Addressing recent scholarly interest in national identity, this book examines the social practices that give historical meaning, cohesion and uniqueness to national communities. It reveals the diversity of the themes, practices and symbols used to encourage self-identification and communality and explores techniques ranging from the exaltation of heroes to the evocation of landscape.

Alain Dieckhoff, Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales, France Natividad Gutiérrez, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico

Contents: Introduction: The study of national identity, Natividad Gutiérrez. Dimensions of National Identity: Interpretations of national identity, Anthony D. Smith; Theories of national personality revisited: Anglo-American models and French conceptions, Philippe Claret; National identity and modernity, Montserrat Guibernau. Symbolizing the Nation: Forging the authentic nation: Alpine landscape and Swiss national identity, Oliver Zimmer; Folk culture and the construction of European national identities between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries, Anne-Marie Thiese and Catherine Bertho-Lavenir; The shaping of a nation: Catalan history and historicity in Post-Franco Spain, Yolaine Cultiaux. Teaching National Identity: Recreating the French nation: the teaching of history at the Ã0/00cole Libre des Sciences Politiques at the end of the nineteenth century, Corinne Delmas; National identity construction and the teacher's unions of the Germanys and Japan, 1945-1955, Julian Dierkes; Hindu nationalism and the social welfare strategy, Christophe Jaffrelot. Disrupted National Identities: Nationalism and the politics of national identities in Latin America: gender, power and racism, Sallie Westwood; The difficult stabilization of Turkish national identity, Gérard Groc; Between mimesis and rebellion: the vicissitudes of Romanian nationalism, Catherine Durandin. Conclusion: Culture and national identity, Alain Dieckhoff.