History, Myth and Nationalism: The Retrospective Force of National Roles within a Myth-Constructed Past

Abstract

The relationship between a myth-constructed past and nationalism is characterized by interdependence: since myth survives thanks to the spreading of national ideology, while, simultaneously, nationalism partly survives thanks to the spreading of myth. In the framework of this interdependence therefore nationalism turns to the past, which it constructs — partly or even entirely — while, at the same time, the constructed past strengthens and renders for the public at large the indisputable ‘truths’ of nationalism. In essence, this is an ideological use of history that concerns itself with the narration of events, detached from their historical context and repositioned with contemporary needs in mind, now legitimated by the precious evidence of history. It is well known that nationalism, as a dominant ideology from the nineteenth century and after, directs history, and reconstructs and appropriates the past in its own way. The historical fact, therefore, in the way that it is represented in the present (that is, through its myth construction) reveals much more about the present than about the past. Thus, behind the presentation of the past is hidden the present that organizes it (De Certeau, 1991, p. 8). All this naturally happens in the name of the future, since nationalism, by constructing a past full of myths, fills the present and turns to the future which looks rather like destiny than history (Demertzis, 1995, p. 87).