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Intercultural communication

The banal nationalism of intercultural communication advice

By May 12, 20179 Comments5 min read13,465 views

Intercultural communication advice is a strange genre. Filling shelves and shelves in bookshops and libraries and now with a well-established presence on the Internet and in training workshops, it portrays a national world where people interact only as representatives of their nations and their identities are conditioned by nothing but their nationality. In the second edition of Intercultural Communication, which is due out in July, I have collected lots of examples that purportedly teach people how to deal with ‘Chinese communication style’, or what ‘the French’ mean when they ‘want to say 100 things [but] verbalise 150 things’ or how to establish relationships ‘in Brazil.’

The national character stereotypes of intercultural communication advice are completely mono-dimensional and not inflected by any other aspects of their identities. They are presented as free of class, gender, ethnicity, regional background, personal traits or any other individuating aspects of their being. Much intercultural communication advice is so obviously lacking in common sense – people obviously are rarely, if ever, stick figure representatives of national stereotypes – that it is intriguing to consider why the genre is so successful and continues to flourish.

I suspect it is due to a mismatch between what intercultural communication advice says it does and what it actually does. Ostensibly, intercultural communication advice aims to teach readers better communication skills and to make them more aware of difference and diversity. However, the genre actually does a lot of additional discursive work: it sustains the nation as a key category, presents national belonging as overriding any other aspects of identity, and, consequently, renders other aspects of identity invisible – in short, intercultural communication advice constitutes a prime example of banal nationalism.

The term ‘banal nationalism’ was introduced by the social psychologist Michael Billig ‘to cover 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. 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 lead people to identify with a nation. Examples of banal nationalism are everywhere although they often go unnoticed. Typically, the discourses of banal nationalism emanate directly from state institutions. They are then taken up by non-state actors and become enmeshed with a range of discourses that at first glance have nothing to do with nationalism at all, such as intercultural communication advice.

Page from Persian primer: reading passage ‘We are the children of Iran’

The discourses of banal nationalism are often embedded in the practices of state institutions. Schooling is a prime example of the way in which children are socialised into a national identity. It is school where we become members of the nation and where we are taught to think of ourselves as nationals. The Pledge of Allegiance in many public schools in the USA is an oft-quoted example. On the other side of the world, in Australia, many public schools hold a weekly assembly, where the school community comes together to listen to a speech, watch a performance or be part of an award ceremony. The joint singing of the national anthem plays a central part in the school assembly. In yet another example, Indonesian public schools conduct a flag-raising event every Monday morning and also on every 17th of the month (in commemoration of the national Independence Day, which is celebrated on 17 August).

In addition to ceremonial activities such as these, the socialisation into the nation is also part of teaching content in many schools around the world: there are the lyrics of national poems that are used to teach students how to read and write, the national anthem that is taught in music and recital lessons, the focus of much history teaching on national history, or the valorisation of the national language as the only legitimate medium of educational activities.

Banal nationalism on a cornflakes box

Schooling is widely controlled by the state and the fact that it is used as a vehicle to socialise students into the nation is maybe not particularly surprising. However, the discourses of banal nationalism also emanate from less likely sources. Billig’s (1995) example of the daily weather forecast on TV is a particularly convincing one: the daily weather forecast is usually presented against an image of the national map – as if national borders were meaningful to weather patterns. Banal nationalism in sports has also been widely studied: sporting competitions are typically framed as national competitions and most spectators are more likely to support co-national competitors on the basis of their nationality rather than using criteria such as sportsmanship or elegance of the game.

Yet another domain of banal nationalism can be found in consumer advertising, where national imagery is used to create positive associations with a product or service or consumption in general. At the same time, the use of national imagery in consumer advertising increases the presence of national imagery in the mundane spaces of everyday life and thereby continually reinforces the message of national belonging. The discourses of banal nationalism that come associated with consumer advertising have come to pervade our private lives.

Associating products with national imagery is a widely used marketing strategy in Australia, just as it is in many other countries (click here for examples of a car painted in the Union Jack, French on cookies or UAE-themed coffee and cake). Through everyday items such as the cornflakes box in the image, national symbols enter mundane everyday spaces such as supermarket shelves and the breakfast table in our homes. They keep circulating in those spaces as constant small reminders of national identity.

National identity is a discursive construction – a highly pervasive one but a construction nonetheless. This point is basic to most of the contemporary social sciences but it continues to elude the literature on intercultural communication, where national identity tends to be treated as a given. In the end, intercultural communication advice is nothing but yet another instance of banal nationalism, a discourse that reinforces readers’ sense of national belonging rather than one that leads them to genuinely engage with difference and diversity.

ResearchBlogging.org References
Billig, M. (1995). Banal Nationalism. London: Sage.
Piller, I. (2017). Intercultural Communication: A Critical Introduction (2nd ed.) Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

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 9 Comments

  • Maricar Sabiduria says:

    Thank you, Prof. Piller, for this eye-opening blog about banal nationalism concerning intercultural communication. It’s interesting to know how the reality of intercultural communication advice be another instance of banal nationalism and to ponder how national identity is constructed discursively.” The issues surrounding the actual impact of intercultural communication regarding national characteristics stereotyping and somehow perpetuating banal nationalism are intriguing for me as well. This realization poses my questions with regards to how a linguist, be able to both advocate nationalism and cultural diversity hand in hand—making it more understandable for others how national identity should not be a hindrance for advocating cultural diversity while still protecting the interest of the social, historical, and cultural identity of ones society/country.

