Nationalism

In January 2029, The Philosophers’ Yard explored the topic of ‘Nationalism’ with talks from Dr Katie Tonkiss and Dr Masoumeh Mansouri, and live poetry from Ayan Aden.

Katie’s talk: For many people, nationalism plays an important role in how they see themselves and others. It can bind people together with shared symbols, stories and even duties. For some it creates a sense of belonging, trust and civic responsibility. But nationalism also has a darker side: it draws lines between ‘us’ and ‘them’, excluding those who don’t fit its definition. In this talk, we explored the power of national identity to unite, and the dangers of letting it divide. Can nationalism ever be truly inclusive – or is exclusion built in?

Masoumeh’s talk: There’s a growing push to give robots social and cultural behaviours so that people find them more likeable, trustworthy, and comfortable to be around. But most attempts to make robots “cultural” rely on the idea of national cultures. In this talk, we examined whether culture can really be reduced to nationality and why roboticists so often make that connection. We explored what it would mean for robots to “have” culture at all, and whether we even want robots to have culture defined in this way.

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