Showing papers in "Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism in 2008"
TL;DR: The authors discusses the recent development of banal forms of nationalism in contemporary Japan by examining a multitude of discourses on food produced by the national government as well as civil organisations working for food safety.
Abstract: The article discusses the recent development of banal forms of nationalism in contemporary Japan by examining a multitude of discourses on food produced by the national government as well as civil organisations working for food safety. Despite the intrinsically hybrid nature marked by the historical trajectory of Japanese food culture, these discourses tend to emphasise and propagate the Japanese element and, in so doing, firmly locate Japanese food as the core of ‘Japaneseness’. In this sense, contemporary food discourse in Japan functions as a powerful biopolitical device by propagating the notion of ‘delicious food in a beautiful country’ on which Japanese people are expected to organise their everyday lives.
61 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that these events should not be simply dismissed as sudden outbursts of patriotic emotion but instead can be used to extend Billig's work on Banal Nationalism by analysing in more detail the relationship between the banal and the ecstatic.
Abstract: This paper focuses on public events that celebrate the nation and how they may offer important insights into the study of wider discourses of (national) identity and belonging. Drawing on theories from both anthropology and media studies, it argues that these events should not be simply dismissed as sudden outbursts of patriotic emotion but instead can be used to extend Billig's work on Banal Nationalism (1995) by analysing in more detail the relationship between the banal and the ecstatic. This approach to the study of such events will also echo the calls of those who have argued that we need to move beyond the functionalism of a Durkheimian position (Couldry 2003). This conceptual framework will then be used to provide a definition of what I have tentatively labelled ‘ecstatic nationalism’. In the final section, Sassen's (2000) concept of the ‘strategic lens’ will be used to illustrate how such events may offer a significant opportunity for studying the complex subject of national identity during relatively bounded and liminal moments in an era that has been widely characterised as ‘globalising’ (Featherstone 1990).
41 citations
TL;DR: The authors proposes a re-conceptualisation of nation-building projects along the continuum of their relative inclusiveness/exclusiveness, both internally (who shapes the 'idea of nation') and externally (the boundaries of nation).
Abstract: Rwanda remains in the eastern camp of ethnic ideas and projects of a ‘nation’ inasmuch as it is dominated by cultural as opposed to civic/political elements. Although the Rwandan attempt remains exclusive internally, it does not affirm the validity of an idealised Kohnian dichotomy between ‘exclusive’ ethnic nationalism and ‘inclusive’ civic nationalism. To avoid the trap of a bi-polar and value-ladden division, while preserving the useful insights of Kohn, the paper calls for a re-conceptualisation of nation-building projects along the continuum of their relative inclusiveness/exclusiveness, both internally (who shapes the ‘idea of nation’) and externally (the boundaries of nation).
25 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present evidence of migrants' strong tendency to congregate in urban settlements that become collective modes of reference and explore the role of such translocalities in the construction of new narratives of identification and belonging.
Abstract: This article analyses narratives of nation and belonging developed by transnational migrants who are characterised as maintaining strong ties across the countries of origin and of immigration. Most literature on the issue suggests that transnational migrants develop new forms of deterritorialised belonging, recognising themselves in imagined communities and nations unbound. Against such an interpretation, this article argues that certain cities still play an important role in the process of nation-making. Drawing from the example of the Senegalese diaspora in Italy, I shall present evidence of migrants' strong tendency to congregate in urban settlements that become collective modes of reference, or translocalities. The article then explores the role of such translocalities in the construction, among migrants, of new narratives of identification and belonging.
24 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a coherent and convincing narrative about the political processes whereby the Helleno-Christian ideology attained a hegemonic status in Greek political culture, and account for the present eminence of this prominent type of Greek nationalism, by "blending" the theoretical frameworks of ethno-symbolism and discourse theory.
Abstract: This paper is a contribution to the analysis of Helleno-Christian nationalism in Greece. It seeks to investigate the reasons for the politicization of religion and the Church, to account for the production, development and propagation of religious nationalism and the sacralisation of politics in this country, and explain the paradoxical way in which the Greek Church was constructed as a nationalist political and cultural institution, while its canonical tradition, the Gospel, and its Byzantine past were inherently ecumenical in character. The aim of the article is to offer a coherent and convincing narrative about the political processes whereby the Helleno-Christian ideology attained a hegemonic status in Greek political culture, and account for the present eminence of this prominent type of Greek nationalism, by ‘blending’ the theoretical frameworks of ethno-symbolism and discourse theory.
