Imagining and Building a Nation

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Identity

Social practice

Class

Race and Gender

Constructivist approaches

National

Ethnic

Racial

Contingent cultural creations

Benedict Anderson

Courtesy of: www.culcom.uio.no/english/news/2005/anderson.html

Courtesy of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CentralAvenueCornell2.jpg

Imagined Community

NATION

Print publishing

PRINT CAPITALISM

Standardized language

Common print language

Anderson places the conception of ‘nation’ at the emergence of print publishing.

Courtesy of: http://picturelibrary.wordpress.com/2008/05/15/visual-literacy/

Common print language

The primary catalyst for transforming religious language, dynastic organization, and time

consciousness

willingness to die for their nation, rather than for an abstract ideology

Courtesy of: http://www.heymancenter.org/ImageStorage/Img--00000263.jpg

How do we imagine a nation?

Nationalism encourages good behaviour...

http://evolutionengineered.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/2010-olympic-gold-women.jpg

http://nform.ca/blog/2010/03/olympics-2010-and-user-experie-1

Imagined Communitie

s…

the work has been strongly criticized

http://umanitoba.academia.edu/RadhikaDesai

Radhika Desai,

Professor of Political Studies at the University of Manitoba

Neo-liberalism and its derivatives

smoothed the path away

from the rich traditions of theorizing politics,

political economy and history,

not to mention culture

Enriq Castelló, Researcher at the Public University of Tarragona, Catalonia

Nation-building

Role of fictional

television

Courtesy of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Universitat_Rovira_i_Virgili.jpg

Courtesy of: http://wwwa.urv.cat/noticies/diari_digital/cgi/principal.pl?fitxer=noticies/noticia006965.htm

Castelló’s Constructivist Model

decentralization of certain state competences, is essential to the current resurgence of western stateless nations.

Castelló sees television as the primary link that people have to society at large

Courtesy of: http://www.tvgasm.com/shows/images/ageoflove/season1/television.gif

WHICH mechanisms define the nation

WHY fiction, as a text, is especially important

HOW organizational and political power work

Signifiers of nation to enhance a view of nationhood

http://www.insidesocal.com/tv/Television%207.jpg

Strong localized tradition

To enhance independence

Rather than succumb to American media dominance

Nation building – 4 main ways

Localization and territory

Language

Cultural representation

Historical references

National realities

Repetition of narratives and cultural symbolism

in television fiction is a powerful generator of

national realities

Localization and Territory

In television shows,

territory is

represented

through title

presentations, via

transitional shots

between scenes, in

outdoor scenes,

and in characters.

Courtesy of: http://thefilmjunkiespopcultureblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/canadian-famous.html

Language issues and uses

Many nations use fictional

television drama as a

way to revitalize national

interest in lesser-used languages

Cultural Representations and Social Values

Social values

and

community

reaction to

daily struggle

is entrenched

in traditional

social values

Historical Issues

Traditional historical holidays

incorporated into fictional programming

to give context and placement to characters and settings.

National Culture

ORDINARY NORMAL

What makes the national identity banal?

What does ‘Canada’ signify?

Television fiction is a

cultural product that

is created and

consumed as a routine.

Can a ‘fiction’ a thousand times

repeated be understood as a

‘fact’?

Homi Bhabha

nationality as a cultural construct

power relations crucial

Who is legitimated to tell the

nation’s story we have to understand who tells the story, and how the story is told

Priya Jha, Christopher Gittings, and

Hyangjin Lee

Jha - Production discourses

Bollywood cinema

“consolidated national

identity”

the contestation

of nationalism and gender.

Ideological and Representational Dimension

while the narrative appeared to hold place for women

the melodrama of the song space erased women from the social order

Narrative

SpectatorSong

Discover how the CINEMATIC EXCESS of film may direct the spectator to read

films as OPPOSITIONAL cultural practices.

Gittings – trajectory of the Mountie

Literary

Television

Cinematic narratives

The MOST commonly recognized signifier for CANADA

Courtesy of: http://thefilmjunkiespopcultureblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/canadian-famous.html

Lee’s study: Contemporary Korean cinema

Neo-Marxist

Poststructuralist

Postmodern Theories

Address the significance of film as an ideological apparatus

ClassAlthusserNationhoodGramsiGender IssuesFoucault

National messages are encoded in media

Power of New Media technology

RECOVERING & RESTORING Language

History

Traditions

POSITIVE BANAL NATIONALISM

National stage

Connections

‘Normalize’ and ‘Standardized’

Aboriginal People’s Television Network

Established in 1999

To express Aboriginal culture

First Nations standpoint

New means to communicate and connect with other indigenous groups

Aboriginal People’s Television Network

APTN MISSION

“To SHARE our

People’s journey,

CELEBRATE our

cultures, INSPIRE

our children and

HONOUR the

wisdom of our

Elders”

ECONOMIC IMPACT

With a 2007 operating budget

of $26.5 MILLION, and a net

income of $9.3 million,

APTN’s ECONOMIC IMPACT

on the Aboriginal production

community and related

Canadian media industry

CANNOT BE UNDERSTATED.

