El proceso de construcción infantil de la identidad nacional: conocimiento del propio país y de los símbolos nacionales

The aim of the pressent study is to examine the process of construction of national identity, the understanding of the concept of one"s own country and the recognition of the national symbols by children from Bilbao, aged 6 to 14 years old.

The theoretical starting point is based, one one hand, on the cognitive theories that emphasize the task carried out by each person during the learnig process (Piaget, Delval); and on the other hand, by the theory of Social Identity (Tajfel, Turner) and the theory of Social Representation (Moscovici).

The group studied was formed by 160 children aged 6 to 14 years old under two different linguistic models: model A (the studies in Spanish and Basque as subject) and model D (the studies in Basque and Spanish as subject). The technique used for collecting data has been the clinique interview based on a semistructured interview, with the help of additional material specially designed for this research.

This work, in a descriptive and explorative way, tries to establish how the social representations associated with national identity are being formed within a specific cultural contex, the basque context. Additionally, the possible influence of other factors such as the school language of the children, their sex and age is analized.

Specifically, this research is focused on three closely related aspects, such as: the representation of one"own country, the national identity and national symbols. Concerning the representation of the country, two main aspects are considered: the verbal recognition of the different geographic & administrative units of Spain and their graphic representation in maps. Referring to the national identity, self-image has been the first point explored; followed by the social/national group that is freely recognised by each person, and finally the national self-classification and the facts that defined the self-identiy. As far as the national symbols are concerned, the process of acquisition of the concept of symbol and the relationship between the knowledge of the symbol and the different attitudes towards them are studied.

The answers obtained have been doubly analysed, firstly an analysis of quantitative nature as a function of the variables studied, and secondly an analysis of qualitative nature that allow us to assess how children"ideas about nationality are organized