Near the rock beach of Puducherry, there is a beautiful wall on which our great freedom fighters are portrayed. I was amazed to see my adolescent son trying to salute the wall in a clandestine manner, as he is worried about being teased for the act. Needless to say, the faces on the wall kindled his sense of patriotism.
An extension of this behaviour was noticed on the morning of May 7, when the news broke of India striking nine terrorist camps in Pakistan. He meticulously gobbled up all the print and visual media coverage of the military action and kept on ascertaining India’s ability to engage Pakistan.
At one point, he asked me: do you think Pakistan will use nuclear weapons? Before I could answer, he said, in that case Pakistan would be wiped out. I had heard this somewhere—the voice of a news anchor echoed in my ears. I am sure adolescents elsewhere would also be showing similar emotions when their nation is facing a war—be it in India, Pakistan, Russia or Ukraine.
In the school bus, on school corridors and social media groups, only a few topics spark as much interest among adolescents in India today as the country’s military actions against Pakistan. Be
it the surgical strike after the Uri attacks, Balakot strikes or Operation Sindoor. Adolescents do an autopsy of all the past conflicts between the two countries, and exchange nuanced information among themselves.
Is it a phenomenon restricted to boys? Not really. Adolescent girls, while equally patriotic, tend to express their national identity through emotional empathy, concern for soldiers and the affected families, or by engaging with peace and justice themes. They may be less combative and more relational. This raises a critical question: why are adolescents so deeply drawn to war narratives? The answer lies in the interplay of identity development, media influence, cultural conditioning and peer dynamics.
Adolescence is a period when various types of identities are formed, with the national identity being the most important one. Any kind of military action, whether it is defensive or retaliatory, can evoke a sense of national identity among them, leading to strong patriotic feelings and emotional support for the nation.
As described by Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, teenagers grapple with the question, “Who am I?” This includes exploring their social identities, and national identity. Identifying with a nation provides a sense of belonging, shared history, culture, and values, contributing to a more cohesive self-concept. If not national identity, there are worries that militancy or terrorist ideologies could impress them. Thus the institutional system, including schools and the media, holds the responsibility of exposing them to healthy feeds for building positive identities.
The development of abstract thinking is a very important contributor to the development of national identity at this stage. As they develop the skill, they will have a better understanding about social constructs like nation and patriotism. They try to grasp meaning out of symbolic concepts like narratives about their nation. This growing phase is a strong reason why adolescents are more emotionally connected to their patriotic feelings.
Access to information through print, visual and social media acts as a corroborator of national identity among adolescents. War is a season of emotionally-heightened writings and presentations by journalists and TV anchors. Social media, in the age of AI, presents a carnival of war visuals, both real and unreal. All these war narratives strongly reinforce the “us versus them” dynamic among the adolescents, more than any other age group. They, with their developing sense of belonging and idealism, readily absorb these narratives, solidifying their identification with the national sentiment.
The incessant flow of information that supports their nation would evoke strong emotions of patriotism, solidarity, and a shared destiny, effectively weaving individual identities into a collective national consciousness. This intense period of information consumption and emotional engagement through media serves to deeply ingrain national identity during these formative years.
Adolescents’ strong sense of national identity has implications for schools, curriculum, and teachers. Schools are crucial sites where these intense emotions are navigated to foster a sense of national unity, civic responsibility and critical engagement of militant and terrorist ideologies that are presented to them in the form of neutral perspectives. This has to be carried out very carefully without slipping into jingoism. While they are very sympathetic to the victims, they should understand that their patriotism and sympathy for the war-affected civilians on the other side can coexist. Schools must find time to discuss the historical context of war, ethical considerations of conflicts, the human costs on all sides, and the importance of peace and diplomacy.
Teachers must strike a balance between acknowledging and respecting students’ patriotic feelings and encouraging critical thinking, empathy for diverse perspectives, and the development of nuanced understandings of war and its consequences, thus shaping them into responsible and globally aware citizens.
Amruth G Kumar
Professor and Dean (Academic) of Central University of Kerala
(Views are personal)