Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. Nation and Commemoration
  • Cited by 210
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
September 2009
Print publication year:
1997
Online ISBN:
9780511520938
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511520938
Subjects:
Sociology: General Interest, Political Sociology, Sociology
Series:
Cambridge Cultural Social Studies
Information

Book description

What do people think when they imagine themselves as part of a nation? Nation and Commemoration answers this question in an exploration of the creation and recreation of national identities through commemorative activities. Extending recent work in cultural sociology and history, Lyn Spillman compares centennial and bicentennial celebrations in the United States and Australia to show how national identities can emerge from processes of 'cultural production'. She systematically analyses the symbols and meanings of national identity in these two 'new nations', identifying changes and continuities, similarities and differences in how visions of history, place in the world, politics, land, and diversity have been used to express nationhood. The result is a deeper understanding, not only of American and Australian national identities, but also of the global process of nation-formation.

Reviews

"This book adds to our understanding by drawing on the historical experiences of `settler' countries." "...Spillman offers us an understanding of differences and similarities in Australian and U.S. national identities, and of national identity formation in general." Connie L. McNeely, Social Forces

" Nation and Commemoration is a towering achievement...because it makes sense of massive amounts of information about national identity and collective memory without simplistically reducing it...to the manipulative imagination of cultural elites. Spillman's book will be a standard reference. No other book documents so thoroughly and so persuasively the process by which nations come to know themselves." Barry Schwartz, American Jrnl of Sociology

"Nation and commemoration provides a detailed, comparative analysis of national identity as revealed by national celebrations in two countries." International Affairs

"Nation and Commemoration makes an important contribution to the literature on national identity, through a study of the centennial and bicentennial celebrations in Australia and United States." Journal of Australian Studies

"...Spillman has...written a lively, clear and engaging book that is obviously well researched." Australian Journal of Political Science

"This is a rich book, and one from which a great variety of readers will find something to add to their own thinking about Australian and American nationalism." Journal of Intercultural Studies

"Apart from finding the book interesting and well contructed, any scholar working in this area, or related areas, will particularly value the bibliographic material." Sociology

Refine List

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

Contents

Contents

Metrics

Altmetric attention score

Full text views

Total number of HTML views: 0
Total number of PDF views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

Book summary page views

Total views: 0 *
Loading metrics...

* Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

Usage data cannot currently be displayed.