Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/310946 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Citation: 
[Journal:] Ethnic and Racial Studies [ISSN:] 1466-4356 [Issue:] Latest articles [Publisher:] Taylor & Francis [Place:] London [Year:] 2024 [Pages:] 1-22
Publisher: 
Taylor & Francis, London
Abstract: 
Figuratively speaking, the COVID-19 pandemic (2019–22) stripped nations naked, exposing the bare structure of how nationalism, as the driving force behind the nation-states, operates on the ground. Based on a survey conducted in April 2021 in five countries (Sweden, Serbia, Germany, Ireland and England), we thematically analyze two open-ended questions on who should be remembered as the heroes and villains of the pandemic, demonstrating that people’s perception of COVID-19 is shaped and reimagined through the category of their own nation-state. Two main arguments are put forward: (1) the vast majority of answers show that heroes and villains are found in small group encounters; (2) yet in-group micro-solidarity is referential to the existing organizational and ideological power of the nation-state. We utilize the notion of “naked nations” to show that, in times of crisis, people’s selfhood is profoundly grounded in micro-solidarity encounters that are tightly linked to nation-states.
Subjects: 
Grounded nationalism
micro-solidarity
COVID-19
heroes
villains
qualitative research
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc-nd Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

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