Research Project
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National Identity in Context. A Common Past in the Netherlands?
On request of the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR: Wetenschappelijke Raad voor het Regeringsbeleid), Maria Grever and Kees Ribbens are currently working on the research project National identity in context. A common past in the Netherlands? The WRR, an independent council, advises the Dutch government on a variety of themes, usually with a long term perspective.
This research project is related to our NWO-project Paradoxes of De-Canonisation and deals more specifically with the making and unmaking of social identities amongst young adults in a multicultural setting. In recent years a strong emphasis is being placed on the nation state, a phenomenon that can be observed throughout the western world. Globalisation, migration as well as European unification influenced Dutch society and have caused uncertainty about national culture and identity. Since the formation of identities is basically a historically oriented process, the transmission of historical knowledge - whether or not arranged in a canon - is considered to be an important tool for strengthening the cohesion of the population and for integrating immigrants. Yet, up till now, little attention has been paid to the fact that the historical culture has profoundly changed over the last decades. The increasing diversity of the population in the western nation-states and the emergence of the new media profoundly affect the way people acknowledge, appropriate and re-appropriate the past and how they see their future. Which social frames are salient in the dynamic process of identity formation? How inclusive can a national memory framework actually be?
The intended research will increase our understanding of the interaction between social identity and historical culture amongst young adults at the beginning of the 21st century. The study will explore the analytical value of the concept 'national identity' and its historical backgrounds. Furthermore, based upon survey research among secondary school pupils in England, France and the Netherlands, we will investigate to what extent the diverse cultural backgrounds and memory cultures of young adults connect or disconnect to history education. The main goal of this comparative research is to establish the role of national identity within the dynamic process of identity formation among youngsters in a multicultural society.
Maria Grever (project leader)
Kees Ribbens (postdoc researcher)
