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All states have a flag, the material symbol of their sovereignty. But in law, the status of this flag differs from one country to another: some incorporate it into their Constitution (France), others do not (U.S.A., Great Britain) and the protection against insults differs from one country to another. The legal status of the French flag has varied over an eventful history, but today the constitutional recognition of the symbol and its legal protection allow the strong representation of French sovereignty and the rights to which the nation is attached. However, the flag of the European Union competes with the French flag. In conclusion, the flag is both sacred and competitive, as it is the national anthem, which is given constitutional protection in France.

This paper aims to find the commonness in tangible-intangible cultural heritage among the three flags (South Korea, North Korea, Unification) as a means for uniting Korea. Accordingly, theories of emotions, colours and shapes, including semiotic interpretations are its methodology. Semiotics offers flexibility in finding the commonness between the three flags in different situations and describes the process of encoding and decoding as an interpretative framework. Decoding interprets and evaluates the meaning concerning the relevant signs, which are systems of related conventions for correlating signifier and signified in specific domains. (i) The South Korean flag has three parts composed of a white rectangle, a red-blue circle, Taeguk, and four black trigrams. White is a traditional colour of representing peace and purity; the red-blue circle in the middle is the Yin-Yang philosophy of the universe. The red half is positive forces and the blue half negative ones. In 1882, King Kojong of the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910) instructed a circle which combines the red/king, blue/officer and white/people. (ii) The North Korean flag consists of a red panel, bordered by a white stripe and a blue stripe. The red panel contains a red star, a symbol of communism and socialism within a white circle. The red expresses revolutionary traditions; the blue for sovereignty, peace and friendship; the white for purity. (iii) The Unification flag represents a united Korea as one team in sports events. On the white background, a blue silhouette of the Korean peninsula appears in the centre.

In the passage of the Course in General Linguistics where Ferdinand de Saussure first foresaw the necessity to develop a new discipline called “semiology”, “nautical flags” are prominently listed among its objects of inquiry. Flags, indeed, are naturally interesting objects for semiotics, not only because they signify through a systematic display of forms and colors, but also because of the specific pragmatics of such display. A flag can be thought of abstractedly, as an array of symbols, but it features also a specific materiality, wherein two elements particularly stand out: (1) the flag is generally a textile; (2) this textile is meant to interact with a natural element, the wind. Flags are so symbolically important also because they seem to acquire an individual agency when they wave in the wind, and therefore to confer this autonomous agency to the cultural ideas which they stand for. The paper investigates this particular semiotics in relation to opposite ideological usages of the Italian national flag, meant to signify an either inclusive or exclusive identity.

This essay endeavours to explore our time of ‘Law &…’ (and its stimulating boundary disputes) from the perspective which national flag narratives—and their typifying regimes, associated with plausible models or paradigms of nation—allow us to experience, whilst projected onto (or within) the Law’s (or a certain Law’s) identifying narratives. Even though concentrated on a specific exemplum—the one of the current Portuguese flag (which emerged out of the successful Republican revolution of 1910)—this proposal is less however a justification of a new, plausible, interdisciplinary trend (involving ethno-symbolic studies), than a consideration of the ‘Law’s place’ in our present-day practical-cultural context, whilst reflecting on the possibilities and limits of hetero-references in general and “Law &… movements” in particular.

Scotland is to the United Kingdom what the Saltire is to the Union Flag. What it means to be Scottish, what form Scottish identity takes, and how the narratives of Scottish identity and belonging have been constructed and have evolved over time is a story woven into the relationship between these two flags. One a symbol of national identity and the other the symbol of a much larger intranational unity, the history of their coming together is one of negotiated settlement, legal and political compromise, a balancing of competing claims for legitimacy and control over the historical discourse. This chapter explores the origin of the Saltire as the national flag of Scotland, its emergence in symbolic representation of resistance to English power and domination, and the struggle between these two nations that is mirrored in the eventual configuration of the Union Flag. The chapter then traces the shifting contours of the social, cultural, and political landscape of Scotland through various narrative ideologies to demonstrate how the contemporary debate over national identity is symbolised in the complex colour-coded representations of these two flags.

