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The study of Haitian Vodou—imagining its historical development, interpreting the poetics of its mythology, analyzing its social functions—leads, almost invariably, to the consideration of the effects of hegemony. The symbolic representations and actual manifestations of local and global power have continually impacted Vodou. The aesthetics and ritual implications of Vodou flags (drapo Vodou) in many ways encapsulate the social and political history of Haiti; a past marked by displacement, fragmentation, simulation, and hybridization. This dissertation is presented as a focused study of drapo Vodou in which I examine how the flags embody or signify the adaptive merging of African and European cultural behaviors. In my analysis, I concentrate on evolution and iconography of drapo Vodou and the stylized ways that banners are paraded during ceremonies. These foci offer perhaps the most direct means of getting at the full historical, social, and theological implications of the flags. My central thesis is that, in both form and function, drapo Vodou are patterned after the banners used by the institutional centers of power (e.g. the military and the church) that have dominated Haitian society since the colonial period. I argue that the national and regimental standards carried by colonial and post-colonial military forces, the processional banners employed by Catholic religious orders, and the ensigns used by Masonic lodges have all served, to varying degrees, as models for drapo Vodou. Each of these root traditions, it can be argued, is patently European in origin. Nonetheless, as used in Vodou rites, ceremonial flags play a crucial role in the continued recognition and worship of African or African-inspired deities (lwa ) within Haiti. For this reason, I believe that the study of drapo provides a unique opportunity to delve into the processes by which Vodou practitioners (Vodouists) have transformed European material representations of power (both mundane and otherworldly) into symbolic manifestations of the lwa. The hypotheses regarding the evolution, iconography, and ritual significance of drapo Vodou presented in this dissertation are based on data generated from library and museum research in the United States and fieldwork in Haiti.

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

Сонцето и лавот како симболи се појавуваат во материјалната и духовната култура во Македонија од памтивек. Предмет на истражување во оваа теза се лавот и сонцето како симболи, со посебен осврт на нивната употреба на знамиња и грбови поврзани со Македонија. Истражувањето опфаќа два периода, периодот пред формирањето на Македонската држава, до 1944 година и периодот до денес. Темата е мултидисциплинарна, па затоа се земаат предвид етнолошки, историски, социјални, социолошки, правни и политички аспекти. Целта на истражувањето е да се опише и класифицира типологијата на атрибутите на сонцето и лавот и на тој начин да се провери нивниот континуитет до денес, како симболи за идентификација на територијата и колективот, изразени на грбови и знамиња. Лавот како симбол се среќава на грбовите и знамињата, главно од средниот век до почетокот на 20 век, поврзан со припишаниот грб на Александар Македонски. Сонцето како симбол се наоѓа на грбовите и знамињата во Македонија од почетокот на 20 век, главно како симбол на слободата и новиот свет (систем). The sun and the lion as symbols appear in the material and spiritual culture in Macedonia from time immemorial. The subject of research in this thesis is the lion and the sun as symbols, with particular reference to their use on flags and coat of arms connected to Macedonia. The research covers two periods, the period before the formation of the Macedonian state, until 1944 and the period until the present. The topic is multidisciplinary, so ethnological, historical, social, sociological, legal and political aspects are taken into account. The purpose of the research is to describe and classify the typology of the attributes of the sun and the lion and thus to check their continuity to date, as symbols for identification of territory and collective, expressed on coats of arms and flags. The lion as a symbol is found on the coats of arms and flags, mainly from the Middle Ages until the beginning of the 20th century, connected with the attributed coat of arms of Alexander the Great. The sun as a symbol is located on the coats of arms and flags in Macedonia from the beginning of the 20th century, mainly as a symbol of freedom and the new world (system).

The object of this thesis is to demonstrate that non-verbal symbols, and in particular national flags, have an essential part in the establishment and management of national identity. It is contended that political legitimacy is derived in part from the national self-presentation and that this presentation can be managed by exploiting the full rangeof the national panoply, i.e., the full range of non-verbal symbols available. In terms of penetration and reciprocation as they form a discourse between the elite and the population flags and related items form a body of material that is easy to handle and to comprehend. But they are also capable of being charged with affective overtones which require care and skill in handling. Key concepts with regard to symbols as hitherto dealt with in social science will be derived from a number of authors who have dealt with the nature of identity and identity crises as part of the modernisation process applicable to nation states. These include Edelman and Pye and the contributors to the 'Crises and Sequences' school of political science. In addition the work of Mosse, Firth, Weitman, Zelinsky, Hobsbawm and Ranger, and other authors who have come closest to the subject under review, will also be examined for contributions in the form of concepts and analytical tools. Also to be examined is the work of modern professional image-makers operating in the commercial world to see what techniques and methods they can deploy successfully. The next stage will be to examine three major identity crises, as exemplified by the American, French and Russian Revolutions to see what efforts, if any, were made by the elite to control and shape their self-presentation and what reciprocation they evinced from their populations.

