Blog Post #1 (What is National Identity)

Moldova

               Many people have different ideas on what national identity means. How I define national identity are the quality or trait that a country has that defines who they are as a country. Such as, culture, language, government, and religion affect the identity of a nation. Moldova is a small country that is cradled between Romania and Ukraine. Stuck between these two nations influenced Moldova where aspects of Romanian and Ukrainian culture were incorporated into Moldovan culture. For instance, the government of Moldova recognized Romanian to be their official language in their nation ( Roudik 2013). As this may seem as a no brainer for many Moldovans as their own language, Moldovan, which is basically the same as Romanian. However, many Moldovans see their language as distinct from Romania, but Romania rejects that idea and says Moldovans speaks the same language (Lobjakas and Valeria Vitu 2012). Even though Moldovan and Romanian are essentially the same, many Moldovans want to have a distinct language even though Romania sees it as the same language. Nonetheless there is some dispute with what the language should be called there are still qualities in Moldova that influence the Moldovan identity. For example, their music and arts are used to show the pride of the nation. Showing their national identity through traditional music, (Cash 2002, p. 83) argues that, “These professionals see their work as part of a national project of recovering and transmitting traditional values,” helped separate themselves from Soviet influence during the fall of the Soviet Union.  The rise of Folklore in Moldova in the 1980’s helped distinguish itself from other nations influence. By performing in front of the youth, it helps give a sense of unity throughout the population, “Folklore thus has the potential to provide a sense of shared history for a population where the traditional ways of life studied by and represented in folklore no longer exist” (Cash 2002, p. 83). This helped them distinguish themselves from others and boosting their sense of self in the nation.

               Furthermore, othering is a way for countries to clump groups together that does not significantly affect the population of the country. For instance, some countries may believe it is a good idea to other a group of people to bolster the nationalistic beliefs, “Crucially, just as nation-states have often created an external “Other” in the pursuit of nationalist agendas, societies have often created an “othered” region within its border of ostensibly unified polities in the pursuit of nation-building” (Johnson, C., & Coleman, A. 2012, p. 863). Having groups labeled as other within a nation may have unintended consequences that may cause ethnic conflicts throughout a nation. As minority groups may feel silenced as they are not fully represented in the country (Johnson, C., & Coleman, A. 2012, p. 865).  Othering may cause some problem within a country and how they handle ethnic problems throughout the nation.  This may cause problem through a nation as it may see some internal struggle throughout the nation. For instance, in Moldova ethnic Russians in the Transnistria region rebelled and created an autonomous region that the international community don’t recognize other than Russia. This conflict was created when ethnic Russian saw how their community will be taken over by ethnic Moldovans during the Post-Soviet era. “Transnistria’s Russian-speaking population believes that its identity would be overwhelmed by the ethnic Moldovan majority and thus sees the Russian military presence as protection” (ADST 2016). This how othering may lead to tension between groups of people in a nation. Also flaring tension between Moldova and Russia, that will not help ease the tension that Moldova has with Russians in Transnistria. As trade agreements and diplomatic relations are strained, “Moldova and Romania will form a joint military battalion for emergency situations - a move likely to anger Russia, which has troops stationed in Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria” (Necsutu 2018). Causing Russia to react military along the border. The population in Moldova is majority ethnic Moldovan with a huge gap between each group, “Moldovan 75.1%, Romanian 7%, Ukrainian 6.6%, Gagauz 4.6%, Russian 4.1%, Bulgarian 1.9%, other 0.8% (2014 est.)” (CIA 2018). Russia is listed as 4.1% of the total population of Moldova, giving us an idea how different groups can shape the political landscape of a country.  However, since in Transnistria’s ethnic Russians were not fully represented in the census and the Moldovan had to face Russian-Moldavans trying to gain land for themselves.

               Overall, national identity is an idea where the culture, language, government, and other ideas, create defining features that are recognizable. National identity may cause ethnic tension that could boil over, leading to unwanted conflict throughout a nation. However, even with this risk in mind many people are still proud of their national identity and want to preserve their culture throughout their generation.

Work Cited

Roudik, P. (2013, December 23). Global Legal Monitor. Library of Congress. Retrieved January 30, 2018, from http://www.loc.gov/law/foreign-news/article/moldova-romanian-recognized-as-the-official-language/

Lobjakas, A., & Vitu, V. (2012, February 02). Divided by A Common Language. Radio Free. Retrieved Europe January 30, 2018, from https://www.rferl.org/a/1079514.html

Cash, J. (2002). After the folkloric movement: traditional life in post-socialist Moldova. Anthropology of East Europe Review, 20(2), 83-88.

Johnson, C., & Coleman, A. (2012). The internal other: exploring the dialectical relationship between regional exclusion and the construction of national identity. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 102(4), 863-880. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.proxy.seattleu.edu/stable/23275512

ADST. (2016, July 25). Moldova's Transnistrian conflict. Huffington Post Retrieved January 30, 2018, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/adst/moldovas-transnistrian-co_b_11180694.html

Necsutu, M. (2018, February 6). Moldova, Romania boost military cooperation with joint battalion. BalkanInsight. Retrieved February 08, 2018, from http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/romania-russia-strengthen-defence-influence-in-divided-moldova-02-06-2018

Moldova. (CIA) The world fact book. Retrieved January 30, 2018, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/md.html