Identity Hunters

A platform to question, analyse and debate nationalism across time and space

Welcome to Identity Hunters

This project is about understanding how identity and difference are politicised by nationalist politics. We hunt the instances when identity is made and politicised, we are identity hunters.

This website is a platform for the public, students, and academics to engage with one another and explore the challenges of understanding and fighting nationalist politics. It is administered by students of A History of Nations, Nationalism and Theories of the State, a 3rd-year class taught by Dr Pablo de Orellana & Dr Nicholas Michelsen at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London.

Learn more about us

Uncommon common-grounds?

Farage, Trump, Salvini, Le Pen, Franco, Ataturk, Stalin, Bismark –what could they possibly have in common? Nationalism. The Brexit vote, Le Pen’s capture of 33% of the French vote, Modi’s ethno-religious politics, not to mention Putin’s and Duterte’s macho-patriotic heroism tell us of a global shift towards nationalism.

But how does nationalism work? Why is it so powerful? Why has it returned? How can nationalists lie in ways that no other politicians can? How is identity used to justify who is deserving and who can be left to die?

Recent blog posts

  • The Finns
    Written by: Matias Salo/ Edited by: Jake Dickson A Delicate Balance Populist and nationalist parties must always consider and balance two key considerations when engaging in public discourse. The first is defining their version of […]
  • Race and Racialism in the Rainbow Nation
    Written by: Saskia Alais/ Edited by: Jake Dickson When Nelson Mandela assumed the South African Presidency in May 1994, he sounded the final death knell of apartheid, a system of legalised racial segregation that, for […]
  • Kia Ora – The Essence of Nationhood
    Written by: Tanya Paul/ Edited by: Jake Dickson ‘Kia Ora’—a traditional Māori phrase of welcome—symbolises more than a simple hello. Meaning the essence of life, ‘Kia Ora’ also epitomises New Zealand’s national identity struggle. Greeting […]

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All rights reserved. The views, responsibility for facts and opinions rests exclusively with the writers and their interpretation of not necessarily reflect on the views of King’s College London or Identity Hunters team members