National myth
A national myth is an inspiring
A national myth is a narrative which has been elevated to a serious symbolic and esteemed level so as to be true to the nation.[ The concept of national identity is inescapably connected with myths.[4] A complex of myths is at the core of nationalistic ethnic identity.[5] Some scholars believe that national identities, supported by invented histories, were constructed only after national movements and national ideologies emerged.[6]
All modern national identities were preceded by nationalist movements.[ National myths foster national identities. They are important tools of nation-building,[8] which can be done by emphasizing differences between people of different nations.[9] They can cause conflict[10] as they exaggerate threats posed by other nations and minimize the costs of war.[9]
The nationalist myth of a stable homeland community is explained psychoanalytically as the result of the complexity of relations within the modern external world and the incoherence of one's inner psychological world. Nationalist identity facilitates imagined stability.[11]
National myths are created and propagated by national They might over-dramatize true incidents, omit important historical details, or add details for which there is no evidence; or a national myth might simply be a fictional story that no one takes to be true literally.[13]
Traditional Modern purveyors of national mythologies have tended to appeal to the people more directly through the media. French The ideology of nationalism is related to two myths: the myth of the eternal nation, referring to the permanence of a community, and the myth of common ancestry.[15] These are represented in the particular national myths of various countries and groups.
The Kalevala is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology,.[16] The Kalevala is regarded as the national epic of Karelia and Finland[note 1]
It narrates an epic story about the According to The In Japanese mythology, Emperor Jimmu is the legendary first emperor of Japan. He is described in the Nihon Shoki and Kojiki. His ascension is traditionally dated as 660 BC. He said said to be a descendant of the sun goddess Amaterasu, through her grandson Ninigi, as well as a descendant of the storm god Susanoo. He launched a military expedition from Hyūga near the Seto Inland Sea, captured Yamato, and established this as his center of power. In modern Japan, Emperor Jimmu's legendary accession is marked as National Foundation Day on February 11. There is no evidence to suggest that Jimmu existed. However, there is a high probability that there was a powerful dynasty in the vicinity of Miyazaki Prefecture during the Kofun period.
The The first The The national myth of Brazil as a racial democracy was first advanced by Brazilian sociologist Gilberto Freyre in his 1933 work Casa-Grande & Senzala, which argues that Brazilians do not view each other through the lens of race, and that Brazilian society eliminated racism and racial discrimination. Freyre's theory became a source of national pride for Brazil, which contrasted itself favorably vis-a-vis the contemporaneous racial divisions and violence in the United States.[26][27]
The Kosovo Myth is a Serbian national myth based on legends about events related to the Battle of Kosovo (1389). It has been a subject in Serbian folklore and literary tradition and has been cultivated oral epic poetry and guslar poems. The final form of the legend was not created immediately after the battle but evolved from different originators into various versions. In its modern form it emerged in 19th-century Serbia and served as an important constitutive element of the national identity of modern Serbia and its politics.
King Arthur was a legendary noble king that united Britain, laid the foundation to medieval notions of chivalry in western Europe, and was later important for building a common British identity.[28][29]
The The Kupe was a legendary[33] Polynesian explorer who was the first person to discover New Zealand, according to Māori oral history.[34] It is likely that Kupe existed historically, but this is difficult to confirm. His voyage to New Zealand ensured that the land was known to the Polynesians, and he would therefore be responsible for the genesis of the Māori people.[35]
In The The Part of a series on Nationalism 
National identity
Dissemination
Mythopoeic methods
Other methods
National myths
Finland
Greece
Iceland
Japan
United States of America
Korea
Italy
Brazil
Serbia
Great Britain
Nazi Germany
New Zealand
Palestine
Iran
Israel
See also
Notes
References
Myth is inextricably linked with the concept of national identity
The core of the ethnic identity is the "myth-symbol complex" — the combination of myths,...
We can, for example, certainly encounter term "nation" in the Middle Ages, but the word meant something completely different than in the age of nationalism, where it is inextricably linked with the efforts to create an associated state.
overemphasize the cultural and historical distinctiveness of the national group [and its territory], exaggerate the threat posed to the nation by other groups, ignore the degree to which the nation's own actions provoked such treats, and play down the cost of seeking national goals through militant means.
... we do argue that tendency to breed conflicts is inherent to typical nationalist myths
The nationalist myth of permanent, fixed, homeland community, derives its emotional power, according to psychoanalysis, from the anxieties generated by the fragility of the sense of self, the ego, in the face of both the complex ambiguities inherent in relationships with the external modern world, and also of the disintegrative incoherence of the inner, psychological world. In an attempt to escape the resultant anxiety, the individual engages in an act of self-labelling and self-construction which is essentially static, inserting him or herself into the institutions of society, so as to 'seek out a name' and thence attain an imaginary sense of stability [...].
Shnirelman (1995) considers nationalist myths ... created by national intellectuals and propagated by the intelligentsia with the aim of using this myths as an instrument of ethno-political mobilization under interethnic conflicts.
[...] a North Korean's conversation is full of phrases such as 'Kim Il-sung thought', 'Kim Il-sungism', 'dedication to Kim Il-sung' and 'the Great Leader Kim Il-sung'.
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Both Maccabean and modern Zionism seek to ensure the security of the Jewish People to exist, practice freely, and continue to develop our gifts to humankind. While defending Jewish life, both Maccabees and Zionists resort to territorial battle.
Further reading