The popular realm of `everyday culture' is an important factor in explaining how nationalisms are produced and/or reproduced in people?s minds. This course studies how nationalism is fostered through history in popular materials such as cartoons, literary pieces, and films. In that context, it also deals with modernity, overlaps between imperialism and collapse of empires, nation building and history writing in official and unofficial realms. The focus in space and time as well as the key elements of the discussion may vary according to the instructor's choice. Special topics may include the influence of contemporary traumas in search for a mythical past, the differences between official and unofficial representations, the influence of state hegemony on different representations, popular representations of `self' and `other,' demonologies, alternative discourses in both popular narration and vision, how memories of war and trauma influence nation building at the popular realm and how and why it is different from the official one
