the basis of excluding the nation’s Others. Because civic nationalism is predicated on the creation and denial of Others, presenting civic nationalism as a global ideal is impossible. The article concludes by considering the promise of transnational social movements in the global South as an answer to both civic and ethnic nationalism.
“Proclaiming Independence: Language and National Identity in Sékou Touré's Guinea”
ABSTRACT: Language is both a means of constructing collective identity and an expression of collective identity in itself. The implications for postcolonial societies are considerable: as long as a colonial language is privileged over its indigenous counterparts in the public sphere, a country remains under the de facto control of the former coloniser. This article engages with the struggle to decolonise language in postcolonial Guinea under Sékou Touré, from 1958 to 1984. Guinea is a particularly attractive case study for several reasons: first, language was central to the nascent national culture; thus, engagement with the question of language played out consciously and publicly. Second, both the Touré government and grassroots movements were actively involved in this process, often with conflicting goals and mechanisms. Finally, Guinea’s struggle yielded mixed results, many of which can be traced to particular policies. Using Touré’s Guinea as a cautionary tale, this article considers: What is the role of language in the development of postcolonial identity? Can either a colonial or indigenous language effectively give voice to a nation’s experience of reality, or do the peculiarities of a postcolonial society necessitate the creation of something new? Ultimately, overcoming the imperialism of language requires a radically egalitarian and multilingual approach, in which language is understood to reflect the discursive experience of postcolonial reality.
“We Will Re-Member Them: Muslims in the Great War Semi-Centenary”
ABSTRACT: In August 1964, the semi-centenary of the First World War’s onset coincided with uncertainty about Britain’s future: decolonization had resulted in a diminished role in the international sphere, and migration had begun to alter the dominant ethnic and religious character of the metropolis. Britons increasingly confronted the question of what it meant to belong to the postcolonial nation. In this context, First World War commemorations served a twofold purpose: first, they revised prior representations of colonial subjects in the war, in light of contemporary realities; and second, they served as an outlet for imperial nostalgia. This article considers the relationship between race, nation, and collective memory by analyzing representations of Muslim colonial subjects in the 1964 BBC documentary, The Great War. A content analysis aims to explain how Britain’s evolving collective memory reveals its dominant national identity and, by extension, its willingness to accommodate postcolonial newcomers.
ABSTRACT: The founding works of nationalism theory identify two overarching categories of nationalism: civic and ethnic. While the former is lauded as liberal, inclusive, and rational, the latter is derided as regressive, restrictive, and exclusionary. More recent work on nationalism has problematized these characterizations, but has largely retained the civic/ethnic binary. This article critiques the civic/ethnic binary from the perspective of postcolonial theory. Drawing on de Sousa Santos’s abyssal line and Fanon’s zones of being and non-being, the article argues that the relationship between metropolis and empire is foundational to the relationship between civic and ethnic nationalism. Yet the category of civic nationalism obscures racialized patterns of exclusion within civic nations, such that the standards of inclusion within a civic nation are constructed on the basis of excluding the nation’s Others. Because civic nationalism is predicated on the creation and denial of Others, presenting civic nationalism as a global ideal is impossible. The article concludes by considering the promise of transnational social movements in the global South as an answer to both civic and ethnic nationalism.
“Proclaiming Independence: Language and National Identity in Sékou Touré's Guinea”
ABSTRACT: Language is both a means of constructing collective identity and an expression of collective identity in itself. The implications for postcolonial societies are considerable: as long as a colonial language is privileged over its indigenous counterparts in the public sphere, a country remains under the de facto control of the former coloniser. This article engages with the struggle to decolonise language in postcolonial Guinea under Sékou Touré, from 1958 to 1984. Guinea is a particularly attractive case study for several reasons: first, language was central to the nascent national culture; thus, engagement with the question of language played out consciously and publicly. Second, both the Touré government and grassroots movements were actively involved in this process, often with conflicting goals and mechanisms. Finally, Guinea’s struggle yielded mixed results, many of which can be traced to particular policies. Using Touré’s Guinea as a cautionary tale, this article considers: What is the role of language in the development of postcolonial identity? Can either a colonial or indigenous language effectively give voice to a nation’s experience of reality, or do the peculiarities of a postcolonial society necessitate the creation of something new? Ultimately, overcoming the imperialism of language requires a radically egalitarian and multilingual approach, in which language is understood to reflect the discursive experience of postcolonial reality.
“We Will Re-Member Them: Muslims in the Great War Semi-Centenary”
ABSTRACT: In August 1964, the semi-centenary of the First World War’s onset coincided with uncertainty about Britain’s future: decolonization had resulted in a diminished role in the international sphere, and migration had begun to alter the dominant ethnic and religious character of the metropolis. Britons increasingly confronted the question of what it meant to belong to the postcolonial nation. In this context, First World War commemorations served a twofold purpose: first, they revised prior representations of colonial subjects in the war, in light of contemporary realities; and second, they served as an outlet for imperial nostalgia. This article considers the relationship between race, nation, and collective memory by analyzing representations of Muslim colonial subjects in the 1964 BBC documentary, The Great War. A content analysis aims to explain how Britain’s evolving collective memory reveals its dominant national identity and, by extension, its willingness to accommodate postcolonial newcomers.