21 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider the representation of the last war in Bosnia-Herzegovina (1992-1995) in the history textbooks of the Republic of Srpska (Serb Republic), one of the entities in the country.
Abstract: The article considers the problem of the representation of the last war in Bosnia-Herzegovina (1992–1995) in the history textbooks of the Republic of Srpska (Serb Republic)-one of the entities in the country.* The analysed textbooks are deliberately used as one of the most important instruments for the formation of national identity. Scholars generally agree that history lessons are in fact lessons in patriotism and that nation-states use history to form the national identity of students and guarantee loyalty to the nation and state. While contemporary Bosnia-Herzegovina supports this view, it must simultaneously be seen as a slightly peculiar case. The textbooks used in Bosnia-Herzegovina promote separate, exclusive national identities: the Bosniac, Croatian and Serbian. This to a large extent explains why we are not witnessing the formation of a unified nation-state, but its slow disintegration. The existence of Bosnia-Herzegovinian culture and identity is intentionally neglected and denied. Serbian narratives about the war clearly show that strong aspiration for unification with the neighbouring Serbia still exists. This idea has proved to be dangerous in the past and might lead to a new tragic episode in Bosnia-Herzegovinian history.
20 citations
TL;DR: The authors discusses how the Singapore government attempted to (re)imagine the Muslim identity in Singapore based on the crisis of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) arrests in 2002 and argues that the government sought to resolve and manage the crisis using the combined apparatuses of the mass media, education and administrative regulations.
Abstract: This paper discusses how the Singapore government attempted to (re)imagine the Muslim identity in Singapore based on the crisis of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) arrests in 2002. The paper argues that the government sought to resolve and manage the crisis using the combined apparatuses of the mass media, education and administrative regulations. The paper further analyses the constraints and challenges faced by the government in the process of (re)constructing and sustaining the Singapore Muslim identity. The attempt by the Singapore government provides a useful example of how the government of a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-lingual country has responded to internal terrorist threats by (re)imagining the Muslim identity, and the problems and controversies such a (re)imaging process generates.
19 citations
TL;DR: Wei et al. as discussed by the authors examined the controversy surrounding a Chinese Malaysian student's use of the Malaysian anthem in a rap song criticising the corruption of Malaysia and its marginalisation of the ethnic Chinese.
Abstract: This article examines the controversy surrounding a Chinese Malaysian student's use of the Malaysian anthem in a rap song criticising the corruption of Malaysia and its marginalisation of the ethnic Chinese. Race and religion have been crucial in the imagining of and contestations over the Malaysian nation. They became taboo subjects in the public sphere after the 13 May racial riots in 1969. Language, education, and the mass media became important fields of contestation between the Chinese communities and the Malay-dominant government. With the growing state control of traditional public media such as television, radio, and newspapers, the internet thus became an important space for the stifled public sphere. Concomitantly, dissatisfaction with the dominant party coalition has led increasingly to the growth of a multi-ethnic opposition that encompasses the different ethnic groups. Wee's songs and the political backlash resulting from the government's attempts to suppress it exemplify the convergence of these forces. They also tell us something about the ways in which ethnicity, diaspora, and nationalism intertwine in the imaginings and world-view of a Chinese Malaysian student who felt himself displaced by the national education system. Taiwan, an important cultural and political node in the Chinese overseas imagination, constituted escape, opportunity and an important cultural and political influence but he remains oriented towards his homeland. His songs show how his identity is framed within the local (Muar), the ethnic (vis-a-vis the Malays on the one hand and the other Chinese linguistic communities on the other) and the nation (Malaysia and vis-a-vis Singapore).
16 citations
Abstract: The present article endeavours to analyse the use and scope of Western positivistic legal tools in the creation of the Nepali nation It suggests a two-level analysis First, a historical analysis of Nepal's political and legal developments is presented to investigate the rationale of using law as a social engineering and homogenising tool promoting an identifiably Nepali national identity Second, the article focuses on the current debates concerning constitutional change in Nepal The debates about the demise of the 1990 Constitution in 2007, and the election of a Constituent Assembly need to be investigated in the light of the growing politicisation of ethnicity in the country The overarching demand for inclusion stems from the discontent of Nepal's ethno-linguistic, religious, and regional minorities with their historical subordination Ultimately, the article aims to demonstrate that the Nepali experience is situated somewhere between the civic and ethnic models of nationalism Kohn enunciated
14 citations
13 citations
TL;DR: This article explored the role of alpine skiing in Slovenian culture and society by focusing on the construction and maintenance of a sporting national story and found that the media perpetuated the myth of skiing as the Slovenian national sport and as an autochthonous Slovenian sporting practice.
