An interesting article on more ‘banal’ expressions of nationalism in the most recent Annals of Tourism Research:
Pauliina Raento “Tourism, nation, and the postage stamp: Examples from Finland”
Annals of Tourism Research Volume 36, Issue 1, January 2009
In the expanding visual paradigm of tourism studies postage stamps remain overlooked. This empirical study of Finnish stamps from 1917–2001 exemplifies the potential of this data, the methods of its interpretation, and connections to literature. The examination contributes to the study of tourism and national identity politics by offering one critical narrative of the changing relationship between tourism promotion, identity-building, and citizenship education. A basic quantitative and qualitative assessment reveals two major turning points in the data, both of which connect to geopolitics and the world economy. The easily reproducible examination shows how representative emphases and absences serve “banal nationalism” and the construction of an “imagined community” of ‘us.’
Nationalism Studies 
Post-Colonial Nationalism and Transnationalism
Posted in Comment on March 18, 2009| Leave a Comment »
The most recent issue of Contributions to Indian Sociology (2008 but not long out) has two articles of interest. One is a review essay by Ghosh which looks back to the partition of India into India and Pakistan (later Bangladesh too). It addresses the question of the extent to which post-colonial nationalisms were derivative but focuses on the history of Hindu-Muslim tensions.
Fast forward several decades and the other relevant article in the journal is by Syed Ali and focuses on: ‘Understanding acculturation among second-generation South Asian Muslims in the United States’. The article is limited to middle class Muslims in New York, but it raises interesting questions that may be of relevance to those working on diaspora communities elsewhere. The full abstract read as follows:
This article addresses an understudied area in studies of immigration—why patterns of acculturation of second-generation immigrants vary. To address this question, I draw on ethnographic research conducted among second-generation South Asian Muslims in New York City. Sociologists generally assume that acculturation is an inevitable process, and that it proceeds from less to more. I argue that acculturation is a more complex process that varies over time and situation for individuals, and can even go from more to less acculturation. Building on Judith Harris’s group socialisation theory and Murray Milner Jr.’s theory of status relations, I propose that acculturation is a dynamic status process, and that we can better understand variations in patterns of acculturation of individuals by looking at their peers—the kinds of intimate associations that individuals make, and the kinds of peer group norms to which individuals conform.
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