{ the role of national days and festivals in cultural advocacy and in re- conceptualising national...
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The Role of National Days and Festivals in Cultural Advocacy and in Re-conceptualising National Identity
Professor Gayle McPhersonUniversity of the West of Scotland
12th Session of the European Cultural Parliament, September, 2013
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Challenge: why is there not a UK “national day”?
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In Europe. National days and festivals – concepts,
expressions and cultures Cultural advocacy – contexts, expressions and
cultures National identity – re-conceptualising; re-
contextualising; Some questions for policy makers, cultural
leaders, civic leaders, festival ‘owners’, democratically elected representatives; citizens of Europe
A few challenges and contexts throughout
Overview
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Scotland – “official” national day is 30 November
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One single day to celebrate and promote a national identity?
A single identifiable nation? An obvious identity to which all of a nation can
subscribe in a single context or on a single day? More than one day to celebrate and promote
national identities? Multiple identities within a nation Opportunities for free expression of identity on
several contexts / days A single, universal (paid?) holiday observed,
shared and celebrated by the entirety of a nation?
A National Day or National Days
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Some possible days FOR the nation of Scotland:
St Andrew’s Day (30 November) Robert Burns’ Birth Day (25 January) Declaration of Arbroath (6 April) Tartan Day ( 6th April) Hogmanay (1 January) Vote for / against independence from UK
(18 September, 2014)Identities, expressions exclusions and diaspora
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{Economics?
Politics? Culture?
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Momentous events – political; cultural; technological
Judao-Christian Calendar – largely “patron saints” days
Birth of a “significant” figure in a nation’s formation or expression
An opportunity to showcase a nation’s economic outputs and activities – particularly in export markets
Formal involvement of the state vs informal, carnivalesque of the “people”
National Days and Festivals
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Context: Bastille Day - state, power and identity
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Present celebrations (looking to the future) or past victories
Some might argue they are markers of conflict and contestation
Are these events reflecting who we are to ourselves or who we are to others – what is the image that is protrayed and is that what we want
Issues and Challenges
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Context: Hogmanay, spectacle and whose identity?
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Recognitions of when and how we became who we are – all of us or some of us?
Expressions of who we are (and who we are not?) What do we stand for – as a “people”; as a “nation”? How do we express that? Who decides what the “official version’ is and how it
is to be expressed? How can individual citizens express their identities
in a challenging environment and / or a globalising tendency?
Is the national day a message to us, to others within our boundaries whom we may not regard as “us”; to the outside world?
Cultural Identity via Festivity
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Context: national days – unity, separation, re-birth
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One national day or many days for the nation’s many populations?
A single cultural identity or pluralistic identities among, and within, citizens
Reconciling difference; addressing demonisation of the ‘other’
Taking ownership through forms of cultural advocacy via citizens, communities, civic leadership, education and art.
Issues and Challenges
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Context: Cultural democracy/democratisation of culture
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Empowering citizens to be advocates for the identities of a nation
To be part of the policy making process Promoting cultural diversity through cultural
democracy Encourage local change makers across
Europe The role of the European Cultural Foundation The ECP Youth Programme Do we want a cultural policy for Europe or
policies for culture?
Cultural Advocacy
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How can every citizen be given the capacity and the potential to be a cultural advocate?
Advocacy empowers people to engage in debate and influence policy but not without problems of trans border differences
Are competing agendi given equal weight?
Are there always winners and losers? What is the role of the ECP in National
Identity?
Issues and Challenges
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Auld Lang Syne is a marker for friendship throughout the Globe – could Scotland lead the way!
Context: Scotland
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We need to celebrate diversity and difference as part of our shared open borders, whilst retaining our cultural heritage.
Can we have a European National Festival rather than a day– could this be Hogmanay – a shared festival, on one day, across many European countries already, could the UK start with this?
Or is it better to have multiple festivals as exemplars of our diverse cultural offerings
This meeting of the ECP could harness a network of ideas to create a European National Day that embraces culture, tolerance, friendship and celebration
National Identity needs to celebrate what we are rather than what we’re not!
Concluding Thoughts
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Single national days or multiple national festivals? Internally facing or externally transmitting? Free expression of identities or staged events
asserting national conformity? Reproducing differences or acknowledging difference? Cultural advocacy or cultural suspicion? Can a nation’s cultural expressions through festivities
be “owned” or are they organic? Who bears the cost and who receives the benefits? In a globalising world, what role can any expression
of national identity have if it is confined to single moments of celebration?
Where shall we find our cultural advocates?
Issues and Challenges