Performing national identities in everyday life: Popular motivations and national indifference in 19th‐century Amsterdam

Abstract

This article demonstrates how and when the nation — whether in the shape of concrete national symbols or as an abstract frame of reference — became relevant to ordinary people. It focuses on the experiences and activities of Amsterdam citizens in the second half of the 19th century. Central to the analysis is the apparent contradiction between ‘ banal ’ or ‘ everyday nationalism ’ , in which nationalist symbols and rhetoric appeared to successfully reach their audience because of their omnipresence in daily life, and ‘ national indifference ’ , as referring to the absence of national identification among the masses. It argues that in order to overcome the dichotomies between elites and masses and national and non-national performances, we should focus on the popular incentives for national identification, rather than on the ideological content and the (phys-ical or symbolic) borders of the national community.