Scaling Identities: Nationalism and Territoriality

This comprehensive book examines the crucial connections between national identity, territory, and scale. Providing a powerful theoretical and organizational framework, the volume identifies four ways in which scale operates dynamically in the formation and maintenance of national identity. Consolidating identities considers the strategies necessary to keep all parts within the fold through educational systems, minority policies, immigration controls, and other forms of traditional state power. Magnifying identities examines the consequences of shifting the scale up and unifying territories that have a sense of a larger, supranational identity. Connecting identities assesses how nations can bridge physical distance, water barriers, or sovereign boundaries. Fragmenting identities looks into the disintegration of national identities and those forces that have the potential to unravel a nation or block its effective formation. Nationalism and national identity remain critical flashpoints in the geopolitical order, as we have seen in the development of a quasi-independent Kurdistan in Northern Iraq, the resurgence of Native American identities in response to the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Chinese crackdown on its minority regions. Offering a rich set of case studies from around the world, this essential book affirms the global importance of national identity and scale.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Scaling the Nation David H. Kaplan and Guntram H. Herb Part I: Conceptual Issues 1: Power, Territory, and National Identity Guntram H. Herb 2: National Identity and Scalar Processes David H. Kaplan Part II: Consolidating Identities 3: The Changing Context of German Nationhood Corey Johnson 4: Sociocultural and Territorial Aspects of Argentine Identity David Keeling 5: Construction of Postcolonial Tanzanian National Identity Kefa M. Otiso Part III: Magnifying Identities 6: Toward a Meaningful European Identity Alexander B. Murphy 7: Greater Caribbean Regional Identity Gary S. Elbow 8: Imagining the Arab Homeland and Palestine Karen Culcasi Part IV: Connecting Identities 9: Native American Resurgence and Scales of Identity Steven E. Silvern 10: The Reinstitutionalization of Island Identities in Japan Takashi Yamazaki 11: Chinese National Identity and Social Networks Susan M. Walcott Part V: Fragmenting Identities 12: Partition and National Fragmentation of Kurdistan Carl T. Dahlman and Sanan Moradi 13: Contested Identities in Transylvania George W. White 14: Indian Diasporas and the Creation of Subnational Identities Pablo Bose Afterword: Transcending Scale? Jouni Häkli Index About the Contributors

About the Author :
Guntram H. Herb is professor of geography at Middlebury College. David H. Kaplan is professor of geography at Kent State University.

Review :
This volume impresses with its scope and its timeliness and offers the following avenues for further research. . . It offers no shortage of insight to issues of national identity and territory for scholars interested more in the politics than in the geography. Scaling Identities, edited by two well-known experts, is a valuable contribution to the existing literature. The volume has two major strengths: First, it is theoretically sophisticated and takes seriously the neglected issues of scale and scalar-identity processes; second, it provides the reader with a set of intriguing case studies that go far beyond the typical Eurocentric national-identity narratives. Highly recommended to all those interested in nationalism and identity studies. Nation and state are, on the face of it, incommensurable ideas. How do they combine, culturally and politically, in the nation-state? In this innovative text, Herb and Kaplan have brought together a range of empirical and theoretical studies which, by focusing on concepts such as space, scale, and territory, cast new light on this question. This clear and comprehensive textbook fills an important gap and will be very useful as a teaching tool for students of political, historical, and human geography.