NATIONAL ANTHEMS AND IDENTITIES: THE ROLE OF NATIONAL ANTHEMS IN THE FORMATION PROCESS OF NATIONAL IDENTITIES Maria Isabel Mayo-Harp B.A. (Hom.) Instituto Tecnologico Authorno de México, 1994 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUTREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS In the Department of Political Science O Maria Isabel Mayo-Harp 2001 SMON FRASER UNIVERSITY July 200 1 Al1 rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. 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Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Abstract The issue of how nations came to being has been extensively covered by social scientists. Many academics have considered the expansion of print media since the lare eighteenth century as the main factor in the emergence of nation-states in Europe and Latin America. Specifically, they have pointed out the important role of novels and newspapers as the main vehicles for national consciousness formation. However, this thesis contends that they alone cannot explain the great dissemination of national feelings or nationalism düring that century. This thesis explains the important role that national anthems have played in the process of national emergence, and how, although more restrictive in number and extension than the novel, they acted as effective transmitters of national ideologies. The study not oniy describes the different functions of national anthems and the way they can evoke popular feelings and emotions; it also quantitatively analyzes their textua1 content and, in a specific way, covers the circumstances of the emergence of Spanish Arnerican nations while looking particularly at the Mexican national anthem. The period of study is primarily the nineteenth century; however, its implications cm be extrapolated to present days. Ultimately, this thesis conciudes that while national anthems are created by elites seeking to reach some specific goals, they are, at the same time, authentic expressions of popuIar identity. 1 conciude that further research on the role of national anthems in present nationalistic movements and conflicts should be undertaken. iii To my parents, Carlos and Celia Mayo, and to my husband, Francisco F. Harp. Acknowledgements 1 wouid like to thank my senior supervisor, Dr. David Laycock, for his patience in reading the earlier drafts of this thesis, for his interest and concern to bring to my attention valuable references, above al1 for his comments that help shape the central ideas of this essay. I would also like to thank Dr. Maureen Covell for her input on earlier drafts of this research. Her constant support, straightforward manner and attention to my best interests were niost appreciated. 1 am gratefi~lto Dr. Paul Warwick for his statisticd consultation, and to Dr. Antonio Gornez-Moriana for his guidance and constructive criticism. Thanks go to Liliana Hill, for her unending patience and the generous arnounts of time she gave to my rnanuscripts. Finally, 1 would IiKe to thank rny husband Francisco, who has lived through this study with me, and my parents, Carlos and Celia, who have supported me ail the way. Table of Contents Chapter 1. Introduction: National Anthems and Collective Identity. 1 1.1. Violence and Rationality 1.2. National Symbols and Identities 1.3. What Are National Anthems? 1.4. The Sccial-Political Functions of National Anthems 1S. Syrnbolic Communication 1.6. Chapters Outline Chapter 2. The Formation of National Identities during the Nineteenth Century 2.1. What is a Nation? 2.2. The Emergence of Nations in the Nineteenth Century: The Role of Novels and Newspapers 22.1. Some points to be considered 2.3. The Emergence of Nations in the Nineteenth Century: The Role of National Anthems 2.3.1. Language standardization, common use of words, names and phrases, and delimitation of members 2.3.2. "Homogeneous, empty the" and the introduction of an ancient and continuous history 2.3.3. The popular hero 2.4. The Next Step Chapter 3. A Quantitative Analysis 3.1. A Formal Analysis of National Anthems as Texts 3 -2. Dependent Variables 3.2.1. Anthem's Content 3-22Anthem's Grade of Bellicosity 3 -2.3.Anthem's Length 3.3. Independent Variables 3.3. I . Spatial variable 3.3.2. Social variables 3.3.3. Temporal variables 3 -4. National Anthem's Content 3.5. Anthem's Structure: Grade of Bellicosity and Length 3.5.1. The role