ABSTRACT
Along with “citizenship,” another keyword in this volume regularly and explicitly linked to youth, the idea of the “nation” is not new. This is in sharp contrast to other topics we associate with contemporary youth culture such as “downloading” or “social networking.” From “nation” stems the more politically defined “nation-state” and consequent sense of “nationhood.” The standard sociological undergraduate text, Fulcher and Scott (2003, p. 872), explains nation as “[a] people with a sense of identity, a common language and a distinct culture.” This definition is wider, then, than simply topographical but, at the same time, given the increasing ethnic diversity within the territorial borders of modern countries in the era of globalization, it seems strangely narrow to presume cultural and linguistic uniformity. This essay will use two case studies, Britpop in the United Kingdom in the late 1990s and French hip hop, to look at how the “nation” has been almost rewritten by these twin musically based youth cultural forms through performativity at the turn of the century. These are powerful examples of how difference underscores the modern nation.