Depuis toujours, les sociétés humaines se déterminent et s’identifient au moyen de symboles. Les drapeaux sont aujourd’hui la forme la plus visible de cette identification. Les couleurs, les dessins qu’ils comportent nous apportent une lecture précieuse susceptible de nous éclairer sur le passé, le présent et le devenir des peuples. Les drapeaux nous offrent en même temps un précieux auxiliaire permettant de comprendre la direction de l’actualité mondiale. La fin de l’URSS en 1991 et la multiplication des drapeaux sur son territoire nous donne une parfaite illustration de cette perpétuelle quête humaine, à savoir son besoin de s’identifier et la justification de sa raison d'exister ici-bas. La preuve nous est en même temps donnée du caractère indispensable de la vexillologie dans la compréhension des sciences humaines. Human societies have always defined and identified themselves through symbols. Today, flags represent the most visible form of this identification. The colors and designs they feature offer valuable insights into the past, present, and future of peoples. At the same time, flags serve as a valuable tool for understanding the direction of global events. The collapse of the USSR in 1991 and the proliferation of flags across its former territory provide a perfect illustration of this perpetual human quest—namely, the need for identity and the justification of one's reason for existence. This also demonstrates the indispensable role of vexillology in understanding the human sciences.

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.

This thesis focuses on the preservation and interpretation of Alabama Confederate battle flags, mainly those at the Alabama Department of Archives and History. I study the complex history of Confederate flags, along with the now almost singularly known ‘Rebel flag’, in order to better understand modern day preservation and interpretation attempts both at the ADAH and other historic venues across the United States. This thesis explores the society that existed before the Civil War in the southern United States and how that unique culture was eventually tangibly embodied within those flags. I also research the wartime use of Confederate flags to understand what they meant in the context of those times and how they were used as utilitarian military objects in combat, but took on greater meaning and developed in to a source of pride for the men who fought under them. I then explore the post war history of the flags, from their repatriation to archival repositories across the South, to their use by the KKK, and their place in Southern culture. Finally, I briefly explore contemporary issues concerning the flags and how those factors influence their preservation and interpretation. Lastly, I discuss the latest trends at the ADAH concerning the preservation and interpretation of Alabama Confederate flags.

The Australian national flag is the primary symbol of the nation. The flag produces and reproduces national identity through its presence in all spheres of the public domain. This thesis is an examination into the national flag’s representational force. It focuses on how the flag makes meaning in accordance with dominant discourses of nation and nationhood through an analysis of its uses and applications across a range of institutional sites. The thesis also takes into consideration the meaning-making potential of the national flag for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This work deploys a wide-range of historical and contemporary sources that include art and literary responses to the flag. The thesis also draws on a range of theoretical works on nation alongside the use of vexillology as a focused study of flags. A critique of the messages and meanings that the Australian national flag transmits raises important questions pertaining to the way the nation is constructed and maintained. While the thesis does not proffer a definitive solution to the many complexities surrounding Australian national identity, it offers the opportunity for further study as debates about changing the flag continue to circulate in the public sphere.

During the last two centuries the authenticity of Francisco Pizarro’s Banner of Arms preserved by the National Museum of Colombia has been under discussion. The Banner collected in 1825 by General Sucre, has been catalogued as an unique object part of the history in the reunion of two societies, the Old and the New World. By first time a multi-analytical research is done to the Banner. Chromatographic, spectroscopic and microscopic techniques are combined with radiocarbon dating to characterize the different material components of the object and clarified it age and provenance. The analytic results with the historical documentation, allow to postulate that the Banner comes from an European manufacture, around the 16th century, arriving to America’s lands possibly by Pizarro’s expedition. Nevertheless, the Banner does not represent to Pizarro. In contrast, by the Banner manufacture, elements (weaved degummed silk, natural dyes (brazil wood, cochineal, indigotin and luteolin base) and silver gilded threads) and the coat of arms present on it, it is possible to postulate that the Banner represents the Royal Banner of the America’s Conquest under the Crown of the King of Spain Charles V to symbolize his Realm in the New World.

This thesis provides an analysis of the history of the new South African flag of 1994. It presents an overview account of the South African flag legacy from the early colonial period through to the first national flag of the Union of South Africa in 1928. Its main concern however is the process which culminated in the raising of a new national flag on 27 April 1994. It shows how the flag issue was integral to the negotiations aimed at addressing South Africa’s political future and it is within this context that it sets out the steps taken to address the matter. It also recounts how the process initially floundered before the current design - which has become one of the primary graphic symbols of identification for the new South Africa and its people - finally came into being. Despite the initial reaction to the design, it unpacks the extent to which the flag has been embraced by the South African population at large which has far exceeded expectation. Apart from its visual success, the flag is symbolic of the convergence and unification which is inextricably linked to the freedom and democracy which the new political dispensation encapsulated.

