Questo blog nasce con l'intento di raccogliere le esperienze di tutti quei giovani che, nonostante il periodo non favorevole sotto l'aspetto lavorativo, si impegnano con determinazione e creatività per realizzare i propri obiettivi. Perché è importante sapere che rendere reali i propri sogni è ancora possibile!

sabato 22 febbraio 2014

Lesson #4:Imagined communities

Imagined communities: that was the topic of the fourth week of Media Studies lessons. To talk about this topic is necessary to start defining the concept of “Nationalism”. “Nationalism is a belief, creed or political ideology that involves an individual identifying with, or becoming attached to, one's nation” (Wikipedia) Is important to remember that Nationalism is different from other type of attachment such as religions; nationalism is the need to belong to a community where you can share with other people the same values, passions, traditions and the belief system. There are also some symbols representing the national identity considered really important to identify with the national community, for example the national flag. In the first reading, “Imagined communities”, where analysed also the anthropological definition of nation: It is an imagined political community- and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign. It is imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the mind of each lives the image of their communion. (Imagined communities, Chapter 1). We also discussed about another essay about imagined communities, in particular the Welsh one: “Cool Cymru, rugby union and an imagined community”. In this essay is analysed the place of rugby union in contemporary Wales where the game is really important to promote the images of the nation. For centuries the Welsh nation had lived in the shadow of a much bigger neighbour and Wales had always to define itself with reference to England (Cool Cymru, rugby union and an imagined community). The perception of Wales centred upon many stereotypes such as indecipherable place names, sheep, daffodils, mining, rugby ect… However Wales has changed markedly in recent times in particular because of the emergence of popular rock music band such as Catatonia, The Stereophonics and The Manic Street Preachers, these gave Wales an increased visibility and credibility. Another important thing is the improving fortunes of the national rugby team that bring to the constructions of a new stadium in the heart of Cardiff, the capital city; this ultra modern building dominates the skyline in Cardiff. Cardiff itself was also undergoing a massive transformation in order to promote an image of a modern, vibrant nation. Anyway in Wales Rugby is a kind of substitute for nationalism, Jarvie (2003, p.539) suggests, “patriots could show an affinity for the nation on various sporting occasion without necessarily voting for nationalist parties”. Reading this essay I thought about my nation, Italy. Also my nation is victim of many stereotypes that make foreign people think that all Italians are identical. In this video there are some examples: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKC4XGGlnRI But we are used to define Italy as the nation of “100 bell tower”. The meaning is that Italians doesn’t really feels as a single community but everyone identify himself with is hometown where the bell tower is the most important monument. For this reason in Italy there are very different tradition between region and region, even the typical food is very different from one town to another. This division start in the ancient history but create many difficulties also nowadays. Because of that also in Italy the sense of community is connected to the sport, football in particular. Sport competition such as World Cup or European Cup are the only circumstances wherein we feels to be a part of the same country. In conclusion in a Weberian sense the nation has been positioned as “ a community of sentiment” (Flucher, 2000); that is constructed in the mind bring us together enabling feeling of identity, belonging and solidariety. (Cool Cymru, rugby union and an imagined community)