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Week 5 – National Identity

This week we considered the concept of national identity and how it is formed. I found it interesting discussing the power an image can have in constructing meaning, for example a red London bus or the royal family being symbolic of the concept of “Britishness”. This could suggest that images we consume from the media can help us form a sense of national identity and this circulates hegemonic representations of nationalism.



Through newspapers, the idea of being ‘British’ had immense power in periods of history like World War Two. The inclusion of big bold titles like “We never surrender” and “Britain at war” in daily newspapers characterises the war as being a conflict between Britain and the rest of the world, rather than Britain having allies to fight with against the Germans. This use of personal pronouns to reference Great Britain shows that the representation of national identity forms an ‘imagined political community’ (Benedict Anderson) which is inherently limited and sovereign and reinforces the theory of representations belonging to a ‘regime’ (Foucault).


































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































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