Self-identity, Otherness and Nationalism

Abstract

This chapter defines the concepts of identity, self- identity and otherness, and links them to notions of national identity, nationalism and ‘Germanness’. Different varieties of nationalism (political, cultural, ethnic, expansionist and chauvinistic) are defined, as well as the specifically German types which existed during the period 1871–1918. An examination of Johann Gottlieb Fichte’s role as a key figure in the formation of German notions of national identity prior to 1871 is followed by a survey of the interplay between the "‘Kulturnation’, the ‘Volksnation’ and the ‘Staatsnation’ as they relate to the German experience from the late nineteenth century onwards. The role of myth and folk- tales within identity creation is explored, and also the develop ment of völkisch [‘folkish’] and puristic sentiments, stimulated by the invention and revival of national heroes. The concepts relating to identity and nationalism introduced in this chapter will set the scene for the analyses in later chapters of representations of the ‘Self’ and the ‘Other’ in a variety of nationalist, racist (especially anti-Semitic) and colonialist discourses.