ABSTRACT

How do nations come to shape our collective imagination so profoundly? This book argues that the power of national identity and national belonging stems, in part, from the ways in which nationalism is embedded in popular culture.

Comprised of chapters covering a wide range of cases from both the Global North and Global South (including Argentina, Australia, Canada, Europe, Israel, Pakistan, and the United States), the text unpacks the connections between nationalism and film, television, music, and other facets of everyday culture. In doing so, it demonstrates that popular culture can help us understand why and how nationhood has become so deeply entrenched in modern society.

This book will be of interest to scholars of political science, nationalism, sociology, history, media studies, and cultural studies.

part I|42 pages

Geopolitics

chapter 2|17 pages

Donut Nation

Tim Hortons and Canadian identity

chapter 3|23 pages

Völkisch vibes

Neofolk, place, politics, and pan-European nationalism

part II|54 pages

Membership

chapter 5|17 pages

The burka and beyond

Burka Avenger, Muslim women, and Pakistani national identity

chapter 6|17 pages

Triple j’s Hottest 100

Australia’s largest music democracy?

part III|38 pages

Flows

chapter 7|18 pages

Transnational laughter

Reception and conservative policies of transposition. The case of The Nanny and Married with Children

part IV|21 pages

Contestation

chapter 9|19 pages

“Nothing here is what it seems”

Firefly, anti-statism, and American national identity