This dissertation engages America's illustrated sheet music through topical analyses of political and social ruptures from the Civil War to World War I. In so doing, it demonstrates that music illustrations fit into larger networks of American picture making, participating in the recording and redirecting of contemporary American anxieties. Chapter 1: Bloody Banner, Silent Drum: The Material Wounded on Civil War Sheet Music argues that violated flags and drums in music illustrations transcended their martial functionality to signify loss of innocence and life; in so doing, they took on their own subjectivity. Chapter 2: Banjos, Rifles, and Razors: Picturing American Blackness investigates the transition from black-face minstrel songs to the "coon song craze" of the 1880s and 1890s, arguing that the stock character's razor, a weapon frequently figured in the songs, was not only a symbol of violence but of white fears of black social mobility. Chapter 3: Hoopskirts and Handlebars: Gender Construction and Transgression in Victorian America offers two case studies, one of cross-dressing pictures after the Civil War, the other of gendered bicycle images, arguing that the American public between the war and the turn of the century enjoyed contemplating the flexibility of gender roles and boundaries. Chapter 4: "There Were Giants in the Earth": Monsters of the First World War argues that popular pictures of American giants and monstrous war machines engaged in symbolic battle with monstrous Huns, who symbolized German atrocity for a Euro-American public uncomfortable with the idea of war with European peoples. At the same time, giants represented the common belief of America's special role in international peace, as neutrality gave way to declared war. Sheet music illustration was a vibrant part of American visual culture. By assessing the layered meanings of these often ignored pictures, my dissertation seeks to recover and restore lost memories of America's usual but fraught visual romance with popular song.

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.

The central themes of this thesis are to highlight the importance of national symbols and ceremonies in the formation of nations and national identities, and examine how they contribute to the expressions of nationhood. The research has been conducted by means of a systematic investigation of national symbols and ceremonies, analysed as an integral part of identity-making, maintenance and change. The focus is on the contemporary European nations, and conclusions have been drawn with regard to their symbolism and ceremonies. The overall study has been complemented by three case studies; of Britain, France, Norway, with Germany as an analytical counter-case. Throughout this thesis evidence will be provided to the effect that national symbols and ceremonies express deeper aspects and meanings of the nation, and function as integrative and/or divisive forces. Moreover, national symbols and ceremonies form a central part of a `secular' religion which provides anchorage in a dynamic world. National symbols and ceremonies also have an effect upon the community they represent; that is, they raise collective consciousness of `who we are' and `where we are from'. Finally, it has been argued that nations cannot be dated in a precise manner since they come into being by stages, marked by the adoption of national symbols, such as the national flag and the national day. These stages have been linked to three main symbolic regimes (termed `old', `modem' and `new') and understood as a function of national independence and continuity, the implication being that the whole process of nation building forms a complex that is constituted along a continuum of re-discovery and invention.

This study traces the socio-historical developments and modifications of uses, customs, and rituals associated with the national banner of the United States of America from the first Flag Resolution of 1777 through the Second National Flag Conference of 1924. Commitment to the flag is something culturally determined; this study re-examines the history of the American flag in light of this theoretical foundation, and emphasizes contributions of various individuals, organizations, and institutions to the shifting uses of the banner by American society. Military and naval uses predominated in the eighteenth century, but as the nineteenth century continued the significance of the American flag grew in patriotic music, literature, artwork, rhetoric, and demonstrations. The firing on Ft. Sumter triggered a sudden elevation of the flag to most honored status in American civil religion. Following the Civil War, veterans' organizations, hereditary societies, and popular children's magazines all participated in a movement known as the cult of the flag, placing flags in public schools and instituting rituals such as "The Pledge of Allegiance." Flag desecration statutes sought to curb the exploitation of the American flag in the growing field of advertising in the early twentieth century. Following the First World War, the American Legion gathered representatives of influential patriotic and military organizations to officially establish a national code of flag etiquette.

If the study of politics is to warrant the denomination of political science, it must encompass within its scope any and all phenomena which may be legitimately be called political. Actors, institutions, behavior, conditions, and procedures must be identified and related to one another and their impact on the political process, great or small, must be demonstrated. To the extent that this has not been done, the task of the political scientist is incomplete. Those in the discipline aware of its shortcomings with regard to such catholicity have undertaken extensive new work in recent decades, as a result of which our knowledge of political behaviour has been immeasurably broadened. It would be a mistake, however, to believe that all possible avenues of research have now been opened. One aspect of politics long ignored--and even now only very imperfectly understood--is symbolism. The primary task of this work is to demonstrate that political symbolism is a valid subject and that its study is worthwhile.