The nation and the city: urban festivals and cultural mobilisation

Abstract

This article attempts to map the relations between nation‐building processes in 19th‐century Europe and city cultures with their urban sociability. Three patterns are surveyed: [1] the modern‐national assimilation of medieval and early‐modern city cultures (sample case: Orléans and the French cult of Joan of Arc); [2] the modular replication across cities of urban festivals as cultural mobilizers (sample case: the spread of Floral Games festivals in Southern France and Northern Spain); [3] the reticulation of city‐based practices into a nationwide and nation‐building network (sample cases: the role of choral societies in German cultural nationalism; and its transnational knock‐on effect in the Baltic Provinces). By choosing the city as our social focus and placing it (or rather, its ideal‐type ‘Urbania’) alongside Gellner's ideal‐types of ‘Megalomania’ and ‘Ruritania’, we can avoid the finalism of studying regionalist and nationalist movements in the analytical framework of the post‐Versailles state system, and we gain a better understanding of the granulated, localized social basis of such movements and the translocally homogenizing role of culture.

Complexity and nationalism

“…A statue of Joan of Arc, for instance, was erected in Orleans as early as 1458, and she was the focal point for local pride until the 1840s, when she emerged as a national figure in part through popularisation by Jules Michelet's Jeanne D'Arc (1841). Often the pattern took the form of inter‐city contagion rather than central adoption, as with, for example, the spread of the Floral Games in the Catalan‐Provencal border region, later appropriated by Catalan nationalists (Leerssen ). In frontier regions, new borders were superimposed on what were formerly local differences.…”

The Musical Bridge—Intercultural Regionalism and the Immigration Challenge in Contemporary Andalusia

“…Myths, whether supported by historical research or not, play a central role in shaping political cultures, social policies and good governance. As recognized across the social sciences, particularly in nationalism studies (Leerssen 2015;Leoussi and Grosby 2006;Martin 2014;Smith 1991Smith , 1998Smith , 1999, myths play a key function in building cohesive societies based on trust and mutual understanding, so that the organization of vital matters that shape the day-to-day life can proceed smoothly. We should also understand that politically successful ideas and policies are generally based on myths and subconscious assumptions (Billig 1995).…”

Understanding the (Re)Definition of Nationhood in French Cities: A Case of Multiple States and Multiple Republics

“…This gap in the story of defining and redefining the nation and nationalism has begun to receive scholarly attention of late. Leerssen () has attempted to explain the role of ‘urbania’ as a theatre of cultural nationalism between the imperial ‘megalomania’ and the provincial ruritania of Gellner's () earlier work. Here, it is the culture performances and manifestations taking place in the urban sphere that go on to inform and shape the nation.…”

“…This is rendered all the more remarkable in an increasingly urbanized world where individuals experience the ‘banal’ (Billig ), everyday aspects of nationhood through the prism of the urban. Leerssen () has attempted to explain the historical role of ‘urbania’ as a theatre of cultural nationalism between the imperial ‘megalomania’ and the provincial ruritania of Gellner's () earlier work. This opens up a more explicit discussion of the existence of important means by which the deployment of ‘boundary mechanisms’ (Zimmer ) by the city can complicate our understanding of the shape of particular nations and the remaking of particular nationalisms.…”