What Is a Mythomoteur? The "Myth-Engine" of National Identity
What is a mythomoteur? Explore John A. Armstrong’s concept of the "constitutive myth," the symbolic engine that drives national identity and group solidarity.
Antonis Chaliakopoulos
Antonis is an archaeologist with a passion for museums and heritage and a keen interest in aesthetics and the reception of classical art. He holds an MSc in Museum Studies from the University of Glasgow and a BA in History and Archaeology from the University of Athens (NKUA), where he is currently working on his PhD.
Key Takeaways
Definition: A mythomoteur is the constitutive myth of a polity (ethnic group or ethnie).
Etymology: compound of "myth"+"moteur" (the French word for engine)
In the study of nationalism, few concepts are as evocative as the mythomoteur. Coined by Ramon d’Abadal i de Vinyals and popularized by John A. Armstrong in his seminal 1982 work, Nations Before Nationalism, the term literally translates to a "myth-engine."
It represents the constitutive myth of a polity (or ethnie in Anthony D. Smith's work) the essential "glue" that binds a people together through a shared sense of origin and destiny. By looking past modern political structures, Armstrong tried to understad how myths and symbols enshrined in collective memory can act as the foundation of the modern nation.
Etymology
The word is a compound of the word "myth" and "moteur" (French word for engine).
Quick definition
In Nations before nationalism (1982), John A. Armstrong defined mythomoteur as the "constitutive myth of a polity". However this simple definition doesn't say much to someone not familiar with Armstrong's work.
Who Coined the Term?
The term was coined by Catalan historian Ramon d’Abadal i de Vinyals. Armstrong popularized the term which was later adopted by Anthony D. Smith.
Extended Definition and Analysis
A mythomoteur is the myth that acts as the glue that brings together a group of people and acts as the basis for a nation. It is often set in a mythical past that cannot be dated. Even if it is a historical event that can be dated, it still stands outside of time in the sense that it is perceived as the ultimate beginning. A mythomoteur serves as reminder that the members of the group share a "common fate". It usually stresses solidarity against an alien force.
The Origin of the Term: John A. Armstrong’s Contribution
Armstrong was an academic who studied national identity and nations. His work was particularly influential. Notably Anthony D. Smith's ethnosymbolism owes a lot to Armstrong's earlier work and more specifically to his conceptualization of the myth-symbol complex and the mythomoteur.
In Nations before nationalism, Armstrong explored the emergence of the nation by examining ethnic identities over the longue durée (a long period of time, usually multiple centuries or milennia). What he found was that unlike what modernist claimed, the nations were not entirely modern inventions. National identities were constructed on top of prior ethnic identifications.
Symbols and Myths as the Basis of a Nation
For Armstrong, nations are constructed first and foremost in "the minds of their subjects" (1982, 8), hence he stretched the importance of symbols, myths, and communication in the emergence of national identities.
Words are particularly important as boundaries signifying the limits of a group's identity. Armtrong presents an example from early Yiddish where certain German words were purposely excluded due to their explicit Christian connotations.
For example, séganon, “to bless,” was rejected because it derived
from Latin signare, “to make the sign [of the cross},” in favor of retaining
the neutral form “bentshn” from Latin benedicere, “to speak well,” which
earlier Jewish communities had incorporated in Southern Laaz, their Romance dialect. Such verbal symbolic devices safeguarded group identity
against penetration of Christian concepts. (Armstrong 1982, 8)
Symbols can jump from one ethnic group to another over centuries or milennia, gaining new meanings and uses. This is a form of ethnic communication and here "the persistence of the symbol is more significant than its point of origin in the past" (1982, 8).
Over long periods of time, symbols, language, and myths amalgamate and create rigid structures that are used to justify an established order. The restult is a mythomoteur that defines the identity of a specific polity.
In Anthony D. Smith's Ethnosymbolism
Smith built on Armstrong's work emphasizing the improtance of myths and symbols in constructing national identity. Smith's core unit is the ethnie (instead of Armstrong's polity), an ethnic group with shared symbols, myths, and stories. A mythomoteur remained important in his work even if not always mentioned explicitly metnioned by that term.
Bibliography
Armstrong, J. (1982). Nations before nationalism. University of North Carolina Press.