<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Michael Billig's idea of “banal nationalism” is a useful concept to approach a frequently neglected aspect of Venezuelan political disputes in the past 20 years. In Billig's formulation, banal nationalism is the constant reaffirmation of a nation's identity, through the display of national symbols. After Hugo Chavez rose to power, there were changes to Venezuela's flag, coat of arms, and banknotes. This aroused disputes that served as a micro-cosmos of Venezuela's larger confrontation. This article reviews the disputes over the changes made to those national symbols. It concludes that, although political and economic issues are at stake in Venezuela's current crisis, there are also ongoing culture wars. In that sense, an analysis of Venezuela's recent crisis would be incomplete without a consideration of its banal nationalism disputes.</p></abstract>

Michael Billig's idea of “banal nationalism” is a useful concept to approach a frequently neglected aspect of Venezuelan political disputes in the past 20 years. In Billig's formulation, banal nationalism is the constant reaffirmation of a nation's identity, through the display of national symbols. After Hugo Chavez rose to power, there were changes to Venezuela's flag, coat of arms, and banknotes. This aroused disputes that served as a micro-cosmos of Venezuela's larger confrontation. This article reviews the disputes over the changes made to those national symbols. It concludes that, although political and economic issues are at stake in Venezuela's current crisis, there are also ongoing culture wars. In that sense, an analysis of Venezuela's recent crisis would be incomplete without a consideration of its banal nationalism disputes.

Banal Nationalism Disputes in Venezuela: 1999–2019

Journal of Nationalism, Memory & Language Politics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"Banal Nationalism Disputes in Venezuela: 1999\u20132019"}

Michael Billig's idea of “banal nationalism” is a useful concept to approach a frequently neglected aspect of Venezuelan political disputes in the past 20...

Banal Nationalism Disputes in Venezuela: 1999–2019

Published Online: Nov 27, 2020

Page range: 177 - 195

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jnmlp-2020-0007

Keywords
Banal nationalism, Venezuela, Flag, Coat of arms, Banknotes

© 2020 Gabriel Andrade, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Banal Nationalism Disputes in Venezuela: 1999–2019

Published Online: Nov 27, 2020

Page range: 177 - 195

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jnmlp-2020-0007

KeywordsBanal nationalism, Venezuela, Flag, Coat of arms, Banknotes

© 2020 Gabriel Andrade, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Banal nationalism, Venezuela, Flag, Coat of arms, Banknotes