of Region 3.5.2. The role of language 3.5.3. The role of Colonial Powers 3.5.4. The role of Religion 3.5.5. The role of Sociai Events 3.5.6. The role of Political Arrangement 3.6. The multivariate Models 3.6.1. Anthem's Bellicosity: Muitivariate Model 3 -6.2. Anthem' s Length: Multivariate Model 3.7. Conclusion Chapter 4. The Spanish American Anthems 4.1. The Spanish American Anthems: The Highest Scores 4.2. Spanish-American Anthem's Bellicosity 4.3. Spanish-Arnerican Anthems' Length 4.3.1. Low Focus Events: Conservatives vs Liberals 4.4. A Case Study: The Mexican National Anthem 3.4.1. A bt-ief quantitative introduction 4.4.2. The Political Anarchy 4.4.3. The External Interventions 4.4.4. The Mexican Anthem's Popular Acceptance 4.5. Conclusion Chapter 5. Conclusions: Nations and Anthems 5.1. Principal Findings 5.2. Future Perspectives Appendix A Variables Data Appendix B Bellicose Words Appendix C Statistical Tables Bi bliography vii List of Tables Table 3.1. Anthern' s Content Table 3.2. Grade of Bellicosity Table 3.3. Anthem's Length Table 3.4. Lambda Measures 69 Table 3.5. Categorical Regression 7 1 Table 3.6. Percentage of bellicose words and number of verses by Region 76 Table 3.7. Percentage of bellicose words and number of verses by Lnnguage 78 Table 3 -8. Percentage of bellicose words and number of verses by Col. Power 80 Table 3.9. Percentage of bellicose words and number of verses by Religion 82 Table 3.10. Percentage of bellicose words and number of verses by Social Event 83 Table 3.1 1. Percentage of bellicose words and number of verses by Politicai Arrangement Table 3.12. Linear Regression (Stepwise rnethod) Dependent Variable: Anthem' s bellicosi ty Table 3.13. Linear Rezression (S tepwise method) Dependent Variable: Anthem's bellicosity Table 3.14. Linear Regression (S tepwise method) Dependent Variable: Anthem's length Table 3.15. Linear Regression (Stepwise method) Dependent Variable: Anthem's Length Table 4.1. Groups with the Highest Scores .. Vlll Chapter 1 Introduction: National Anthems and Collective Identity Like other national spbols, national anthems are labels by which nations identify themselves. But they are much more than that. Through them, it is possible to identify each nation's identity and bring a sense of concreteness to the highly abstract notior. of "nation". In :his thesis, 1 will explain the important role that national anthems have played in the process of national formation, and how, although more restrictive in number and extension than the novel, they acted as effective transmitters of national ideologies. The study not only describes the different functions of national anthems and the way they can evoke popular feelings and emotions, it also quantitatively analyzes their textual content and, in a specific way, covers the circumstances of the emergence of Spanish American nations while looking particularly at the Mexican national anthem. The period of study is primarily the nineteenth century; however, its implications can be extrapolated to present days. 1.1. Violence and Rationality Political history has been largely dominated by mass violence and by great efforts to deal with hopes and material goals. At the sarne time, entire communities do not show signs of protest activity to oppressive conditions and at some other times they even passionately defend those social and political institutions that exploit them. Collective actions that are violent are easy to analyze and understand if their goal is an increasing of material goods, or a better condition of life, in other words, if they are clearly "rational". But how to explain those social movements around Islamic 1 fùndarnentalism in Iran, or liberation theology in Haiti in which the participants repeatedly sacrifice not only their materiai rewards, but also their lives? How to understand the enthusiastic support for despotic regimes or those large-scde massacres in Russia, Spain, Indonesia, Armenia or the former Yugoslavia during the Iast century? When rational and materialist models confront these types of questions, they sometimes turn to non-rational explanations, and "we may be told that nationalism transformed hearts and minds - but not why and how."' It is not enough to explain pditical behaviour and social change as a response of rational individuals. That would be, in the majority of the cases, simplistic and misleading.