Is there such a thing as a “national culture”?
March 28th, 2006Something unrelated got me thinking about this topic again. The last time I thought about it was when I was still participating on a message board that liked to circularly complain and fight about political topics and current events. The statement that prompted this particular train of thought was certain groups of foreigners coming to "our country" (any country) and destroying the (national) culture, replacing it with their own.
I’ve heard this statement made by many different nationalities and it always comes down to a xenophobic statement of "They have a cultural identity, I don’t belong, therefore I’m threatened by it." Which is fine, but that’s not what the people making the statement acknowledge. Instead of feeling like their missing out on something, which is generally the case, they feel like something is being taken from them. Something they never actually had.
The US, for example, has a lot of different sub-cultures and a lot of tight-knit communities. However, there isn’t one specific group that defines us ALL as "Americans". i look at my friends and they all belong to different communities. Many of my friends were in a fraternity. Some belong to churches and are active to varying degrees. Some belong to the SCA. Some define themselves more by their individual friends than the groups they join, but there’s no one defining feature that ties us all together or that ties me to them. I can’t imagine a single one of them claiming that a community that they don’t belong to would somehow be tearing down their other communities?
Wouldn’t a national culture, then, define us all within the same grouping? Wouldn’t there be some similarity, some common ground that could, potentially, be torn apart in order for such a thing to exist? Even in the United States there are people who claim that certain ideas or opinions should not be held - those people can’t even agree that the First Amendment applies to every single American citizen.
I assume there must be SOME nation that has one common thread and holds some sort of national culture to it, but in my experience, it’s not an English-speaking country. From what I’ve found so far, it’s not any western nation at all. Even the eastern nations are unlikely, since China’s been having such censorship problems, it’s likely they WANT to have a national culture, but the citizens themselves don’t want to cooperate.
So riddle me this, if there’s no nation that can agree on a single aspect that defines their culture, how can such a culture be threatened by tight-knit communities created by immigrants? I’m looking for any answer that makes the sentiment that I’ve seen something other than xenophobia because I’d hate to think of some of these people (and they would deny it to their deathbed) as bigots.
Ok. I think the US wants the communities to assimilate while preserving their identity. I know it sounds like a paradox but it is possible. I think I have assimilated into the US culture while keeping my Indian identity with respect to morals and ethics. Things that are anomalous usually scare society, and foreign cultures are liminal in countries that don’t have much of indigenous diversity..
Comment by Joy � March 29, 2006 @ 1:15 am
Although I’ve done some extensive travelling through the US, I’ve really not identified a single unifying issue other than flag-worship and jingoistic nonsense.
That said, I’m Canadian, so let’s firstly dismiss the notion that this country is not nationalistic, in fact it is fiercly so. However I think it is based more on pragmatism than nonsense — there are some unifying ideals that tend to be pervasive, for instance universal public healthcare.
In terms of forgeiners, well, there is certainly some hostility, especially in rural areas, but in the urban centres (and this constitutes about 85% of the population) things are much more permissive. I grew up surrounded by natives, East Indians, Chinese, and Korean kids, and I didn’t even live in a major urban centre.
Perhaps it might have something to do with the fact that without immigration that our population would be shrinking, or that there is just less history of isolationism.
Comment by Galaxy � March 29, 2006 @ 15:50 pm
Even the flag-worshiping jingoists are not a large enough percetage to encompass even most Americans. Frankly, if there is one overpowering trait amongst US citizens, it’s probably apathy, but that does not a national culture make. There’s also a large difference between patriotism and one unifying or definine feature that encompasses a word so broad as “culture”.
These feelings that I described in my original post are not unique to Americans. In fact, the first place I started hearing it was from an Englishwoman who felt that Arabic immigrants were destroying the English culture with their communities. She never responded to the question of what defined her culture.
Unifying ideals are a wonderful thing and I hope that most nations have them, but those ideals apply just as much to immigrants as to born-citizens, so there’s no stripping of culture.
I guess it really is nothing more than xenophobia, since I still have yet to see a single example of a national culture that can be torn apart by a tight-knit community.
Comment by FyreGoddess � March 29, 2006 @ 16:24 pm
Only since I have relocated to Scotland have I really been thinking about this issue, the last six months. I have been trying to sort out what, in me, is “American” and what, in the Scottish people I have met so far, is “Scottish”. It’s almost an intangible thing…I think my so-far feeling is that being American, for me, has to do with a true sense of diversity and maverick-ness, a freedom in the mind and a real frontier mentality (this is in great part, no doubt, because in the states I live in New Mexico which is the wild west and has a lot of free thinking people there), also there is a real freedom to explore entrepreneurship in the USA. The HUGENESS of the states has come to me, here, whereas, living in the USA I never felt it was all that big. I think we could put 10 Scotlands in New Mexico! Anyway, I think most Americans really feel their strong solo individuality. Even if they are part of a family that is truly bonded and lives close to home, there is that sense of being on-your-own and that you can make your own choices and go off and do whatever you want. A lot of mobility.
Here, I feel there is more of a familial loyalty, sense of duty and a commitment to “the common good”. And maybe not all that much mobility — I live 1/2 hr from Glasgow and have actually met people in their 20s who have never gotten on the train to take the short ride to Glasgow!!!
Things feel more reined in here, and there is a stable feeling, coming from very ancient and long genetic roots. Probably living amongst VIctorian buildings with 11th century castle ruins all over the place — and still-existing 12th-16th century castles — helps me have that feeling. In the US our history is so baby new, relative to Europe…and so many of our structures have been built in my lifetime (I’m a baby boomer)…or at least in the 19th-20th century…
It’s more a feeling tone, to me, this national/cultural identity. I may log in six months from now and have a different perspective, this is my newbie perspective.
I am completely enjoying this culture, by the way, so not saying any of this as a criticism. And I have a renewed sense of appreciation for the good ol’ USA, from here.
I won’t even get into the politics, just commenting on cultural feeling/tone.
Expat Dog
Comment by Expat Dog � March 30, 2006 @ 7:38 am