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Linguistic landscapes

Banal nationalism for breakfast

By May 15, 2010May 27th, 20193 Comments3 min read10,779 views

Installment #5 in the mini-series on multilingual signage

Signage not only appears in public space. Through our consumption of all kinds of products, we bring a multiplicity of signs into our homes. In this slide show, I’ve assembled images of a range of breakfast foods: cornflakes, yoghurt, bagels, cheese, apple juice, and a cup of tea. The packaging tells us what kind of food we have in front of us and also some nutritional information. However, beyond that factual information they are graced with national imagery. The Australian flag appears on the cornflakes box, the cheese slices and the apple juice; an outline of the Australian map appears on the yoghurt lid and the bagel tag (the tag itself was attached to a plastic bag with bagels in it); the national green-yellow color scheme appears on the back of the juice bottle; and the back of the cornflakes box and the tea mug are overloaded with national icons such as the Sydney Harbor Bridge, the Great Barrier Reef or Ned Kelly. For those who still don’t get it, the words “Australian” or “Aussie” are displayed prominently on each product.

But get what? Ostensibly, this display of national imagery provides information about where the products were made. However, according to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, around 90% of food consumed in Australia is produced nationally. So, in Australia, the fact that the food on your breakfast table is Australian isn’t really all that newsworthy. In fact, the message that this nationalistic food packaging delivers is a different one. On one level, it is an advertising message: these products are marked as good and desirable because they are associated with the positive imagery of Australian-ness. On another level, however, they trivialize the very national symbols they use to “uplift” their products. And, they remind us, each morning at the breakfast table of our national belonging.

Michael Billig coined the term “banal nationalism” for the way in which mundane, everyday signage such as the labeling on these breakfast foods reminds us of our national identities on a daily basis. “Banal nationalism” refers to “the ideological habits which enable the established nations of the West to be reproduced” (Billig, 1995, p. 6). Many people think of nationalism as extremism and as extreme forms of national ardor such as those of Nazi Germany or the disintegrating Yugoslavia. However, Billig points out that nationalism is the endemic condition of established nation states, that it is enacted and re-enacted daily in many mundane, almost unnoticeable, hence “banal,” ways. It is these banal forms of nationalism that socialize people into seeing themselves as members of a particular nation who live in a wider world of nation states.

Have you had your daily dose of banal nationalism today?

Ingrid Piller

Author Ingrid Piller

Dr Ingrid Piller, FAHA, is Distinguished Professor of Applied Linguistics at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. Her research expertise is in bilingual education, intercultural communication, language learning, and multilingualism in the context of migration and globalization.

More posts by Ingrid Piller

Join the discussion 3 Comments

  • steven says:

    the other point is the subtle inference that by not buying Australian, you are un-Australian….

  • Bea says:

    Until I listened to Ingrid’s lecture on banal nationalism I didn’t realise how desensitized I had become to how much this happens to me every day and that national identiy is an imaginary concept (that just blew me away with how obvious it is, but how come no-one notices or says anything?).

    In the 5 days since I listened to this leture I have noticed 3 examples of ‘Australia’ being used in advertising – Jeans for Genes day material (show your Aussie spirit…), in my own company’s advertising (which up until now I had not even realised that the reference to ‘Australia’ was included for a reason… and I work on some of the marketing messages we put out in the world!) and on a fridge magnet for beef jerky (100% Aussie Beef).

    I dread to think how many references to ‘Australia’ I am still not seeing even though I am now on the look-out for it!

    Thanks to the signage assignment and Ingrid’s lectures I will never see another sign without wondering about the reason why it is the way it is and whether the writer considered all the implications before they went to print (or if the writer even knows there are possible implications/implications beyond their intention).

  • Loy Lising says:

    Until my recent conversation with Ingrid on Billig’s “banal nationalism” and until my reading of this blog, I have never really been that conscious of whether I eat nationalism for breakfast or consume it in any other mundane way. :o) Reflecting on the matter, I realised that in the Philippines where I grew up, you also get your dose of banal nationalism at the cinemas. There, it is customary for everyone to stand for the national anthem (and yes, with hand on chest!) before viewing the first session of your chosen film. Thinking about those occassions actually make me nostalgic about my ‘home’ away from home. I have just realised that the memory of the experience is strong; perhaps because the feeling of a sense of nationalism (through the singing of the national anthem) is associated with something ‘fun’ (watching a movie). And it did work! There’s banal nationalism for you.

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