The Importance Of National Culture

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The term “national culture” is too expansive to describe because it absorbs and crosses many dimensions that cannot be specifically tagged to it. In a broad sense, “national culture” can be defined as a sense of attachment to things, lands, buildings (architecture) and landscaping that can construct a sense of belonging to a country commonly known as national identity or nationhood. In his article, Zubrzycki (2010) feels that nationalist scholars often referred the term “national culture” to signify language, ethnicity and traditions of a population of a nation. Just as how he puts it, “national culture” is used to build nationhood and this term today, is constantly being fiercely cared for and protected by social actors to preserve what is …show more content…

In Australia, Australia Day marks an important national celebration to commemorate the arrival of the first British fleet to reach Port Jackson in 1788 in New South Wales and to mark the celebration of the diverse society and landscape of the country, reflections on the history of Australia, citizenship ceremonies and welcoming new immigrants to the Australian community; all aimed to give meaning to be an Australian (ABC website). In hope to make every Singaporean an inclusive citizen, the government created and championed SG50 as a national project that provides massive celebration funding for arts and cultural ideas contributed by the people to mark 50 years of Singapore’s independence. Regardless of country, O’Regan stressed that cultural and media policies are often used to protect the concept of national identity or nationhood. Adding on to this, Hobsbawm (1983) reinforced that nationhood is constructed through the invention of tradition (Hobsbawm, 1983). He posited that the “invented tradition” refers to governed practices or rules and rituals that are socially accepted in order to instill “certain values and norms of behavior by repetition, which automatically implies continuity with the past” (Hobsbawm 1983, 1). Hobsbawn referred this as the deliberate performance of “the elites to generate a common national culture that is supportive of the political system” (Hobsbawn 1983, 1) and not risk disintegration of the country. This crucial concept defines loyalty to a nation and can be personified in characterizing the national culture of a

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