THE national identity it is a concept that indicates the social condition and the feeling of belonging to a certain culture.
The concept of national identity only began to gain strength in the 19th century, when the notion of nation emerged.
In an individual, the level of national identity will depend on their participation or exclusion in relation to the culture that surrounds them. It is a theme related to cultural identity, that is, the set of characteristics of a people, arising from the interaction of members of society and the way they interact with the world.
Sometimes within the same country there are regions with such different cultures that the national identity is not so strong. In Spain, for example, the Basque Country and Catalonia seek independence, which indicates that they do not identify with Spanish nationality. Many Basques and Catalans refuse to be called Spaniards.
In many cases, the national identity is accompanied by a document legitimizing that same identity. In Brazil, this document is the identity card or General Registry (RG), a document issued to confirm the identification of people. Personal data such as name, date of birth, gender, affiliation, fingerprint, photo and signature are registered in the wallet, which will recognize the citizen.
Brazilian national identity
Brazil, being a country of enormous cultural, economic, social and ethnic diversity, has in the Portuguese language an element of unification of the country. The concept of Brazilian national identity is frequently discussed, and several authors indicate that it is hard to have cohesion and a strong national identity when there are big economic and social differences, policies. For this reason, several people claim that the Brazilian national identity does not exist or that if it does, it is disappearing.
In Brazil, the feeling of national identity became stronger after 1930, during the presidency of Getúlio Vargas.
As Brazil is a country with a large territorial dimension, it is possible to verify the regional identity. The Gauchos are an example of this, as they have very particular customs and religious traditions.