Identity and the protection of identity due to the historical turmoil experienced by the nation of Poland has always played an important role in the public and private lives of its citizens. During the course of history Poland also served as an exile and home for many minorities, both religious and ethnic. The country, which is located between the two powerful nations of Germany and Russia, has always been forced to fight for independence and its national identity. In the course of history the country disappeared from the maps of Europe for about 123 years as a result of the partition of its territories between Prussia, Austria and Russia. The invading countries occupying the annexed territory forbade the usage of the Polish language in numerous areas of life. The practising of Polish customs and traditions was also limited. Poland regained independence after numerous attempts in 1918, only to lose it again in 1939 and finally to have it re-established in 1945. But the period from 1918 until 1939 was marked with numerous activities aiming at the restoration of national identity. The main aim of this presentation is to provide some insight into the importance of national identity as well as the cultural, ethnic and religious diversity of Poland as a historically conditioned phenomenon. The language protection policy will also be examined.

The symbolic functioning of flags is related to many large topics in philosophy and in social sciences. My interest here is in the dialectics of how flags mean. Flags are polysemic and ambiguous, a kind of symbolic nodes grouping several layers of signification. Flags are not images, though, but objects made to be used not contemplated. Once raised, flags may talk. But what they say when talking depends upon the modes of use in communal practices. When used, flags contribute to the staging of an event. They are performative utterances in a specific situation. The paper begins with a short review of modern discourses on the nexus between light, colour, and emotion as unreflective forms of perceiving the world. Drawing upon studies on the contemporary production and reproduction of ways of seeing the chapter then explores in greater detail specific aspects of the dialectics of sense-making through flags. Aside from symbolising as well as iconic and spectacular modes of use banal forms of performance are taken into account. Once there, flags are signs of their own context. What they promote, the paper suggests, is not unity but configurations of common differences. Finally, the article addresses the role of flags for the assemblage of cultural identities of populations connected by digital media and the formation of society in the age of globalisation.

As we advance into the twenty-first century, more and more of what has once been crucial to the functioning of a society, slides into oblivion. However, certain agents of the past, carriers of social memory, prevail. One such an agent is the flag. More than just a mere symbol, the flag bears an opulent amount of meaning, sometimes accumulated over the centuries, at other times acquired overnight, evoking either love and pride, fear and contempt, or just indifference. The purpose of this paper is to analyse flags as carriers of collective memories and of local and national identity, and to compare various legal provisions controlling and protecting them. In the first part of the paper, the author introduces the concept of collective memory, showing how flags—carriers of memory—are connected to it. The second part of the paper is devoted to the questions of identity and national identity, and the ways they intersect with collective memories and, ultimately, flags. In the third, main part of the paper, the author ventures to examine the role of flags in the contemporary society. Applying the findings of the previous two chapters to a number of mini-case studies (Poland, Brazil, Australia, Greece, USA, various former USSR territories, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Hungary, Cyprus and Canada), the author shows how different societies hold different attitudes towards flags and how, even in a digital society we currently live in, such a material thing as a flag is vital for the creation of a group’s identity, and can still evoke deep and often completely conflicting feelings, even leading to conflict.

The “circle of twelve golden stars on a blue background” initially adopted by the Council of Europe in 1955, was gradually embraced by the European Union (EU) institutions and now is a widely known symbol of the EU, both within and outside of its external borders. Its widespread use was supposed to support the construction of “European identity” in addition to the existing national identities of the peoples of Europe. The present chapter explores the history and semantics of the European banner in order to appreciate its reception by the European citizens. Drawing from the historical circumstances of its adoption, the chapter then proceeds with the discussion on the use of the “EU flag” in two non-EU countries: Moldova and Serbia. A brief overview of the historical and current political contexts in these jurisdictions explores whether the use of the European symbol in these countries contributed to the “unity in diversity” as the motto of the EU suggests.

