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Postage Stamps As Carriers of National Imaginaries

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Postage Stamps As Carriers of National Imaginaries Post-Nationalism: Postage Stamps as Carriers of National Imaginaries Henio Pablo Luis Hoyo Prohuber Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of Political and Social Sciences of the European University Institute Florence, October 2013 European University Institute Department of Political and Social Sciences Post-Nationalism: Postage Stamps as Carriers of National Imaginaries Henio Pablo Luis Hoyo Prohuber Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of Political and Social Sciences of the European University Institute Examining Board Prof. Rainer Bauböck, European University Institute (Supervisor) Prof. Mauricio Tenorio, University of Chicago (Co-supervisor) Prof. Pavel Kolář, European University Institute Prof. Stephan Leibfried, University of Bremen © Hoyo, 2013 No part of this thesis may be copied, reproduced or transmitted without prior permission of the author Abstract Despite their immense potential as information sources, postage stamps have been virtually ignored in academic research. Therefore, in this thesis I study how official national imaginaries have been promoted through iconographic and written messages in postage stamps; how such messages are linked to the ideology, interests and goals of political elites; and how competing elites and groups with relative power within the state try to influence such official ideas about the nation. The thesis is divided in three sections. The first presents a theoretical framework for the study of national imaginaries. It also presents the properties of stamps that made them ideal ‘carriers’ of ideological propaganda. The second section analyses a random sample of 1,000 stamps by means of a typology of ideological messages. It was found that the vast majority of stamps are carrying messages related to the features, composition, and historical development of the nation that issued the stamp. Then, these ‘nationalist’ stamps were further studied by means of a second typology, in order to differentiate the particular aspects of the nation that were promoted in each stamp. The third section analyses the political goals and processes behind nationalist messages in stamps. For that, both the United Kingdom during 1950-1970 and post-revolutionary Mexico were studied using process-tracing methodology. It was found that, while the most important actors are still the ruling elites, other actors such as competing elites, local authorities, pressure groups or social organizations will also try to influence the messages about the nation in stamps. A relevant finding is that intermediate structures, such as middle-range public officers in postal institutions, can have a key role not only in the promotion, but also in the shaping of official national imaginaries. i ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ............................................................................................................................................. i Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... xiii Chapter I: Why, and how, should we look at stamps? ........................................... 1 Puzzles ............................................................................................................................................. 2 Goals, research question and hypotheses ......................................................................................... 4 Methodological considerations ........................................................................................................ 6 Methodological option one: a focus on messages in stamps ................................................... 6 Methodological option two: focus on the politics of stamps ................................................... 7 Methodological election: mixed methods .................................................................................... 8 Research outline ............................................................................................................................... 9 Selected cases and rationale ....................................................................................................... 10 Relevance of the research .............................................................................................................. 12 Chapter II: The difussion of national imaginaries ................................................. 15 Introduction: imagining peoples .................................................................................................... 15 Social and national imaginaries ..................................................................................................... 15 Imaginaries or discourses? ......................................................................................................... 17 What is a national imaginary? .................................................................................................... 17 Defining elements of the nation ............................................................................................. 18 Components of a national imaginary ..................................................................................... 20 How to spread a national imaginary? ............................................................................................. 23 National symbols........................................................................................................................ 23 Carriers of nationalist messages ................................................................................................. 27 Chapter III: Stamps and their messages ................................................................... 33 Mail and stamps: an overview ....................................................................................................... 33 Stamps and mail: historical overview ........................................................................................ 33 Towards an international convergence of mail (and stamp) practices ....................................... 37 Stamps as means of propaganda .................................................................................................... 41 A (minimal) state of the art ........................................................................................................ 42 Stamps as carriers of messages: the classic arguments .............................................................. 47 Official character .................................................................................................................... 47 International scope ................................................................................................................. 48 Stamps as carriers of messages: further reasons and factors ..................................................... 51 Straightforward but versatile .................................................................................................. 51 Centralizing and national... .................................................................................................... 53 ...yet (relatively) individual .................................................................................................... 54 Therefore: why stamps? ............................................................................................................. 55 Chapter IV: Analysis of a postage stamp sample .................................................. 57 A word about sources ..................................................................................................................... 57 Postal authorities and stamps selected ........................................................................................... 60 Types of stamps studied ............................................................................................................. 62 Ordinary, commemorative and special series ........................................................................ 63 Other types included .............................................................................................................. 66 Stamps excluded from the analysis ........................................................................................ 69 Temporality ................................................................................................................................ 71 Stamps according to their ideological messages ............................................................................ 71 iii Non-ideological stamps.............................................................................................................. 74 Minimalist stamps .................................................................................................................. 74 Neutral content ....................................................................................................................... 75 Ideological stamps...................................................................................................................... 75 Marxist-inspired content ........................................................................................................ 76 Religious content.................................................................................................................... 77 Civic content .........................................................................................................................
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