Abstract: This paper explores the role of alpine skiing in Slovenian culture and society by focusing on the construction and maintenance of a sporting national story. The research, which is based on discourse analysis and the ethnographic method, suggests that in Slovenia, alpine skiing, with its natural sceneries, amateurish background, sporting events, media attention and national heroes, is one of the main sports arenas in which the Slovenian nation-imagining, nationalism and national identity have been exercised throughout the twentieth century. The national importance of alpine skiing was further confirmed after Slovenia's secession from Yugoslavia. The findings also suggest that the media, especially television, perpetuated the myth of skiing as the Slovenian national sport and as an autochthonous Slovenian sporting practice.
TL;DR: The authors argue that the conceptualisation of "heritage" and "multiculturalism" are produced through the representation of racialised difference in national narratives and that taken together, the two discourses act as a highly flexible form of governmentality.
Abstract: Notions of national heritage and identity are complicated in Canada, a settler nation with its central characteristic presented as institutionalised multiculturalism. Popular and official discourses of heritage and multiculturalism work together to produce ideas of Canadian-ness. The twin objectives of this paper are to describe how representations of racial difference are used as a resource to produce notions of official multiculturalism and a ‘heritage of multiculturalism’ discourse — or how notions of multiculturalism emerge as an integral part of national culture/heritage/identity. I argue that the conceptualisation of ‘heritage’ and ‘multiculturalism’ are produced through the representation of racialised difference in national narratives and that taken together, the two discourses act as a highly flexible form of governmentality.
TL;DR: It is concluded that China's nationalism plays an inhibiting role in China's attempts to further incorporate herself into the architecture of global health governance in the long run.
Abstract: This paper seeks to understand the role of nationalism in China's policy towards the combat of emerging infectious diseases. By locating nationalism as a factor which facilitates or impedes global governance and international collaboration, this paper explores how nationalism influences China's political decision-making. Given her historical experience, China has in its national psyche an impulse never to become 'the sick man of the East' again. Today, China's willingness to co-operate with international bodies emanates out of reputational concerns rather than technical-medical considerations. This was clearly manifested in her handling of two epidemics in recent years: the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and HIV/AIDS episodes. This paper concludes that China's nationalism plays an inhibiting role in China's attempts to further incorporate herself into the architecture of global health governance in the long run.
TL;DR: It is argued that notions of individual responsibility in HIV/AIDS risk management often become inseparable from notions of racial, ethnic and immigrant identity.
Abstract: Using the scholarship on transnationalism and citizenship, this paper examines the politics of difference in HIV/AIDS prevention programmes in the United States and their impact on Haitian migrants and immigrants. It finds that there is a tremendous amount of complex movement of knowledge production and expertise among various constituents who work in the field of HIV/AIDS, and these individuals circulate ideas and technologies of HIV/AIDS across different fields in multiple ways. Through these circulations, information about HIV/AIDS becomes entangled in the debates about relevant knowledge bases, and as a result, questions over culture and modernity. This paper traces how such discourses become framed under the rubric of risk and difference and operate at the level of situated experience. Through ethnographic fieldwork observations and interviews, this paper argues that notions of individual responsibility in HIV/AIDS risk management often become inseparable from notions of racial, ethnic and immigrant identity.
TL;DR: The field of study that comprises nations and nationalism is often seen as riven by a conflict between "modernists" and their opponents as mentioned in this paper, but the field is far more fragmented than such a characterisation suggests.