The book deals with the identification of “identity” based on culturally specific color codes and images that conceal assumptions about members of a people comprising a nation, or a people within a nation. Flags narrate constructions of belonging that become tethered to negotiations for power and resistance over time and throughout a people’s history. Bennet (2005) defines identity as “the imagined sameness of a person or social group at all times and in all circumstances”. While such likeness may be imagined or even perpetuated, the idea of sameness may be socially, politically, culturally, and historically contested to reveal competing pasts and presents. Visually evocative and ideologically representative, flags are recognized symbols fusing color with meaning that prescribe a story of unity. Yet, through semiotic confrontation, there may be different paths leading to different truths and applications of significance. Knowing this and their function, the book investigates these transmitted values over time and space. Indeed, flags may have evolved in key historical periods, but contemporaneously transpire in a variety of ways. The book investigates these transmitted values: Which values are being transmitted? Have their colors evolved through space and time? Is there a shift in cultural and/or collective meaning from one space to another? What are their sources? What is the relationship between law and flags in their visual representations? What is the shared collective and/or cultural memory beyond this visual representation? Considering the complexity and diversity in the building of a common memory with flags, the book interrogates the complex color-coded sign system of particular flags and their meanings attentive to a complex configuration of historical, social and cultural conditions that shift over time.

Flags have been around for centuries; however, vexillology, the study of flags, was not officially coined until the 1960s. Despite this, there is still a need for more scientific and empirical research. Using qualitative arts-based research (ABR) methodology, this study investigates the creative journey of students in an undergraduate geography course as they design a flag for a place of their choosing. Students were asked to interpret the concept of ‘place’ through their flag designs while also incorporating flag design principles. The results showed that participants selected places tied to themes such as hometown, family, love, memories, and culture often reflecting on their personal histories and narratives. Their flag designs incorporated symbols representing aspects of the selected location such as nature, culture, economy, history, and national elements. Overall, the participants viewed the concept of ‘place’ as an emotional construct that is shaped by important memories and life changing moments. Through their designs, the participants explored the concept of place as more than just a physical location. ‘Place’ was a space filled with emotions and personal

In the mid-twentieth century scholars in the United States began to examine American society through the lens of civil religion, a term first coined by Jean-Jacques Rousseau in the eighteenth century. Although much of the discussion focused on civil religion in the US, other scholars began to recognise that a civil religion also existed in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. While American civil religion developed organically within all strata of society, it can be argued that in the Soviet Union there was a deliberate strategy to use civil religion as a tool to replace established religion, and to create a single sense of Soviet identity among a geographically-dispersed and ethnically-diverse population. Most studies on Soviet civil religion have focused on communist rites and rituals, and the ‘cult’ of Lenin. Few scholars have examined the elaborate system of symbols that were essential to reinforcing Soviet civil religion so that it became an everyday aspect of life in the USSR. This thesis seeks to fill that gap by examining the simvolika, or set of symbols, of the Soviet Union. While the official state symbols included the Soviet flag, state emblem, and national anthem, the set of symbols that were vital to the practice of Soviet civil religion was much more extensive. This study will examine the usage of an array of flags, seals, symbolic elements, imagery, and motifs that were essential to the socialisation of children and the reinforcement of Soviet civil religion in adulthood. Finally, it will examine the symbolic legacies of the USSR in the countries that were once part of the Soviet Union.

In under a century of existence, the Republic of Iraq has adopted seven national flags. The circumstances of these modifications occurred under times of tremendous political transformation following wars and military coups. The evolution of Iraqi vexillology often corresponded to sub-national violence and direct challenges to state authority. This thesis considers Iraqi identity through the lens of its national flags and iconography from 1921 to 2017. It argues that Iraqi flags and iconography constitute an archive revealing a national identity organized around an emphasis on ethnicity and transhistorical relationships.

Find the full proceedings of ICV27 London 2017 free to view or download in PDF format. 43 speakers, 800 pages, 1000+ illustrations.

Proceedings of the 26th International Congress of Vexillology (ICV 26) which was held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, from 31 August - 4 September 2015.

"Ireland's most active genealogical society" The home of the Genealogical Society of Ireland Cumann Geinealais na hÉireann, Heraldry Ireland (Araltas Éireann), Vexillology Ireland (Brateolaíocht Éireann), and the Irish DNA Atlas—welcoming all to explore Genealogy, Heraldry, Vexillolo

Corporación Nacional de Vexilología de Chile