North Africa’s Spain: Peripheral National Identities and the Nation State as Neo-Empire

• In Event: 594 - Section on Political Sociology Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 12. Ethnicity and Nationalism

Abstract

When ethno-cultural heterogeneity exists and thrives within a nation state, social tension and ethno-nationalist sentiments are not considered surprising. Yet in many nation state, various native-born communities have diverse and potentially contradictory national identities without the desire for self-determination. In this paper, then, I explore why and how ethno-culturally distinct, peripheral communities may develop variants of the dominant national identity—ensuring that they remain excluded from the national narrative—yet remain part of the nation state. To do so, I conduct a comparative analysis of the native-born Muslim communities in Spain’s two North African exclaves. I find that most Muslims are Spanish citizens yet understandings of Spanish-ness appear to vary between the Exclaves. I use these findings to outline initial ideas for refining current conceptualizations of the nation state, in an effort to better understand circumstances in which variations in the dominant national identity exist, but without ethno-nationalist sentiments.

Author

• Daniel Karell, New York University-Abu Dhabi