National myth

A national myth is an inspiring narrative or anecdote about a nation's past. Such myths often serve as an important national symbol and affirm a set of national values. A national myth may sometimes take the form of a national epic. A considerable amount of related material is at civil religion.

A national myth may be a legend or fictionalized narrative, which has been elevated to serious mythological, symbolical and esteemed level so as to be true to the nation (Renan 1882). It might simply over-dramatize true incidents, omit important historical details, or add details for which there is no evidence; or it might simply be a fictional story that no one takes to be true literally (see Abizadeh 2004), but contains a symbolic meaning for the nation. The national folklore of many nations includes a founding myth, which may involve a struggle against colonialism or a war of independence. In some cases, the meaning of the national myth may become disputed among different parts of the population.

In some places, the national myth may be spiritual in tone and refer to stories of the nation's founding at the hands of God, the gods, leaders favored by gods, and other supernatural beings.

National myths serve many social and political purposes. In totalitarian dictatorships, national myths often exist only for the purpose of state-sponsored propaganda. The leader might be given, for example, a mythical supernatural life history in order to make him or her seem god-like and supra-powerful (see also cult of personality). However, national myths exist in every society. In liberal regimes they can serve the purpose of inspiring civic virtue and self-sacrifice (see Miller 1995), or of shoring up the power of dominant groups and legitimizing their rule.

Background

The National myths (sometimes referred to as Nationalistic myths or Nationalist myths) are myths created and propagated by national intellectuals who use them as instrument of political mobilization on the basis of ethnicity.

Social background

The concept of national identity is inescapably connected with myths. Complex of myths are the core of ethnic identity. Some scholars believe that national identities (equipped with invented histories) were constructed only after national movements and national ideologies emerged first.

All modern national identities were preceded by nationalist movements. Although the term "nation" was used in the Middle Ages, it had totally different meaning than in the age of nationalism, where it was linked to the efforts aimed to creation of the nation-states.

Psychological background

Besides their social background, nationalist myths have also a psychological explanation which is connected with nationalist myth of stable homeland community. The complexity of relations with the modern external world and incoherence of the inner psychological world can result with anxiety which is reduced by static self-labelling and self-construction and gaining an imaginary emotion of stability.

Primary myths

Two nationalism's primary myths are connected with beliefs in:

1. community's permanence (the myth of the eternal nation), based on its national character, territory and institutions and on its continuity across many generations, and
2. community's common ancestry (myth of the common ancestry).

The nationalist myths portray the nation like sleeping and waiting to be awakened, but scholarly discourse avoid such image because national identity either exists or not and can not be asleep and awakened.

Consequences

Nationalist myths sometimes have a tendency to stimulate conflicts between the nations, to magnify distinctive characteristics of the national group and to overstate the threat to the nation posed by other groups propagating militant fulfilment of the their goals.

See also

• Political myth
• Civil religion
• List of world folk-epics
• Mythomoteur
• Founding myth
• Nationalism and ancient history
• Ernst Renan
• What is a Nation?
• National mysticism

Further reading

• Renan, Ernest (1882). Qu'est-ce qu'une nation?. 
• Birch, Anthony (1989) Nationalism and national integration London ; Boston: Unwin Hyman ISBN 978-0-04-320181-7 OCLC 18684137 
• J Hobsbawm, Eric (1990) Nations and nationalism since 1780 : programme, myth, reality Cambridge [England] ; New York: Cambridge University Press ISBN 978-0-521-33507-2 OCLC 20294449 
• R O'G Anderson, Benedict (1991) Imagined communities : reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism London; New York: Verso ISBN 978-0-86091-546-1 OCLC 23356022 
• Miller, David (1995). On Nationality. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-828047-5. 
• Geoffrey Hosking,; George Schöpflin (1997) Myths and nationhood New York: Routledge in association with the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London ISBN 978-0-415-91973-9 OCLC 38110006 
• Cameron, Keith (1999) National identity Exeter, England: Intellect ISBN 978-1-871516-05-0 OCLC 40798482 
• Gutiérrez, Natividad (1999) Nationalist myths and ethnic identities : indigenous intellectuals and the Mexican state Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press ISBN 978-0-585-31059-6 OCLC 45731495 
• J. Kaufman, Stuart (2001) Modern hatreds : the symbolic politics of ethnic war New York: Cornell University Press ISBN 978-0-8014-8736-1 OCLC 46590030 
• J. Geary, Patrick (2002) The myth of nations: the medieval origins of Europe Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press ISBN 0-691-11481-1 OCLC 47182376 
• Abizadeh, Arash (2004). "Historical Truth, National Myths, and Liberal Democracy". Journal of Political Philosophy 12 (3): 291–313. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9760.2004.00201.x.