The Construction of National Identities (Essay Sample)

The Construction of National Identities
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The Construction of National Identities
Human efforts have played a pivotal role in the construction of identity. Whether cultural, regional, or national identities, human efforts shape these identities, and thus every identity is culturally specific rather than natural. Notably, an individual's national identity is the outcome of the presence of elements from the 'common points' in people's lives, such as ideas, objects, images, culture, music, blood ties, languages, national history, national symbols, and colors (Adekunle, 2019). In Ireland, national identity is a result of most of these elements. Ideas, images, and objects from the past helped construct the Irish national identity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The Idea of National Literary
Irish national identity is courtesy of significant contributions of historical ideas, objects, and images. Notably, Irish nationalism became the dominant ideology in the late nineteenth century; this period made a decisive era in Irish history. Ideologies such as constitutional nationalism were prevalent in Ireland during the nineteenth century, courtesy of great icons such as Charles Parnell and Daniel O'Connell, who advocated for some form of limited self-government for this nation (Veldeman, 2009). Other ideas that sprang up during this period included the Gaelic Revival, which aimed to safeguard and promote the Irish language (Conchubhair, 2018). The Gaelic Revival took root thanks to the activities of the Irish literary movement called the Irish Literary Revival. Such ideas were critical to the development of the Irish language and changed the prevalent association of the Irish language with political impotence, social stagnation, ignorance, and poverty. Veldeman (2009) avers that advocacy efforts on the revival of the Irish language bore fruit through the Irish Literary Revival (the Celtic Twilight or Irish Literary Renaissance). The idea put forward by this movement aimed to recognize the Irish language to encourage its