I would argue against von Herder\u2019s statement that having a national identity is natural and rather for what he points out earlier: that man can find identity with family, and even villages. This is how people still live in many African \u201cnations\u201d and in Middle Eastern \u201cstates\u201d. They would rather identify with their family and their village than a national government. In Nigeria, for example, only people who worked in a government agency during the transition period from England governing them to becoming a self-governing nation actually recognized the authority of the state. Most people aren\u2019t concerned with national identity or politics in Nigeria. Rather, they only concern themselves with local affairs. Chinua Achebe, a social commentator on life in Nigeria, wrote a book called \u201cNo Longer at Ease\u201d where the main character gets a job with the government in Lagos and must repay an overwhelming amount of debts to his family and his village who sent him to school in England to get an education. He begins to take bribes and ends up being caught and punished. He finds that he would rather support people who are close to him rather than abide by the laws of the nation. This example is meant to convey the point that developing a national identity is in fact not natural. This is not to say that government itself is unnatural, but rather that with a large collection of people, there are bound to be some who reject the idea of a national identity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I would argue against von Herder\u2019s statement that having a national identity is natural and rather for what he points out earlier: that man can find identity with family, and even villages. This is how people still live in many … Continue reading