Abstract: The field of study that comprises nations and nationalism is often seen as riven by a conflict between ‘modernists’ and their opponents. In fact, the field is far more fragmented than such a characterisation suggests. From the very first normative critical essays 150 years ago, it has been composed of shifting landscapes in which different approaches and perspectives overlap and cross-cut each other like intersecting monologues. While there was a short period of engagement in the 1980s, a ‘classic debate’ between modernists, perennialists and ethno-symbolists who embraced a macro-analytic framework and a causal-historical methodology, the familiar landscape has radically shifted to reveal a series of deconstructionist strategies and techniques; and while rational choice theories, among others, continue to embrace causal-historical analysis, there has been a rejection in many quarters of both macro-analytic narratives and causal-historical analysis. The new anti-essentialist strategies include feminist critiques, the study of everyday nationhood, the hybridisation of national identities, and debates about the ‘ethics of nationalism’ which echo earlier critiques. Above all, there is a new concern with the application of globalising trends to nations and nationalism, and especially with the role of nations without states, and the impact of supranationalism, large-scale migration and ‘religious nationalisms’.
TL;DR: This article explored the historical changes in the national identity of the Korean minority in China from the period of Japanese colonial invasion through to the present and pointed out that the minority's identity has been created and re-created by political identity-formation, and its imagination of ethnicity has been transformed through this political process.
Abstract: This article explores the historical changes in the national identity of the Korean minority in China from the period of Japanese colonial invasion through to the present. Existing studies have taken an ethno-cultural approach to the Korean minority's dual identity, but they have ignored the importance of political identity-formation which creates, re-creates, and transforms national identity. The Korean minority's national identity has been determined by political and economic factors rather than ethnic and cultural backgrounds. In this regard, the Korean minority's double-minded self-understanding of its own nationhood has shifted from an ethnicity-centred dual identity to a nationality-centred dual identity. This article notes that the Korean minority's national identity has been created and re-created by political identity-formation, and its imagination of ethnicity has been transformed through this political process.
TL;DR: This article argued that the more mythic and remote the history teaching past, the greater the likelihood that children would identify with nation and empire, and the more likely they would be to identify with the British Empire.
Abstract: Historians who have sought to measure the domestic impact of British imperialism have positioned late nineteenth-century History teaching as central to the promotion of imperial propaganda. The English, many have argued, were instructed in British imperialism and its attendant values via a carefully prescribed History curriculum. There are, however, a number of significant issues omitted in this formulation. Teaching resources were not the lavish History textbooks which frequent many past studies of History teaching, but inexpensive mass-produced literacy primers. Educationists of the time, the views of whom constitute the predominant source-base for this essay, had clearly defined ideas of how these historical stories could be used to promote a sense of Englishness, especially amongst the children of the working class. Their emphasis on the narrative structure of storytelling aimed to mobilise the emotions and concentrated more on the medieval than the modern, in the belief that the more mythic and remote the taught past, the greater the likelihood that children would identify with nation and empire.
TL;DR: In contrast to other questions related to nationalism (for example, is nationalism more a pre-modern or modern phenomenon? Is it more of a political or ethno-cultural nature?), relatively little attention has been devoted to the question of whether nationalism is more rational or irrational as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: In comparison to other questions related to nationalism (for example, is nationalism more a pre-modern or modern phenomenon? Is it more of a political or ethno-cultural nature?), relatively little attention has been devoted to the question of whether nationalism is more rational or irrational. Weber's definition of instrumentally rational and value-rational action has been used in this analysis to determine to what extent nationalism is rational or irrational. The analysis has focused mainly on those concepts of nationalism and those phenomena associated with nationalism that are predominantly irrational or extra-rational. Some psychological and anthropological constants constitute the irrational (extra-rational) side of nationalism. Nationalism as a Janus-faced phenomenon comprises the irrational (extra-rational) and the rational. The rational and irrational overlap quite profoundly in numerous manifestations of nationalist behaviour.
TL;DR: The Danish cartoon controversy raised questions about the inclusiveness of Western European civic nationalism as mentioned in this paper, highlighting a harsh, exclusivist brand of Danish civic nationalism that cast Muslim migrants as outsiders.
Abstract: The Danish cartoon controversy raises questions about the inclusiveness of Western European civic nationalism. The controversy highlighted a harsh, exclusivist brand of Danish civic nationalism that cast Muslim migrants as outsiders. The controversy also saw a broader group of cartoon supporters from across Europe fault Muslims for failing to respect liberal traditions of freedom of speech and secularism, traditions now explicitly labeled ‘European’. However, others pushed the debate in a more open direction by defending the Jyllands Posten's freedom of expression in ethnically neutral terms and explicitly challenging the contrast between an enlightened Europe and an intolerant Muslim other.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyse the symbols and language employed in official statements on two cases of ethnic minority unrest in Iran in 2005-6, and show how the Islamic Republic's ideologues and leaders are responding to threats against national security and to alternative definitions of identity.
