The Core Elements Of National Identity

Though it does not come up in everyday thought, cultural identity is an idea that all humans possess. Abridged, cultural identity can be simply explained as the sharing of a similar culture by people of various ethnicities. However, cultural identity is more complex than that, defined by an individual’s values, beliefs, and ideas of moral behavior influenced by their culture. Furthermore, cultural identity is ever changing from individual to individual. This means that although two individuals may be of the same ethnicity, differences in circumstances may cause variations between the individuals’ personal beliefs. As a result of interracial interactions, multiculturalism has grown during the twenty-first century.

Countries are no exception, their course of history and culture created a unique identity for themselves. Their cultures involves; language, values, belief, religions, and norms that identify who we are. This has caused division and struggles between groups or people, which influence our daily lives. Nevertheless, at the same time makes every person or country a unique culture to learn and explore. As the article, “The Roots of Identity and denial” stated more than 200 years ago there were no borders on this planet. People were able to travel through the hemisphere with no problem or differences.

Jingoism intwined with governmental policy and “a majority…of Americans…grant[ing] spontaneous consent to foreign policy militancy” influences policies related to foreign and national security in the United States.1 European history of colonialism and imperialism impacted the development of foreign policy and national security. In Culture, National Identity, and the “Myth of America,” Walter L. Hixson leniently critiques American foreign policy, while advocating towards a more “cooperative internationalism.”2 Melvyn P. Leffler in National Security, Core Values, and Power fails to formulate an engaging argument for national security policies reflection of America core values. In reference to foreign and national security policy, both Hixson and Leffler refer to the impact of hegemony, with Leffler’s mention succinct and without specific detail. In the United States, foreign policy leans towards jingoism, while national security policy develops from general core values.

Cultural Identity is “The definition of groups or individuals (by themselves or others) in terms of cultural or subcultural categories (including ethnicity, nationality, language, religion, and gender)” (Oxford Reference). Everyone has cultural identity even though some are unaware of theirs because their habits and traditions might be seen as normal to the person and they might not make the connection that it is a cultural tradition or connected to their cultural identity. Some people are very aware of their cultural identity and have conflict within their identity because the cultures may not coincide. Frida Kahlo’s Self Portrait: On the Borderline Between Mexico and the United States and Pat Mora’s “Legal Alien” both show cultural conflict through symbolism, conflict, and purpose.

Prior to the French and Indian War, colonists were somewhat satisfied with Great Britain. The laws imposed on the colonies were usually unenforced giving the colonies free reign over most aspects of their life. Despite the distance between North America and the mother country, colonists considered themselves equal with British citizens living on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. At this point, the colonists had no intentions of breaking off from the mother country. As John Murrin says in his essay “The Dilemma of American National Identity”:

Characterization is the biggest component that helps build on the themes of identity in the short story “Good Country People” written by Flannery O’connor. The theme itself is dependent where as the characters are independent of each other. The characters behaviors build within each other.

Ethnic identity has been defined as the aspect of one's sense of identity concerning ancestry or racial group membership (Steinberg, 1996). Ethnic identity development is an essential human need because it provides a sense of belonging and historical continuity.

In the excerpt from “The Crisis of American Nationality” Susan-Mary Grant describes the northern viewpoint and its strong disapproval of southern ideology and how it “took on the attributes of a sectional” identity.

As previously stated in this paper, forming cultural identity may be more complicated today than ever. However, it is a critical part of a total structure of collective and individual identity. Based on the text, models of ethnic and cultural identity have increased dramatically over the last few decades. Today, most ethnic groups are accepting the fact that the United States is the most ethically diverse place to live and to raise a

Ethnic Identity Ethnic identity is when an individual views themselves belonging to a specific ethnic group. It is a very complex concept because it can have different interpretations to certain groups. Some ethnic groups believe you must be their race to belong to their group and to others you just need to be acquainted with their heritage and history. In Trying to Find Chinatown and Story of My Body, ethnic identity is displayed in several ways and is a major theme across both stories.

“the identity or feeling of belonging to, as part of the self-conception and self-perception to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, locality and any kind of social group that have its own distinct culture,”. (1)

Tajfel (1981) described ethnic identity as part of an individual’s self-concept developed from knowledge of membership in a cultural group and the value or emotional significance attached to that membership. Ethnic identity content has been defined as “the actual ethnic behaviors that individuals practice, along with their attitudes toward their ethnic group” (Phinney, 1993, p. 64). Charlesworth (2000) maintained ethnic identity development to be an essential human need that provided a sense of belonging and historical continuity and created a foundation on which to build a concept of self.

National identity is the transmission of each generation’s legacy to the next and the enabling of the nation citizen to take pride and identification of the country (Stephan, 2009). A nation positive unique identity breeds patriotism which consequently

Cultural identity is the basis in which identification is used to express different aspects pertaining to identity and heritage. A person's cultural identity may be created by social organization, as well as traditions and customs within their lives. The two aspects that construct my cultural identity are the frequent chores I must complete every day in order to fulfill my behavioral expectations, and the youth group I attend weekly. These aspects are important to my family and me. Therefore, my identity has an immeasurable effect on my upbringing into this multi-cultural world I live in.

A nation is a group of people who share common history, culture, language and ethnic origin often possessing or seeking its own government. National identity refers to the distinguish features of group and to the individual’ sense of belonging to it. In some case even a little difference in pronunciation is enough to categorize a person as a member of different nation but in some cases two people may be separated by language, culture, geographical location etc categorized in