Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part 1 The National War Aims Committee
- Part 2 Patriotism for a Purpose: NWAC Propaganda
- 4 Presentational Patriotisms
- 5 Adversaries at Home and Abroad: The Context of Negative Difference
- 6 Civilisational Principles: Britain and its Allies as the Guardians of Civilisation
- 7 Patriotisms of Duty: Sacrifice, Obligation and Community – The Narrative Core of NWAC Propaganda
- 8 Promises for the Future: The Encouragement of Aspirations for a Better Life, Nation and World
- Part 3 The Impact of the NWAC
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Local Case Studies
- Appendix 2 Card-Index Database
- Bibliography
- Index
4 - Presentational Patriotisms
from Part 2 - Patriotism for a Purpose: NWAC Propaganda
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures and Tables
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part 1 The National War Aims Committee
- Part 2 Patriotism for a Purpose: NWAC Propaganda
- 4 Presentational Patriotisms
- 5 Adversaries at Home and Abroad: The Context of Negative Difference
- 6 Civilisational Principles: Britain and its Allies as the Guardians of Civilisation
- 7 Patriotisms of Duty: Sacrifice, Obligation and Community – The Narrative Core of NWAC Propaganda
- 8 Promises for the Future: The Encouragement of Aspirations for a Better Life, Nation and World
- Part 3 The Impact of the NWAC
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Local Case Studies
- Appendix 2 Card-Index Database
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Part 1 of this book detailed the NWAC's establishment and its organisational structure. Part 2 is concerned with the ideological structure of NWAC propaganda. NWAC propaganda used familiar patriotic themes and ideas within a framework of ‘presentational patriotisms’: broad interactive and interdependent discursive categories which combined to provide a flexible patriotic narrative reflecting civilians' total-war experiences. This narrative revolved around a core message of patriotic duty, contextualised by several other elements which demonstrated the necessity of accepting such obligations. This was not a narrative structure set out by the NWAC for its propagandists to adhere to. Rather, it is a model construct based on a close reading of the NWAC's printed and spoken propaganda (the latter reprinted in the local press). The interaction of the various contextual and core sub-patriotisms with each other within the narrative framework offered a patriotic message adaptable to different audiences and situations.
Setting the propaganda's content within this interpretative framework enables qualitative assessment of the language used, emphasising the purposes behind the rhetoric. Rather than assigning primacy to the most extensively discussed elements within patriotic rhetoric, this approach contends that the interactions of the wider presentational categories gave patriotism its vitality by enabling similar conclusions to be drawn from a range of approaches. Without adequate contextualisation, the NWAC's core appeal to duty may have seemed unreasonable, given the efforts already undertaken by civilians. Hence, using one or more contextual presentational patriotisms, the majority of most discussions explained why the appeal was made.
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- Information
- Patriotism and Propaganda in First World War BritainThe National War Aims Committee and Civilian Morale, pp. 85 - 112Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2012