Abstract: By analysing the symbols and language employed in official statements on two cases of ethnic minority unrest in Iran in 2005–6, the article shows how the Islamic Republic's ideologues and leaders are responding to threats against national security and to alternative definitions of identity. In this emerging discourse, religious and secular notions of patriotism and loyalty are interwoven and an Islamist/nationalist conceptualisation of Iranian nationhood is defended. This interesting process of paradoxical dynamics is an important part of the ongoing struggle to define the identity of Iran in a region boiling with political and cultural conflicts.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the position of one ethnic minority, Travellers, in a liberal democracy, Ireland, and explore how participation is more easily proclaimed than practised.
Abstract: The idea of participation is becoming increasingly important in international human rights law and recent political and constitutional theory. There is an emerging international law right of minorities to participate in public life. There are many problems though with putting this right into practice. It is not enough to offer formal opportunities for representation or even to facilitate more participatory processes. This article explores how participation is more easily proclaimed than practised by examining the position of one ethnic minority, Travellers, in a liberal democracy, Ireland. While there are many formal opportunities for participation, these do not necessarily result in effective participation on a basis of equality, and may still result in decisions which fail to consider the Traveller culture and identity. Travellers still suffer from an imbalance of power in these arrangements. There are hopeful avenues to pursue in improving participation, the role of civil society and the use of a dialogue between non-governmental organisations and international organisations to put pressure on a national government, including special representation to offset the disadvantages of traditional representative democracy and emphasising the role of special parliamentary bodies; and the need to address the politics of recognition so as to strengthen the hand of disadvantaged groups such as Travellers.
TL;DR: This paper argued that culture played a fundamental role in the definition and modus vivendi of the French civic republic in France, through a form of cultural nationalism implemented by the state.
Abstract: This article discusses Hans Kohn's argument that civic nations pay little attention to cultural claims in their definition and practice of citizenship, by looking at the political system in France and its relation to culture. Contrary to Kohn's analysis, culture has played – and still plays – a fundamental role in the definition and modus vivendi of the civic republic in France, through a form of cultural nationalism implemented by the state. It is also argued that the opposition between civic and ethno-cultural nations can be misguided. Indeed the French civic nation can be conceived of as ‘cultural’ while rejecting ethnicity in its definition of citizenship. This calls for the redefinition of Kohn's dichotomy and mismatch between culture and ethnicity.
TL;DR: In this article, a traditional tribal leader emerges as the focus of the first documented discourse in Kirghiz on an explicitly nationalist theme using the genre frameworks of traditional epic and expository poetry to express fresh concepts of ethnic difference with a nationalist bias.
Abstract: Modernist native elites had a very tenuous existence in prerevolutionary Kirghiz society, so the development of Kirghiz national consciousness (if any) before 1917 has been debatable. Tribal chieftains (manaps), though politically and economically reduced under Russian rule, still held pre-eminent positions in society and were favoured with dedications of original literary works. One such manuscript dedicated to the manap, Shabdan, uses the genre frameworks of traditional epic and expository poetry to express fresh concepts of ethnic difference with a nationalist bias. Thus a traditional tribal leader emerges as the focus of the first documented discourse in Kirghiz on an explicitly nationalist theme.
TL;DR: In Montreal, racial, caste, socioeconomic, and gender inequalities are often masked as neutral-seeming linguistic differences of dialect, register, and accent as mentioned in this paper, and these sociolinguistic hierarchies are upheld by intersecting language ideologies, or essentialised beliefs about language use and ethnic identity.
Abstract: In Montreal, racial, caste, socioeconomic, and gender inequalities are often masked as neutral-seeming linguistic differences of dialect, register, and accent. These sociolinguistic hierarchies are upheld by intersecting language ideologies, or essentialised beliefs about language use and ethnic identity. Quebec nationalist and multicultural policies endorse language ideologies of linguistic purity and sociolinguistic compartmentalisation to depict a cohesive nation while maintaining its racial and ethnic distinctions. Similarly, Montreal Tamil diaspora leaders encourage different Tamil-speaking groups to participate in sociolinguistically segregated domains to preserve purist linguistic standards and maintain socioeconomic, caste, and gender distinctions. Heritage language programmes reproduce these language-based distinctions for differentiating between types of Quebecois citizens, while Montreal Tamil youth selectively challenge or endorse such prescriptions to produce a range of social identities and linguistic practices that correspond to their experiences as ethnic and racial minorities.
