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To the question — 'What is the purpose of History?'— the author of this essay replies that for a long time its main aim has been to pass on 'une conscience nationale' (a national consciousness), an awareness of nationhood, and that this is what was meant by 'éducation civique', i.e. the creation of good, patriotic citizens. This 'patriotism in the French past, in conjunction with 'Morale et Instruction Civique' (Ethics and Civics), is then put under the microscope and is indeed found to be present but no more so, the author suggests, than can be found in other countries during these times. So what is the answer, especially, in the light of present attempts to create a united Europe? A distinction has to be made, she insists, between ' le sentiment national' (the national feeling), which is not far removed from base, animal instincts, and 'une conscience nationale' (a national consciousness), which, while it gives the pupil—from his history lessons — a better, more controlled, understanding of his own culture, must also try to connect him to a broader, more objective view of surrounding countries and, ultimately, the whole world, thereby helping to bring about 'a European and even a global consciousness'

The demography, culture, & language of contemporary Belarus are studied to determine the present level of national self-awareness. An overview of politics & social change in Belarus throughout the 20th century is followed by an analysis of the relationship between nationalism, culture, & native language. Noting the elevation of Russian to national language status under President Alyaksander Lukashenka, it is contended that Belarusian scholars & cultural figures have become increasingly troubled by the loss of their native language. Even though Belarusian culture exists in the background of the national society, it is asserted that the young generation's concern with political issues has raised national consciousness in Belarus during the 1990s. Future research is encouraged to examine the potential relegation of Belarusian to a folk language, along with the role of Belarus in the political sphere dominated by Russia. J. W. Parker

A frequent assertion about the recent events and pervasive mood in Belarus—the apparent efforts to reunite with Russia, the virtual denial of a Belarusian identity by a Russophone president, official nostalgia for the time of the former Soviet Union— is that national consciousness is somehow retarded or delayed, and national development is lagging considerably behind that of its neighboring states, Lithuania and Ukraine. This article seeks to address the question of national self-awareness in Belarus from three angles: those of demography, culture, and language. Was development of the republic in the Soviet period different from that of the other republics, and is that development responsible for what has been described as the "national nihilism" of today? Is that mood likely to change with a new generation of Belarusians? How far is President Alyaksander Lukashenka, the first president of Belarus, who was elected in July 1994, responsible for the present situation and how far is he a symptom of the notable lack of self-assertion of Belarusians?

Economicdependence and cultural diversity are the bedrock upon which the élites of ex-colonial states attempt to construct a functioning state apparatus, a viable economy, and a sense of nationhood to surround and enshrine the emergent order. The achievement of national integration is sought in language and education policies, cultural and ideological programmes, and the structuring of access to – and distribution of – available resources. It is basically for this reason that a number of governments in the Third World require their highly educated youth to spend a year of service to the nation after they leave the university. Hence the National Youth Service Corps in Nigeria, which started operating in 1973, amidst great publicity, and has since become an established part of governmental and student planning. By mid-1979 about 46,000 had passed through the programme, serving the nation in a variety of jobs, mainly as teachers, before being employed in either the private or public sector.

PUBLISHED ; In James Joyce's Finnegans wake, the political and sexual mores placed upon Irish culture by the presence of the British Empire and the Catholic Church during the late colonial and early post colonial period of modern Irish history, are extirpated in a re-telling of the Biblical fall from grace. From a historical perspective, the political fall of Charles Stewart Parnell, the Protestant Irish Home Rule leader, in the late nineteenth century, which is echoed in Joyce's text, presaged the return of violence as a means to achieve independence from Britain. But Joyce sensed that despite the achievement of an Irish state, personal liberation in the terms that would later be defined by Frantz Fanon in his chapter 'On National Consciousness' in Les damnes de la terre (1961), did not accompany the emergence of Irish nationhood. Finnegans wake published in 1939, can be read as Joyce's mapping of the damaged terrain of a national consciousness, psychologically dominated by the Irish Free State polity and censoriousness of the Catholic Church of the 1930s. A brief exposition of the Parnell affair and its link to the emergence of a modern Irish consciousness expressed in the violence and literature of the fin de siecle, will presage a discussion of Joyce's last work.