Dec 2013 – Dec 2017
This research project ran from 2013 through 2017, investigating the role of ethnic and religious diversity in contemporary European nation building. National identity is not a fixed entity, and through the parallel processes of globalization, immigration and secularization, traditional notions of national identity are under pressure. NATION sought to understand these issues by exploring how nationhood is negotiated in three European countries: Norway, France, and the United Kingdom.
The increased ethnic and religious diversity within these countries' populations is seen to challenge the boundaries of national identity in particular ways. Some aspects of diversity are seen as acceptable, while others are defined as 'problematic' for national identity. In current debates on nationhood, the discourses of religion and ethnicity are intertwined. The changing social role of religion has implications for the negotiation of the nation. While looking at the interaction between religion and ethnicity in nationhood contestations, NATION investigated these two issues in parallel.
Findings from the research can be found in a project summary report published n 2017:
In a new article published in Migration Studies, Rojan Tordhol Ezzati examines expressions of unity through value-talk after terrorism in Norway (2011) and France (2015). The analysis examines television news in the two countries and shows that the way national leaders talk about 'our values' can either underline unity or further underline conflict.
New article published (Open Access) in Ethnicities, entitled ‘A state-centred conception of nationhood? Norwegian bureaucrats on the nation' by Marta Bivand Erdal and Katrine Fangen. The article analyses interviews with bureacrats - and ponders the question: Who is the 'imagined community' which those tasked with the state's nation building efforts are thinking of?
This workshop focuses on the implications of migration-related diversity for lived experiences of the everyday nation, and whether and in which ways negotiations of national identity take place in diverse contexts. Call for abstracts - deadline 20 January 2016.
Oñati, 14-15 May 2015
The workshop organized by Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law, the Department of Political Science of the University of the Basque Country and PRIO gathered international and Basque researchers to elaborate on contemporary visions of sovereignty and analyze processes of sovereignty construction from an interdisciplinary approach, covering conceptualizations of new political dynamics, emergent sociological processes and their legal reflections, with special focus on the Basque Country and attention to the fields of anthropology, sociology, law, political science and history. Through this multidisciplinary scientific exchange the workshop aimed at advancing the understanding of notions of sovereignty and processes of sovereignty construction in general and in the Basque case specifically.
El taller de trabajo organizado por el Instituto Internacional de Sociología Jurídica de Oñati, el Departamento de Ciencia Política de la Universidad del País Vasco y PRIO analizó nociones contemporáneas del concepto de soberanía y procesos de construcción de soberanìa desde un enfoque multidisciplinar. El programa prestó especial atención a los campos de la antropología, la sociología, el derecho, la ciencia política y la historia. Los trabajos académicos presentados se centraron en la conceptualización de nuevas dinámicas políticas e incipientes procesos sociológicos así como en su reflejo legal. A través de este intercambio científico multidisciplinar profundizamos en la comprensión de las diferentes nociones de la soberanía como concepto y como proceso de construcción social tomando como caso de estudio el País Vasco.
MA project I: Negotiating constructions of religious buildings
Deadline: 31 May 2015
MA project II: Religious diversity and negotiating Norwegianness
Deadline: 31 May 2015
Today it was announced that no less than two research projects at PRIO have been granted funding from the FRISAM call at the Norwegian Research Council. The two projects are Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict (SVAC) led by Inger Skjelsbæk, and Negotiating the Nation: Implications of Ethnic and Religious Diversity for National Identity (NATION), led by Marta Bivand Erdal.
Book Chapter in Rasisme : Fenomenet, forskningen, erfaringen
Journal Article in Migration Studies
Popular Article in Forskersonen.no
Journal Article in Ethnicities
Popular Article in Utrop
Journal Article in Political Geography
Journal Article in Nations and nationalism
Journal Article in Population, Space and Place
PhD Thesis
Journal Article in Human Rights Education Review
Journal Article in Ethnicities
Book Review
Journal Article in Social & Cultural Geography
PRIO Project Summary
Master Thesis
Master Thesis
Journal Article in Nations and Nationalism
Popular Article in Aftenposten
Popular Article in Dagbladet
Popular Article in VG
Journal Article in Social Identities: Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture
PRIO Policy Brief
Book Chapter in Migration, Transnationalism and Catholicism: Global Perspectives
Popular Article in Vårt Land
Journal Article in Critical Studies on Terrorism
Popular Article in Dagbladet
Conference Paper
Popular Article in Aftenposten
PRIO Policy Brief
PRIO Policy Brief
Popular Article in Bergens Tidende
Journal Article in Agora: Journal for metafysisk spekulasjon
Popular Article in Dagens Næringsliv