Cultural production and nationalism
Encyclopedia
Literature, visual arts, music, and scholarship have complex relationships with ideological forces.
was an especially potent influence on all of these fields. To summarize, every established national group used cultural productions to assert and strengthen a sense of national unity and destiny; less politically consolidated groups, especially those pursuing the goal of nationhood, used them in the same ways, though often with a note of determination that makes them easier to see from our contemporary point of reference.
Natural admiration for excellence and justifiable pride in a predecessor's achievements is sometimes difficult to sort out from other intentions. Dante
was a great poet, the Societa Dantesca Italiana did great work in editing and publishing a usable and affordable text, but the Divine Comedy was certainly used by the newly unified Italian government (see History of Italy
) to encourage a more homogeneous, Tuscan-influenced dialect for the whole peninsula (see Italian language
).
More politically consolidated nations sponsored historical research projects which produced results of permanent value - such as the Monumenta Germaniae Historica
("Monuments of German History") project. The MGH is a vast series (it runs to hundreds of volumes and is still publishing) of edited primary source material essential for scholarly work on late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. However, the term "German" in the title was interpreted in the broadest possible sense, and its initial royal patronage made the connection clear between a perceived unity of Germanness in history and 19th century Germanness.
The 19th Century
In the 19th century nationalismNationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
was an especially potent influence on all of these fields. To summarize, every established national group used cultural productions to assert and strengthen a sense of national unity and destiny; less politically consolidated groups, especially those pursuing the goal of nationhood, used them in the same ways, though often with a note of determination that makes them easier to see from our contemporary point of reference.
Natural admiration for excellence and justifiable pride in a predecessor's achievements is sometimes difficult to sort out from other intentions. Dante
Dante Alighieri
Durante degli Alighieri, mononymously referred to as Dante , was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia ...
was a great poet, the Societa Dantesca Italiana did great work in editing and publishing a usable and affordable text, but the Divine Comedy was certainly used by the newly unified Italian government (see History of Italy
History of Italy
Italy, united in 1861, has significantly contributed to the political, cultural and social development of the entire Mediterranean region. Many cultures and civilizations have existed there since prehistoric times....
) to encourage a more homogeneous, Tuscan-influenced dialect for the whole peninsula (see Italian language
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
).
Literature
- the KalevalaKalevalaThe Kalevala is a 19th century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Finnish and Karelian oral folklore and mythology.It is regarded as the national epic of Finland and is one of the most significant works of Finnish literature...
- OssianOssianOssian is the narrator and supposed author of a cycle of poems which the Scottish poet James Macpherson claimed to have translated from ancient sources in the Scots Gaelic. He is based on Oisín, son of Finn or Fionn mac Cumhaill, anglicised to Finn McCool, a character from Irish mythology...
- DanteDante AlighieriDurante degli Alighieri, mononymously referred to as Dante , was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia ...
- folklore collections
- the Brothers GrimmBrothers GrimmThe Brothers Grimm , Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm , were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, and authors who collected folklore and published several collections of it as Grimm's Fairy Tales, which became very popular...
The Academy
This relationship between ideology and serious work is particularly ambiguous in the academic fields of historical importance. Much as 19th century science is often treated as the inventor of conceptions of evolution and race which had serious negative political and social consequences, many 19th century historians pursued what they intended as reasonably objective research projects in the history of their own and other regions either to end by themselves using the results to support nationalistic goals or to see their work used that way by others.More politically consolidated nations sponsored historical research projects which produced results of permanent value - such as the Monumenta Germaniae Historica
Monumenta Germaniae Historica
The Monumenta Germaniae Historica is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published sources for the study of German history from the end of the Roman Empire to 1500.The society sponsoring the series was established by the Prussian reformer Heinrich Friedrich Karl Freiherr vom...
("Monuments of German History") project. The MGH is a vast series (it runs to hundreds of volumes and is still publishing) of edited primary source material essential for scholarly work on late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. However, the term "German" in the title was interpreted in the broadest possible sense, and its initial royal patronage made the connection clear between a perceived unity of Germanness in history and 19th century Germanness.