Duerr discusses Scottish nationalism and secessionism, a topic of importance considering the recent secession referendum of 2014. The UK has an interesting makeup in terms of identities – a makeup Duerr refers to as a multinational state – because many individuals identify as both Scottish and British, and do not find issue with doing so.
I actually read some of my classmate’s responses before doing this reading, and though Maria explained seemingly contradictory identities really well through the idea of hierarchical identities (with the example of Jewish ethnicity on her passport despite being born in the Russian federation and baptized into Orthodox Christianity). For the same reason, individuals can identify as Scottish and British. This dual identity helps understand why many members of the SNP do not support independence, but only want greater autonomy. They maintain their Britishness as a significant part of their identity, but have shifted their Scottish identity to a position of greater importance in their personal hierarchy.
The SNP is portrayed as postmodernist, placing a focus on policy rather than territory or identity. The process of creating a national identity separate from ethnicity is difficult – but in many ways very necessary – in a globalized world. Scotland has an increasing (though still small) number of citizens who are ethnic minorities and there is obvious concern that a nationalist movement, no matter how civic it now claims to be, may still be inherently driven by ethnic concerns. However, examination of SNP issues did show that the focus tends to be on attempts to achieve greater political autonomy and less on issues tied to ethnic identity (like language, culture, etc.).
Given how high support was for independence – 45% of the referendum vote – there’s concern whether further steps towards greater political autonomy will be enough, or if they are simply a long, slow road to full secession. Eventually, it comes down to how individuals in Scotland identify – whether as fully Scottish or British, or as Scottish and British – and how they prioritize their different civil identities.