  • Jay says:

    Quite an interesting point Prof. Piller! And I agree there are plenty of things in everyday life that have been injected with banal nationalism. Here in the Philippines, most schools have flag-raising ceremonies either every Monday or every day where we sing the national anthem, followed by the “Panatang Makabayan” which is the country’s version of the pledge of allegiance. There is a very huge focus on instilling students with a sense of national pride and unquestioning love for the country. I remember when I was in Junior High School my English teacher asked the class one-by-one if we were proud of being Filipino, it was likely just a throwaway question to wake up the class but I said that I was indifferent towards it. I was not proud of being one nor was I ashamed, to me “being a Filipino” was not really something I had thought about. But I was really surprised by my classmates’ reaction to my answer, they were in an uproar when I had said it. There was plenty of name-calling and shouting that came from my classmates they said that I should just move out of the country if I was not proud of being Filipino. It was somehow so blasphemous for me to think the way that I did, but when I asked them “Why should I be proud of being Filipino?” they simply said that it was natural for them to be proud Filipinos because they were born in the Philippines. I feel like that is the embodiment of banal nationalism, its national pride rooted in the mere fact of being from a nation. Their love of the country was not based on anything, it was just “the normal thing to do”. But please do not misunderstand, I think it is good to have a sense of national pride but I think it should be based on things that make the country “special” instead of just pride for pride’s sake.
    Now going back to intercultural communication advice, I agree there is a sense of an “us” vs “them” mentality when giving advice. Luckily, now there is not as much need to rely on sketchy intercultural communication advice that heavily relies on often inaccurate or outdated stereotypes, because the internet has given us an avenue to find out about foreign cultures from actual people from those cultures. I can easily open a video on YouTube to find out about the everyday life of foreign cultures and the Global Pandemic has pushed people who create those types of content to provide even better explorations into those cultures.

  • Xi Yang says:

    Thank you for sharing this interesting article Prof. Piller! As a Chinese student who are currently studying in Sydney, I can certainly relate ‘banal nationalism’ to myself. As an international student, I understand that I am not just represent myself but the whole country behind me. This is may because this is the way how Australians see Chinese, for example, if I throw my personal waste into the ocean while I was on the ferry, the Australians or people from other countries may think and consider that this is how Chinese people act like, an uncivilized barbarian. As a result, I always bear this on my mind ‘I am not just an individual, I am representing all the Chinese stand behind’, I need to act properly and follow the regulations in the public. I am proud to be a Chinese and I hope more and more people will have a positive or a better image of Chinese because of me, although my influence is very limited.

  • Dhanisa Kamila says:

    Thank you for writing such an interesting article, Prof . Piller! The domains of banal nationalism are surely can be found in almost everywhere. One thing that I recognize the most in the area of Australia’s consumer advertising is the fact that they always include a green triangle logo of “Australian Made” with an image of a kangaroo in many of their products. As a foreigner, it gives me an image that Australian people are those people who are proud of their own products. This national imagery has surely successful in creating a positive association and with Australian products in general.

  • S. J. L. says:

    This article is insightful and helps me to review trivial stuff in daily life. There are many things to inspire one’s nationalism. Particularly, I think, the banal nationalism heavily influences products and commercials since we can find it in our daily life. Although nationalism is very important to define one’s identity, the nationalism can become an extreme nationalism when politicians misuse it for their profits. This is because the banal nationalism is able to instill into people’s mind with ease. Therefore, we need to be aware of abusing nationalism. In this respect, this article helps me to broaden my sight.

  • Julie says:

    This article is so amazing. The point that intercultural communication advice is yet an example of banal nationalism is so convincing to me. I could not agree more on that as in any intercultural communications I have ever had, there are always ‘senses of national belonging’ I would try to express. I do not say it is the purposeful act of showing off our ‘nationalism’, but I have always been conscious of the ‘nationality’ inside me. I would care a lot about what I say, wonder if it will destroy the good image of our nation or whether I have transferred the correct ‘Vietnamese’ to others in our intercultural communication. The article is also very informative to me as the examples provided has helped to understand how discourses of banal nationalism are embedded and socialized us into a national identity. Honestly, before reading this article, I also hold the opinion that there would not be easy to set fixed advice for intercultural communication.

  • Thi Lam Tra DINH says:

    In the chaotic era in which we live nowadays, the domain of banal nationalism could be easily observed. For instance, the political crisis between North Korea and the U.S relationship has been constantly updating visually on mass media with the North Korean threat over Guam Island and Donald Trump’s aggressiveness over North Korea. It looks as if wars suffered the two nations only while neighbouring countries have had certain measures to calm down the heated tension and protect their citizens. For example, Japan have to require children to practice to hide themselves in the trenches.

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