National symbols—flags, national anthems, monuments, currencies, capital structures, cultural icons, and public holidays, to name a few—are tricky cultural signposts, for they preserve not only the “victorious” definitions promoted by the nation but also the fossilized debates and controversies that have crystallized around these symbols over decades or, in some cases, centuries. Through close readings of national symbols, we can discover challenges to a perceived consensus—challenges that may have been silenced permanently, or for a time, but which may surface again when political or cultural circumstances are more favorable to their cause.
This volume illuminates the rich insights national symbols offer into the historical process by which certain groups inscribe their interpretation of a nation’s identity and collective memory at a given time period as well as how these narratives are gradually transformed as the power to “tell the national tale” shifts from . CLICK HERE TO START DOWNLOAD