Unpacking the Georgian Nation: Examining the Symbolic Boundaries of Group Membership through National Iconography

ABSTRACT

This article concerns a lesser-studied aspect of nation-building in Georgia: the role of national iconography in the reproduction and reaffirmation of a Georgian national identity. National iconography is a tool commonly used by states to legitimize and solidify the ties among the territory, nation, and state in the imaginations of both domestic and foreign audiences. By examining key pieces of Georgian national iconography, the article examines the symbolic boundaries of the resultant national identity as well as what room remains for members of Georgia’s diverse religious, linguistic, and socio-cultural minority groups in the overall official meta-narrative.

Notes

^1. Storm (2018). “Flexible Memory Narratives in the Physical Landscape: A Case Study of Tbilisi, Georgia.” Manuscript submitted for publication.

^2. Storm (2018). “Flexible Memory Narratives in the Physical Landscape: A Case Study of Tbilisi, Georgia.” Manuscript submitted for publication.

^3. Author’s unpublished interviews with Arnold Stepanyan, chairman of Public Movement Multinational Georgia; Ramaz Aptsiauri of United Nations Association Georgia (UNAG); and Zaur Khalilov, executive director of Civic Integration Foundation (CIF): Tbilisi, Georgia, September 2016.

^4. Author’s unpublished interviews with Alibala Askerov, chairman of “Qeyrat” National Movement (Marneuli, Georgia: March 2016); Zaur Khalilov of CIF; Emin Akhmedov, director of Marneuli Youth Center (Marneuli: September 2016); and Mahir Darziyev (Marneuli: March 2016) and Azer Suleimanov (Marneuli: March 2016), both of whom are members of the Georgian Parliament.

^5. Author’s unpublished interviews with Aptsiauri of UNAG and Khalilov of CIF.

^6. This claim was also supported in the author’s unpublished interviews with Aptsiauri and Khalilov.