TL;DR: Using Kohn's classic distinction between the Western, political, or civic model of nationalism, and the Eastern, genealogical, or ethnic model, the authors analyzed the process of nationalism during perhaps the most contentious border dispute in South American history.
Abstract: Using Hans Kohn's classic distinction between the Western, political, or civic model of nationalism, and the Eastern, genealogical, or ethnic model, this article analyses the process of nationalism during perhaps the most contentious border dispute in South American history: the Peruvian–Chilean frontier after the War of the Pacific (1879–1883). This article argues that while Kohn's modular dichotomy remains analytically useful in isolating the principles arbitrarily used by Chilean and Peruvian political elites in their official national projects, it underestimates the ways in which various sectors of local society responded to, rejected, or renegotiated these projects.
TL;DR: The recent electoral gains of extreme right parties in many countries of Europe have made European citizens realise that the extreme right is not to be regarded exclusively as a fringe phenomenon but as a force that can penetrate mainstream democratic politics as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The recent electoral gains of extreme right parties in many countries of Europe have made European citizens realise that the extreme right is not to be regarded exclusively as a fringe phenomenon but as a force that can penetrate mainstream democratic politics. The resilience and occasional rise of the radical right poses a serious challenge for social scientists and policy makers. Social scientists are called upon to examine the nature of the phenomenon, the factors conducive to the existence and resilience of the forces of extremism and the impact of far right political mobilisation within national societies and Europe, at large. Governments and policy makers for their part explore ways to marginalise these forces in order to sustain, in Western Europe- and consolidate, in Eastern Europe, democracy in the continent. But while there is ample analysis of the West European experience, there is an inadequate understanding of the conditions and circumstances that breed extreme right forces in Eastern Europe. In what follows, the paper will attempt to address the academic debate on the causes and nature of the contemporary East European extreme right. It will assess the relevance of a western oriented approach in the East European context. The article mostly refers to extremism in countries like Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania. These countries are, by and large, functioning democracies, where extreme right parties compete in elections and in some of them are quite influential. All of these countries are applying to become members of the European Union, and this membership is subject to strict political criteria, requiring democratic principles, the rule of law and respect for human rights.
TL;DR: This article argued that success of separatist movements depends on the conditions in which elites appeal for autonomy and that cultural differences, economic incentives, security, concentrated minority settlement patterns, and favorable domestic institutions are necessary for a viable separatist movement.
Abstract: Why has Australia not produced a viable separatist movement? This non-event is all the more striking compared to the separatism experienced by the United Kingdom, United States, and Canada, among others. Individually or combined, the major paradigms cannot explain separatism or its absence. This paper advances an elite persuasion argument and contends that success of separatist movements depends on the conditions in which elites appeal for autonomy. Specifically, five conditions are necessary for a viable separatist movement: 1) cultural differences, 2) economic incentives, 3) security, 4) concentrated minority settlement patterns, and 5) favourable domestic institutions. The analysis focuses on a comparison between Australia and Canada, but has implications for other separatist and potentially separatist areas.
TL;DR: The Jihad Museum in Herat as discussed by the authors was constructed by the warlord Ismael Khan and is an institution of power that acts on many levels, such as constructing national history, preserving national memory, transmitting a certain system of values, or simply leisure.
Abstract: This paper aims to understand the relationship between museums and the representation of the past in Afghanistan, by looking at the new Jihad Museum in Herat that was commissioned by the warlord Ismael Khan. The museum is an ‘institution of power’ as defined by Anderson (1991), a lieu de memoire according to Nora that acts on many levels, such as constructing national history, preserving national memory, transmitting a certain system of values, or simply leisure. By representing a certain vision of history, displaying artefacts in a particular manner, or using emotional language, the museum, a ‘narrative machinery’ (Bennett 1995), puts in relation the members of the same culture displayed, creates differences, and invites visitors to question their personal and collective identity. My paper presents the first results of my field research in Afghanistan and illustrates the more general debate on the formation of national identity and citizenship through cultural policies, and more specifically on the role of heritage, memory, museums and identity.