Introduction
The post-modern world of globalisation seems to threat the nations, homogenising their cultures and erasing individual characteristics. In that sense, the case of Scotland is rather peculiar one. Firstly, Scotland is part of Britain. Secondly, Britain is part of the European Union. Finally, Scotland is part of the globalizing community. This underpins the complex situation Scotland is put in, trying to maintain its national identity in the context of British, European and global influences. Consequently, complicating the task to do so. The case study would be Edinburgh where the exploration of the evidence evidence from the field work would be put in the context of the ways in which urban space and nationalistic imaginings are used shape the structural symbolism of the Scottish national identity.
Evidence from the field work
Observations took place on the Mound, the Royal Mile, and the Scottish Parliament. These areas provided quite tensed experience in terms of symbolism, both inclusive and exclusive of certain aspects of the nation, the state, and identity. The presence of military, economic, and political institutions was dominating over the national or identity representations, yet the national symbols could have been found in all of them. The Black Watch Memorial (see Image 1) located on the Mound, which commemorates the deaths of Scottish soldiers from the Black Watch regiment during the South African War(The Anglo-Boer war of 1889-1902), was only the first of such appearances of national imaginings. The Esplanade of Edinburgh Castle had a persistent military representation. The Indian Campaign memorial reminded of the casualties in the Indian Mutiny. Along the Esplanade distinctive figures started appea...
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... lukewarm reception. Available: http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6110007. Last accessed 9th Oct 2011.
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This gentleman is six foot two, short black hair, black eyes, and with no real distinguishing marks. He is heterosexual, African American, and is An Atheist. His name is David, and he is walking home while wearing sweat pants with a ripped up t-shirt that was from home. Some people would consider this gentleman to be poor and have a horrible education with nothing good on his mind. However David is a part-time firefighter, with a part-time job, and also being part time college student. There is a difference between people hardcore supporting their culture or beliefs, compared to individuals who get stereotyped like David for example. In the article, “Sticks and Stones: The Irish Identity”, by Robert McLaim Wilson and published by Grand Street.
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The debate about British Identity has been prominently featured in recent years as a public concern. The foundation of British Identity was based on the act of union in 1801 between England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland that created Great Britain. Heath and Roberts describe this identity as “a relatively recent construct and was gradually superimposed on earlier national identities of English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish” (2008:4). The four nations were unified mainly because of the political and economic project of the British Empire that developed a shared agenda and The Second World War which melted the distinctive differences between the constituent nations (Ward, 2004). According to Colley, the interests that unified the nations do not exist and even if they do” they are less distinctive” (1992). Although there is identification with Britishness, it is noticeable that Britons hold a stronger allegiance to their primary nation. The British Identity is decreasing as many writers suggested, and this is due to many different trends and influences such as globalization, immigration and communication (Heath and Roberts, 2008). This essay highlights some of the reasons of the decline in the British national identity and the rise of the consentient nation’s sentiment. This is approached by firstly considering the internal factors of the devolution of power to Scotland and Wales, and secondly the external factor of immigration and will analyze the relationship between age and identification with a nation.