Abstract
Flags are conceptual representations that can prime nationalism and allegiance to one’s group. Investigating children’s understanding of conflict-related ethno-national flags in divided societies sheds light on the development of national categories. We explored the development of children’s awareness of, and preferences for, ethno-national flags in Northern Ireland, Kosovo, and the Republic of North Macedonia. Children displayed early categorization of, and ingroup preferences for, ethno-national flags. By middle-childhood, children’s conflict-related social categories shaped systematic predictions about other’s group-based preferences for flags. Children of minority-status groups demonstrated more accurate flag categorization and were more likely to accurately infer others’ flag preferences. While most Balkan children preferred divided versus integrated ethno-national symbols, children in the Albanian majority group in Kosovo demonstrated preferences for the new supra-ethnic national flag. We discuss the implications of children’s ethno-national flag categories on developing conceptualizations of nationality and the potential for shared national symbols to promote peace.
Publication Date
10-2020
Document Type
Article
Department, Program, or Center
Applied Arts and Science (SOIS)
Recommended Citation
Dautel, J. B., Maloku, E., Tomovska Misoska, A., & Taylor, L. K. (2020). Children’s Ethno-National Flag Categories in Three Divided Societies. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 20(5), 373–402. doi:10.1163/15685373-12340090
Campus
RIT Kosovo
Comments
This is the accepted version of the article, the final, published version of this paper can be found here: https://doi.org/10.1163/15685373-12340090