Results | International Vexillological Index (preview version 1)

Fozdar, Farida. 2021. “Flagging Exclusionary Nationalism.” In Flags, Color, and the Legal Narrative: Public Memory, Identity, and Critique, edited by Anne Wagner and Sarah Marusek. Law and Visual Jurisprudence. Springer International Publishing. Springer Nature Link. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32865-8_8.

After an outline of the history, design and uses of the Australian flag, this paper considers the media frenzy and public outcry surrounding the publication of research findings identifying a relationship between the flying of Australian flags on cars for Australia Day and racist attitudes. While the findings did not surprise many social scientists, given the semiotics of the flag and its increasing use as a symbol of exclusion, they were apparently highly contentious for portions of the Australian public. This paper describes and analyses the public reaction using three case studies from among the hundreds of examples. An email, a blog discussion, and a newspaper article, are analysed to demonstrate overlapping themes focussed on racism, patriotism, and nationalism. The chapter concludes that the publicity flagging the relationship between flag use and exclusionary nationalism actually may have worked against the goal of producing a considered debate about appropriate forms of nationalism and flag use, delivering the flag into the hands of exclusionary nationalist.

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Duchesne, Sophie. 2018. “Who’s Afraid of Banal Nationalism?” Nations and Nationalism 24 (4): 841–56. Wiley Online Library. https://doi.org/10.1111/nana.12457.

Michael Billig's book, Banal Nationalism, published in 1995, has a significant international reputation and is one of the books most commonly quoted in Anglophone studies on nationalism. This article follows on from the various books and articles that were published for the 20th anniversary of the book and underlines the way in which the posterity of this thesis is partly based on a misunderstanding, or a misappropriation. In a context in which the end of nations seemed imminent, Banal Nationalism aimed to demonstrate that, on the contrary, nationalism was indeed spread massively and invisibly throughout the world, and particularly in established Western democracies. Yet today this book is considered one of the founding texts of the bottom-up approach to national identity, which puts individuals at the heart of the fabrication of nations. This article discusses how this interpretation has come about.

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Billig, Michael. 2017. “Banal Nationalism and the Imagining of Politics.” In Everyday Nationhood: Theorising Culture, Identity and Belonging after Banal Nationalism, edited by Michael Skey and Marco Antonsich. Palgrave Macmillan UK. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57098-7_15.

In this chapter, Michael Billig re-assesses the strengths and weaknesses of Banal Nationalism, responds to some of the arguments put forward in the other chapters in this collection and outlines some possible ways in which research on the topic might proceed.

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Orr, Graeme. 2010. “A Fetished Gift: The Legal Status of Flags.” Griffith Law Review 19 (3): 504–26. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10383441.2010.10854686.

Accounts of the relationship between flags and the law have focused on a narrow strain of contentions drawn from debates about political expression. This essay seeks to bridge the gap between cultural studies’ insight into nationalism and its symbolics, and the flag’s legal status, to better understand the unique position occupied by national flags. Flag ‘waving’ has become more prevalent in many liberal democracies. In such societies, flags occupy not a religious role, but a quiet and quotidian place in what Billig terms ‘banal nationalism’. As a cipher for the whole, a particular flag’s design is relatively unimportant; what lends it power is a mix of the gravity bestowed by its official designation and the easy commodification lent by a flag’s easy reproducibility and portability. Unlike other state symbols such as the currency, coat of arms and honorifics, the state does not seek to monopolise the flag’s use, let alone define its meaning. An analysis of the laws in several countries governing flag designation, observance and ‘desecration’ reveals that the law accords the flag distinct status yet only equivocal protection. While the state may crave its citizens’ fealty, a flag is not a symbol of some distant governmentality. Rather, it is gifted to ‘the people’ and relies for its relevance on its organic proliferation. As both object and image, people attribute a power to the flag – a power they recognise over themselves and others with whom they share a body politic. A key source of this fetishisation is its official, legal designation. Though it embodies no particular values, a flag is valued, even fetishised, by flag-wavers and flag-burners alike.

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Smith, Whitney. 2006. “Political Symbolism.” The Flag Bulletin: The International Journal of Vexillology (Winchester, Massachusetts) No. 223, volume 45, #1 (February): 2–36.

Vexillology is defined by many organizations - including the lnternational Federation of Vexillological Associations and the North American Vexillological Association - as the "scientific study of flags." Exactly what that means is not clear to many. This article presents an overview history, exemplifying many of the issues involved in vexillologicalstudy and suggesting options for future development.

Smith, Whitney. 2001. “National Symbols.” In Encyclopedia of Nationalism, edited by Alexander J. Motyl, v. 1. Fundamental Themes. Academic Press.

Berry, Bruce Beresford. 2011. “Flagging Rhodesia’s Identity Through the Symbols of Settlers (1890-1980).” Doctoral thesis, University of Pretoria. University of Pretoria: Research Output. https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/82748.

This thesis analyses the symbolic changes in the expression of white Rhodesian identity from the arrival of the settlers in 1890 and subsequent establishment of the Colony until the independence of Zimbabwe in 1980. It examines the concepts of ‘nation’ and ‘identity’. It is generally agreed that national symbols, such as flags, anthems, coats of arms, and the like, not only represent the ‘nation’ but also condense and express the values, history and memories associated with it. The thesis argues that initially Rhodesians considered and identified themselves to be quintessentially British and loyal members of the Empire which was demonstrated through the use of Imperial symbols such as the Crown and the Union Jack. However, following the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) in November 1965, the need for a more distinctive local identity became more acute as the country moved to sever its imperial links and became ostracised on the international stage. A new panoply of symbols was adopted to reflect this change, the most visible and long-lasting of which was the new Rhodesian flag. The flag continues to be the most emotional and contested symbol of post-UDI Rhodesian identity to this day.

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