By Dr Laila Abdel Aal Alghalban
How do you feel when you see the flag of your country flying high? What does it mean to you? A piece of flying fabric? A storehouse to and symbol of the memories, values, history, beliefs and standards of the time it was designed and officially endorsed? A national symbol under which people fight, and sacrifice their lives for? A symbol of national pride that inflames and even sets fire to the memory of our ancestors? Or a symbol of a colonial or racist past that must be changed to reconcile with the values and standards of the present and endorse common aspirations for a better, more tolerant and inclusive future? Would the feelings you experience, no matter what they are, be different when travelling abroad and you come across your homeland’s flag? These questions keep buzzing in my head as the fever of changing flags in the US as well as other countries are making headlines along with other seismic, politically-correct changes, including pulling down statues of controversial and Confederate statues and emblems, fixing names of divisive politicians and individuals from most prominent buildings, renaming and rebranding businesses, clubs, teams and celebrities, and campaigning against deeply-rooted institutional racism and social inequalities. One would wonder: why do flags matter? And what are their semiological and psychological effects?
Flags are signs
In semiotics, which is the science studying the sign process that is how signs create meaning, anything perceived by our senses and sent to our brains to process is a sign as long as it signifies meaningful things to us. A sign can be a word, a sound, an image, a smell, a concrete thing, etc. Signs are largely personal and inherently culture-bound. The colour black, for instance, signifies death, formality and sophistication in many cultures. In others, like ancient Egypt, it is associated with rebirth and life.
In a seminal paper on the significance of flags from a semiotic perspective based on Thomas A. Sebeok’s theory of signs, Steven Knowlton cites six categories of signs. One is ‘signal’ which prompts some action on the part of the sign recipient. The second one is called’ ‘symptom’, where there is a natural link between the signifier (a thing, for instance) and the signified (what it refers to) such as fever which is a symptom of a viral infection. The third kind of sign is ‘icon’ where the two aspects of a sign are physically similar, such as a statue and the person it represents. The fourth one is ‘ index’ like the relationship between fire and smoke; it is a contiguous one. The fifth kind is ‘ symbol’ like the relationship between ‘mother’ and ‘love; it is a conventional one. Finally, ‘name’ holds an arbitrary relation with the person or entity it labels. Knowlton sates that flags could be any of all the above sign categories except for ‘symptom’. Flags could be: signals to take actions like racing flags used to direct competitors; symbols like that of eagles to symbolise power; icons like the flags of Cyprus and the UN; indexes portraying some geographical sites, cultural (religious), or local botanical item like the flags of Slovenia, Canada and Gambia. The cross and crescent on a large number of countries are ample examples of flags as indexes. Some flags could have names printed on them.
Projecting the self- images pursued by nations
Flags are eerily robust sings that stir in us diverse and conflicting emotions and sensations, being the visual representations of groups, communities, clubs, nations, municipalities, associations, religions, professions and ideologies. National flags are meant to project the self- images pursued by nations; they can be inclusive or divisive symbols. In visual semiotics, flag coloures and shapes have social, religious, and political significance, evoking diverse attitudes, which are part of our attitudes to what they stand for: history, ideologies and values; flags embody all of them, speaking the loudest about their times and the dominant political and social climate during which they are designed.
A racist past: Struggling for an end to institutional racism
The Confederate Battle Flags of many southern American states have long stimulated debate over the need to change them to get rid of a racist past and track it down into a deep hole of oblivion. Calls for change find in the wide outrage caused by the death of the Afro-American George Floyd in police custody and other similar incidents the historic political opportunity to move ahead with the official process towards changing flags. A case in point is the Mississippi state, with the lower house of the congress passing a resolution to adopt a more inclusive design; public submission for new flag designs is sought. It is the right time now for a new official flag to fly there and in other similar states in a bid to remove controversial symbols and end stark institutional racism.
A colonial past
The flags of many nations were designed during the colonial rule. The British Union Jack included in the national flags of Australia, New Zealand as well as other Commonwealth nations usually pops into minds. The same is true of other colonial powers whose flags are still placed on the national flags of previous colonies. A few years ago, people voted against changing the national flag in New Zealand in a referendum. However, significant measures have been recently taken to promote the indigenous languages and cultures there. For the first time, the indigenous names of New Zealand’s two main islands have been officially adopted. People are free to use either the English or the aboriginal names. The increasing resounding rhetoric of the necessity for doing justice to native people helps create a better reality. A couple of days ago, the Australian government officially adopted a flag, designed byan aboriginal artist, as a co-national flag along with the old one. Day after day, aboriginal legacy is gaining more official recognition. The current narrative in politics and media on Australia’s ‘stolen generations’ echoes growing inclusive sentiments and policies. National flags are designed to symbolize the sociopolitical and religious ideologies and standards of the dominant powers of the time.
Finally, flags are a core part of our identity, legacy and aspirations. However, they are not sacred entities; changing flags, if viewed offensive by other generations or groups, is definitely the key to more social harmony and peace.
By Dr Laila Abdel Aal Alghalban Professor of linguistics Faculty of Arts
Kafr el-sheikh University
Email: [email protected]
