Constructing national identity: A qualitative analysis of separatism

The study of public perceptions on nationalism continues to be problematic for sociology and the social sciences. For example, do the people of Catalan think of themselves first as being Catalonians, or are they Spanish or even European? Likewise, if the people have a hard time perceiving the true nature of their community identity, then external (i.e. international) public perceptions concerning the same agenda should be problematic as well. This dissertation limits its focus to external (international) media perceptions surrounding the social construction of national identity movements. The three national identity movements examined in this dissertation are Chiapas (Mexico), East Timor (formerly part of Indonesia), and Quebec (Canada). Theoretical basis for the study is drawn from Habermas' conceptualization of the public sphere (conflict theoretical approach), and is supported by the theoretical approaches of W. I. Thomas (definition of a situation), Berger and Luckmann's (social constructions of reality), and Foucault (post-modernist theory) to deconstruct international perceptions of the three social movements. A model is introduced to show the flow of social construction from competing factions within and outside a national identity movement to the outcomes that are produced and reported by international media sources covering aspects of social action. A sub-model is offered as a supplemental tool to the primary model, in order to organize (or deconstruct) the frame of major competing interests affecting social construction of the national identity movement cases. The study incorporated a qualitative methodology, which included assembling a data set consisting of 2,960 units (Chiapas N = 28; East Timor N = 1,030; and Quebec N = 1,902). Each data unit represented a separate international printed media source. Parameters for these data included a longitudinal range covering 1990--2000, and were coded into five major social institutional categories (political, economic, arts and entertainment, media and military). These categories were used to identify institutional shifts giving rise to the social construction of the three national identity movement cases during the given historical frame. Frequencies were tabulated for each institution category, by case, and by year to gain a better understanding of the longitudinal social construction of national identity.