The Role of National Days and Festivals in Cultural Advocac - PowerPoint Presentation

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The Role of National Days and Festivals in Cultural Advocacy and in Re-conceptualising National Identity

Professor Gayle McPhersonUniversity of the West of Scotland12th Session of the European Cultural Parliament, September, 2013Slide2

Challenge: why is there not a UK “national day”?Slide3

In Europe.National days and festivals – concepts, expressions and culturesCultural advocacy – contexts, expressions and culturesNational identity – re-conceptualising

; re-contextualising; Some questions for policy makers, cultural leaders, civic leaders, festival ‘owners’, democratically elected representatives; citizens of EuropeA few challenges and contexts throughoutOverviewSlide4

Scotland – “official” national day is 30 NovemberSlide5

One single day to celebrate and promote a national identity?A single identifiable nation?An obvious identity to which all of a nation can subscribe in a single context or on a single day?More than one day to celebrate and promote national identities?Multiple identities within a nation

Opportunities for free expression of identity on several contexts / daysA single, universal (paid?) holiday observed, shared and celebrated by the entirety of a nation?A National Day or National DaysSlide6

Some possible days FOR the nation of Scotland:St Andrew’s Day (30 November)Robert Burns’ Birth Day (25 January)Declaration of

Arbroath (6 April)Tartan Day ( 6th April)Hogmanay (1 January)Vote for / against independence from UK (18 September, 2014)Identities, expressions exclusions

and diasporaSlide7

{Economics?

Politics?

Culture?Slide8

Momentous events – political; cultural; technologicalJudao-Christian Calendar – largely “patron saints” daysBirth of a “significant” figure in a nation’s formation or expressionAn opportunity to showcase a nation’s economic outputs and activities – particularly in export markets

Formal involvement of the state vs informal, carnivalesque of the “people”National Days and FestivalsSlide9

Context: Bastille Day - state, power and identitySlide10

Present celebrations (looking to the future) or past victoriesSome might argue they are markers of conflict and contestationAre these events reflecting who we are to ourselves or who we are to others – what is the image that is protrayed and is that what we want

Issues and ChallengesSlide11

Context: Hogmanay, spectacle and whose identity? Slide12

Recognitions of when and how we became who we are – all of us or some of us?Expressions of who we are (and who we are not?)What do we stand for – as a “people”; as a “nation”?

How do we express that?Who decides what the “official version’ is and how it is to be expressed?How can individual citizens express their identities in a challenging environment and / or a globalising tendency?Is the national day a message to us, to others within our boundaries whom we may not regard as “us”; to the outside world?Cultural Identity via FestivitySlide13

Context: national days – unity, separation, re-birthSlide14

One national day or many days for the nation’s many populations?A single cultural identity or pluralistic identities among, and within, citizensReconciling difference; addressing demonisation of the ‘other’Taking ownership through forms of cultural advocacy via citizens, communities, civic leadership, education and art.

Issues and ChallengesSlide15

Context: Cultural democracy/democratisation of cultureSlide16

Empowering citizens to be advocates for the identities of a nationTo be part of the policy making processPromoting cultural diversity through cultural democracyEncourage local change makers across EuropeThe role of the European Cultural Foundation

The ECP Youth ProgrammeDo we want a cultural policy for Europe or policies for culture?Cultural AdvocacySlide17

How can every citizen be given the capacity and the potential to be a cultural advocate?Advocacy empowers people to engage in debate and influence policy but not without problems of trans border differencesAre competing agendi given equal weight?Are there always winners and losers?

What is the role of the ECP in National Identity?Issues and ChallengesSlide18

Auld Lang

Syne is a marker for friendship throughout the Globe – could Scotland lead the way!Context: ScotlandSlide19

We need to celebrate diversity and difference as part of our shared open borders, whilst retaining our cultural heritage. Can we have a European National Festival rather than a day– could this be Hogmanay – a shared festival, on one day, across many European countries already, could the UK start with this?

Or is it better to have multiple festivals as exemplars of our diverse cultural offeringsThis meeting of the ECP could harness a network of ideas to create a European National Day that embraces culture, tolerance, friendship and celebrationNational Identity needs to celebrate what we are rather than what we’re not!Concluding ThoughtsSlide20

Single national days or multiple national festivals?Internally facing or externally transmitting?Free expression of identities or staged events asserting national conformity?Reproducing differences or acknowledging difference?Cultural advocacy or cultural suspicion?

Can a nation’s cultural expressions through festivities be “owned” or are they organic?Who bears the cost and who receives the benefits?In a globalising world, what role can any expression of national identity have if it is confined to single moments of celebration?Where shall we find our cultural advocates?Issues and Challenges