Becoming One Nation

Many scholars have discussed the ways in which former§East and §West Germany are not reuniting, but how the wall in§people s minds §remains while the remnants of the actual wall have§long been §destroyed. The author of this book thus approaches§the question of §Germany s unity by looking at its future - the§children that were §born post Germany's reunification.§Through a discourse analyses in 10th grade history§classrooms of §former East and West Berlin high schools, this book§addresses §matters of national identity and unity from a linguistic §anthropological standpoint. Based on Michael Billig s§theory that §national identities are inculcated through every-day§banal §interactions, student-teacher communication is§examined through §the lenses of language socialization and language§ideology. Here, §the speakers use of pronouns and greeting practices§and the §juxtaposition of the local Berlin dialect to the§German standard §language are analyzed in their power to create a§shared national §identity.§This book gives new insights to anyone interested in§Germany's §reunification process from a micro-analytical, bottom-up §perspective.