Iceland as the only nation-state
by rebecca ~ July 6th, 2005. Filed under: Multicultural life, New Media Musings.From class forum:
Thanks, Paula, for that illuminating entry from Wikipedia:
just goes to show how clumsy these terms can be when only
one nation-state, Iceland, can be said to exist.
Perhaps Wikipedia needs an edit because Japan is NOT
one homogenous nation that the world and Japan sell it as:
always have been ethnic minorities, but usually
ignored by media and gov’t. and world.
I’ll try to edit that wiki in August when life stops going
at ‘terminal velocity’ (Virilo, M&P 179), sigh.
Now to toot my horn (beep-beep, ) if you want to read
about this homogenous myth in the light of the Ainu
(indigenous people to Japan)see a paper I wrote last term.
When you combine an easier to define term
(state: an attempt at static bureaucratic organization)
with a tenuous concept (‘nation’: a group who upholds a
belief in a constructed (false?) shared culture/history),
few spots in reality can be called nation-states.
Always a myth?
Iceland, appears to have a pretty homogenous nation, but
also has a growing presence of foreign immigrants and the
problems/joys that entails.
Though I don’t entirely trust data of the US State Dept.
(since it never examines its own dirty laundry), their
site gives more detail on the plight of the non-Icelandic
in Iceland.