Nation‐freezing: images of the nation and the migrant in citizenship packages

Abstract

In the early years of the nation-state model, the imposition of the national language and the official version of the national history, myths and icons was an essential part of the process of nation-building. These were efforts to create unity out of the diversity that the nation-states found within their borders. As nationalism acquired a negative connotation through the WW2, national symbolisms faded to the background until globalisation and migration brought national identities back into the front stage. Discussions on national norms and values, historical blueprints, the national flag and anthem are hot issues in Europe again: After long discussions on the historical canon in the Netherlands, the country's first national history museum will exhibit the nation's history. On his first Commons statement as British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown has ordered all government buildings to fly the British flag all year long (instead of 18 fixed days per year) as a

International migration and the rise of the ‘civil’ nation

“…The extension of rights to 'them' would necessarily impinge upon the quantum of 'our' rights: A civil living-together can only be guaranteed if the majority group remains as such. Far from a neutral term, civility 'freezes' the nation (Suvarierol 2012), it perpetuates the exclusive entitlement to the national space by the majority group, closely in line with Hage's (2000: 48) argument that nationalism is defined by the mastery of the national territory by an ethnic core.…”

What can and cannot be willed: how politicians talk about national identity and immigrants

“…From a deterministic perspective, the national identity is outside the reach of a collective effort at reconstruction. This is akin to Suvarierol's (: 212) concept of nation‐freezing which describes the discursive construction of national identity as fixed, stable and closed for change. As such, national identity designates a fixed end‐point of individual change and becomes a condition for political action.…”

Why Regions Matter in Immigrant Integration Policies: North Rhine-Westphalia and Emilia-Romagna in Comparative Perspective

“…Semin Suvarierol (2012), for example, speaks of a nationalist resurgence (or what she refers to as 'nation freezing'). Her research is analogous to a tradition in migration research centered on competing national models (For good discussion see: Entzinger 2000).…”