National indifference
National indifference is the status of lacking a strong and consistent
Zahra's concept
Zahra notes that even as most scholars accept that nationalities are imagined communities, they continue to use national categories, such "the Czechs", "the Germans", etc. in an uncritical way. According to Zahra, national indifference is "a new label for phenomena that have long attracted the attention of historians and political activists"[9]—particularly negative attention from nationalists complaining about perceived disloyalty.[9][10] Zahra intends the concept of national indifference to provide a means of studying history without assuming national identities of historical subjects. It also helps to study the resistance of pre-nationalist identities to nationalist activism, usually in cases where either one or multiple nationalism movements attempt to mobilize a population. She outlines three types of national indifference:[1]
- National agnosticism: the "complete absence of national loyalties as many individuals are identified more strongly with religious, class, local, regional, professional, or familial communities";
- National ambivalence, characterized by opportunism and side-switching;
- Bilingualism and openness to interethnic marriage.
She concedes that national indifference is difficult to study, because of such factors as nationalization of history, archives that are dedicated to national history, political apathy among nationally indifferent people, and censuses that do not recognize national indifference or bilingualism.[9]
Applications
Apart from Bohemia, the concept of national indifference has been applied to other
Many instances of national indifference have been cited:
- In mid-nineteenth century Dalmatia, locals often identified as both Italian and Slavic.[9]
- In early-twentieth century League of Nations World Court officially recognized national indifference in Silesia, finding that the line between Poles and Germans was murky and undefined.[9]
- The number of German-speakers in the Czech lands decreased by 400,000 between 1909 and 1921, which involved considerable side-switching.[9]
- In 1930, the Czech nationalists and never implemented.[9]
- Nazi officials claimed that Germanness was determined by race, but in practice they used national indifference in order to sign up more people, not previously identified as Germans, to the Volksliste; according to Doris Bergen, some people resorted to displays of antisemitic invective and violence to increase their perceived Germanness.[9]
- In the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, national polarization between Czechs and Germans resulted from the effects of the Nazi occupation and efforts to classify "a hopelessly mixed people".[11]
- In the
Responses
Critics of the concept argue that "indifference" is often associated with passivity, which may not be the case. Alternate terms have been proposed by other scholars such as
See also
References
- ^ .
- ISBN 978-1-351-38276-2.
- ^ "The Phantom Subject of "National Indifference"". www.slavicreview.illinois.edu.
- ISBN 978-0-472-11646-1.
- .
- ISBN 978-0-230-35535-4.
- .
- .
- ^ ISSN 0037-6779.
- .
- ISBN 978-0-674-02451-9.
- ISBN 978-0-333-79256-8.
- .