Ruth Wodak said countries around the world are regressing to “a very parochial chauvinism and nationalism,” during a lecture at Carleton Oct. 30
Wodak, a distinguished scholar of discourse studies at Lancaster University in England, outlined how the national identities of these countries are marked by a “politics of difference” that contributes to this troubling phenomenon.
Wodak is co-teaching a course in discourse studies in Carleton’s linguistics department, alongside associate professor Guillaume Gentil. She agreed to give a public lecture outlining her recent research into “Re/Inventing Nationalism.”
At her lecture, she delved into an explanation of the impact of established national identity on newcomers to European societies.
“Identities always imply the creation of difference,” Wodak said.
When a society develops a strong sense of those who conform to national identity, she said it is, by implication, developing a strong sense of those who do not conform.
Wodak went on to show how this separation of people into “us” and “them” — a process known as “othering” — creates sharp psychological distinctions that contribute to a climate of fear and apprehension towards the “other.”
“You cannot explicitly utter ‘othering’ the same as you could maybe 100 years ago,” she said.
As a consequence, she contended, political parties and institutions seeking to define the “other” have increasingly resorted to indirect methods of advancing this goal. She pointed to the rise of mandatory language tests for those seeking to move to European Union member states from outside the continent – even for temporary residence.
“The EU member states construct borders and construct obstacles for this diversity, who can come in and who’s not allowed to come in,” she said. By treating language as the mark of national identity, Wodak said, these language tests perpetrate clear “othering.”
Gentil remarked that the “politics of difference” are visible in the Canadian context as well.
“How do you define the boundary of us versus them, the fear of the other, these [are] common themes.”
