National Identities at Leisure: The Case of Theme Parks

As Eric J. Hobsbawm points out, national identity possesses a complex, temporary, and multifaceted character. Its “shape” is indeed determined by a combination of cultural factors, and historical and political processes, that may moreover alter in the course of time, in very short periods of time. Any approach to national identity should therefore include a number of diff erent perspectives, cultural, political, economic, etc.; and focus on a given time span. This chapter attempts to off er an exploration of one of the many possible “faces” of national identity, its “leisure-face,” referring particularly to the phenomenon of contemporary amusement theme parks in Europe and the United States.