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Multicultural iteration: S wedish N ational D ay as multiculturalism‐in‐practice
Author(s) -
Schall Carly Elizabeth
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
nations and nationalism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.655
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1469-8129
pISSN - 1354-5078
DOI - 10.1111/nana.12070
Subject(s) - multiculturalism , foregrounding , polysemy , sociology , immigration , democracy , meaning (existential) , diversity (politics) , scrutiny , national identity , subject (documents) , law , gender studies , political science , political economy , epistemology , linguistics , philosophy , computer science , politics , library science
This paper examines the creation of ‘national day’ in S weden in order to understand how such a holiday works to shape the S wedish nation's relationship with diversity. Analyzing parliamentary debates and press coverage, the author finds that official national day coverage tends to invest the nation with progressive and multicultural meanings, foregrounding immigrant voices. However, this multiculturalism is polysemic, vague and subject to contestation, both from far right ‘traditionalists’ seeking to ‘protect’ S wedishness from outside influences and cosmopolitans who see the nation as outdated and dangerous. The creation of a new national holiday can be seen as a ‘democratic iteration’ wherein democracy is restated and reinvested with meanings, and new lines of cleavage are drawn, and also as a ‘multicultural iteration’ where multiculturalism is invested with new meaning. Finally, the author argues that multiculturalism benefits from polysemy in that the concept can then adapt to changing circumstances, and, thus, survive.