From Identity to National Identity: An Introduction to Theoretical Understanding of National Identity and Nationalism as Discourse

How to study nationalism as a discourse? What is the first step in the conceptualization of nationalism? These two questions form the central issue of this paper. In response to these questions, the leading writing attempts to emphasize the national identity as a central pillar in the discourse in understanding the discourse of nationalism. Indeed, it is an attempt by the paper to provide a conceptual, ontological, philosophical and theoretical conception of national identity - and hence the concept of fluid identity-the first step in understanding the discourse of nationalism. It seeks to show how to strike a grasp of the whole thrust of the discourse of nationalism can be viewed with a careful look, and by examining the components of this discourse - that the national identity as well as the nation are the most pivot of these components - one can understand Deeper, more precise and more plausible than nationalism. From this central focus of the paper, it focuses on the issue of identity and national identity and tries to examine the theoretical and analytical concepts by examining the approaches and theoretical tools that define national identity. Consequently, by defining the notion of identity and national identity through the use of symbolic action approaches and cultural, discourse and psychoanalytic approaches in the work of theorists such as Freud, Lacan, Zizek, Laclau and Mouffe, and analytical and problem-based reading of these views, pursue their goal.