Nationalism in Geography Classrooms: Challenges Term Paper

The various branches of the American military, for example, have their own form of nationalism that is represented by hard power and military supremacy. This does not mean that nationalism must be necessarily political in nature, but often the two are tied together due to the ease in which they go hand in hand. This can be said of geography as well, especially political geography.

Often, political geography is mistaken for being the same as cultural identity, particularly when language comes into question. In countries that contain minority language speakers in large concentrations, such as Quebec, Canada or Basque, Spain, the various cultural differences inherent in native language is typically seen as the dominant factor of identity. Geography can play a large factor in student identity as well, however, and cannot be discounted, even amongst communities that have several languages within a small area, Queens, New York for example.The geographic setting of New York City is just as impressing on students behavior as the language they may speak at home, whether it is Korean, Chinese, Spanish, or English.

In conclusion, the authors find that nationalism is difficult to teach because it is so personal for students. The mere mention of the subject is enough to put into question a student's own identity, and therefore must be approached with open trust between individuals. When discussing national identity, students often think of nationalism as an unchanging identity, not taking into account that ways of thinking about the world have changed dramatically throughout history. Therefore care must be used in approaching this subject in classrooms.

Work Cited

Schlosser, Kolson; White, George; Leib, Johnathon; Dalby, Simon. (2011) Nationalism in geography classrooms: Challenges and opportunities. Journal of….....