Kalistani Major History

[Doc]

Retrospect:Enskalan Cultural Influence nearly completely absorbed in Kalistan
Kalistani influence seen as "a matter of fact"
Sulari, Suldanor
February 18, 4766


Modern attitudes readopted by Kalistani Youth in Downtown Sulari

Founded in the 4710's, the Enskalan Nationalist Movement in Kalistan sought to recreate Kalistani culture and rewrite Kalistani history in the mold of an ethnonationalist lens.  The assertion was that the Kalistani People, which have always been a highly diversified group whose ethnic-national identity has always revolved around the notion that the Nation contained representations of all nations in Terra, due to our long standing status as a nation of refugees and immigrant, our traditionally non-existent border controls and our easily assimilable culture, was instead descended from a long forgotten, but recently "rediscovered" people known as the Enskalan people.  The National Movement gained seats in a vacant National Assembly, and set about changing the Kalistani Language, the title of the political offices and institutions and the name of the State to Enskal Estatuta, or the Enskal State.  For a few decades, Vrassan Luthori was spoken alongside Enskara, with the latter being seen as the language of government and business, while Vrassan was demoted to a vernacular and not formally taught in schools.  New symbols were created out of legendary or mythic ones, and the leaders of the movement even did something that Brethrenists of Kalistan don't typically do:  they took an oath under a tree.

As it turns out, the Enskalan "fallacy" as some critics have called it, was not so much a fallacy as a political expedient to promote liberalization in the economy.  In generating support for the new political movement, creators needed to create a new identity, where one simply did not exist before.  Claims to the authenticity of the old documents were only verified by the Enskalan Movement itself.  The ancient language may or may not have existed in Kalistani prehistory, but the fact is:  it exists now, and several generations of Kalistani citizens speak it alongside the vernacular Vrassan dialect of Luthori.  We can easily discount the history that the ENM may or may not have fabricated, but we cannot discount the influence that this "restored" version of it has on our culture.

Following the return of the Socialist Party of Kalistan, Enskalan first measures have been sidelined in favor of gradual restoration of the old Kalistani cultural norms.  Several important economic measures have been passed to get Kalistan on a healthy footing, and liberalization reforms have been extended to allow Kalistan to revive from the slump of neglect from ten years of essential anarchy at the Republic level.  Meanwhile, the Republican government has taken its first steps toward rebuiling our nation's ability to defend itself, and under the benevolent neglect of the Lourennaise empire, Kalistan has experienced a period of moderate prosperity and very noticeable peace.

As the cultural revolution, which was enforced from above, of the Enskalan Estatua fades into memory, and its earliest proponents begin meeting their maker, the SP in Kalistan is overseeing a re-emergence of the traditional culture within Kalistan.  They have dropped all pretense of use of Enskaran for official purposes, and the language is now taught in schools as an elective, while Luthori and Egelion are both taught in primary and secondary settings as the primary languages of the nation.  A recent poll showed that less than 20% of the Nation identified as "Enskalan" and of that number more than 80% called themselves "Enskalan-Kalistani".  Another 5 percent referred to themselves as immigrants, and the remaining 75% had re-adopted the traditional designation of "Kalistani" as their cultural group.  Meanwhile, millions of people everyday have readopted traditional Kalistani attire and social attitudes.  The Kalistani Music industry, which has been moribund for decades, has been reignited with the refounding of the Kalistani Recording Industry, and the reopening of the Global Music Hall of Fame in Luxon.  Kalistani Culture is now a matter of fact in Kalistan.

Now 9 years after the return of the Socialist Party, it appears that a distinct "Enskalan" ethnicity separate from "Kalistani" appears headed for a natural extinction.  Anthropoligists predict that there will always be some group that refers to itself as somehow connected to "Enskalan".  And many will continue to speak Enskalan in the home until it graudally morphs into another dialect of Luthori.  But the days of Enskalan cultural hegemony in Kalistan appear to be in the past, and more and more people are calling upon the National Government to acknowledge this fact by restoring Luthori to its status as the language of official correspondence and conduct.

The Premier of the Republic has indicated his interest in this move, and has requested his minister of Culture to begin working on a program for complete restoration of Kalistani culture in the Republic