Discovering new and old forms of the national after 1989: Lessons from Germany and other European cases

The current re-emergence of the “national theme”, of identity and commemoration politics and the enthusiastic celebration of “the national” in everday life during anniversaries and sport events, came as a surprise to many researchers who thought the national frame of reference had been overcome in a new trans- or post-national era of politics, economy, trade and travelling.

This paper, which is based on ethnographic material as well as on political discourses analyzed in my habilitation thesis, aims at reflecting on these new senses of national identity which stakeholders in politics, economy and the media have brought to the fore since the epochal year of 1989 (respectively 9/11/2001). The local reactions to these stagings of the national in urban spaces and the practices of active appropriation and modification in everyday life will be questioned by discussing case studies form the reunified Germany.