This book brings together scholars to reflect upon the significance and
meaning of local and regional history, focusing on how these histories
impact people's cultural identity through traditions, culture, language,
and politics. Scholars from all over the world analyze the process of
communal identity construction - the feeling of belonging to one state
or nation regardless of one's legal citizenship status - by focusing on
case studies from North America, South America, Africa, and Europe. By
analyzing the cultural and social aspects of community formation through
language, religion, symbols, politics, race, and blood ties, these
papers reveal that national identity, rather than being an inborn trait,
is more often a result of the presence of common elements in the daily
lives of individuals.