Storytelling traditions

Aboriginal

concepts of hope,

struggle,

wholeness,

history, healing,

relationships,

family and

traditions

Celebration of accomplishments

healing

culture

dance

sports

achievement

survival

Unity and diversity amongst Aboriginal

peoples

issues of fellow Indigenous people in

other countries

hopes, dreams and struggles

Castello’s 4 identifiers of nation building

We look at these

elements in light of

Aboriginal Peoples

Television Network

Four identifiers of nation building

Localization and Territory

Comedy series which details the life

of a blended family in a Northern Alberta town

Courtesy of: http://www.aptn.ca/series/id,39331760

Language Issues and Uses the move from

spoken language to print

the role of modern mass media allowsfor many voices, speaking a variety of languages

Voices of the Land explore the diversity and talent of independent Aboriginal documentary producers.

The children’s show, Raven’s Tales is broadcast in four

languages, English, French, Cree and Haida

Courtesy of: http://www.aptn.ca/series/id,15163730

Cultural Representation & Social Issues

CASHING IN YOUR EYE ON THE YUKON

Your Eye on the Yukon, “provides a window to Yukon First Nation culture and traditional values”

Courtesy of : http://www.aptn.ca/series/id,20720631

Cashing In is a dramatic comedy series about casino life on a fictional Aboriginal reserve in southern Manitoba.

Courtesy of: http://www.aptn.ca/series/id,29199150

Historical and institutional references

Blackfly is set in a frontier fort in colonial Canada, and

includes a mixed cast of Aboriginal, British, and Scottish

characters. http://www.aptn.ca/series/id,44605217

Nation building

is a story of representation - an autobiography

as site of contestation where diverse political versions of the nation are debated

WHO is telling the story and HOW

Nation building

A nation needs its own fiction

That is the end of our story…

Team 5

Robyn Yaredic

Marie Chatterton

Darcie Davidson

Colleen Boyle

Pam Botterill

Ryan Bartlett

Jean MacGregor

References

 References Anderson, B. (1991). Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. Retrieved from: http://www.nationalismproject.org/what.htm Actors grateful for Mixed Blessings. (2007, November 5). Edmonton Journal. Retrieved from: http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/culture/story.html?

id=fdf1a350-56fd-487d-aa73-0396ff283f49&p=1 Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. (n.d.). Factsheet. Retrieved from: http://www.aptn.ca/corporate/facts.php Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. (2007). Annual Report. Retrieved from: http://www.aptn.ca/corporate/financial.php Baltruschat, D. (2004). Television and Canada’s Aboriginal communities seeking opportunities through traditional storytelling and digital technologies. Canadian

Journal of Communication, (29) 1. Retrieved from: http://www.cjc-online.ca/index.php/journal/article/view/1403/1495 Barker, (2008). Ethnicity, Race and Nation. In Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice, 3rd ed. Sage Publications: London. Castelló, E. (2009). The nation as a political stage: A theoretical approach to television fiction and national identities. The International Communication Gazette,

(71) 4, pp. 303-320. Castelló, E. (2007). The production of television fiction and nation building. European Journal of Communication, (22) 1, pp. 49-68.  Desai, R. (2009, March 16). The inadvertence of Benedict Anderson: Engaging Imagined Communities. Asia-Pacific Journal. Retrieved from:

http://www.japanfocus.org/- Radhika-Desai/3085 Gittings, C. (1998). Imagining Canada: The singing Mountie and other commodifications of nation. Canadian Journal of Communication, (23) 4, pp. 507 – Hamilton, M. (2006). New Imaginings: The legacy of Benedict Anderson and alternative engagements in nationalism. Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, (6) 3,

pp. 73- 87. Jha, P. (2003). Lyrical Nationalism: Gender, Friendship, and Excess in the 1970’s Hindi Cinema. The Velvet Light Trap (51), pp. 43-53. Khazaleh, L. (2005). Benedict Anderson: “I like nationalism’s utopian elements”. Cultural Complexity in the New Norway. University of Oslo. Retrieved from:

http://www.culcom.uio.no/english/news/2005/anderson.html Lee, H. (2000). Contemporary Korean cinema: Identity, culture, and politics. Manchester University Press, New York. Roth, L. (2000). Bypassing of borders and building of bridges: Steps in the construction of the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network in Canada. Gazette, (62) 3-4.

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