Venturing into new grounds

I thought of giving a bit of an update where I am at now in my study of patriotism and its education. Last year, I received some biting criticisms about the work I have been doing. (That is why I love peer review. They dare to say it in your face.) And it made me realized I know very little about patriotism in Europe or other places besides the USA, China and Hong Kong. It made me realized, I really have to brush up on my historical knowledge and be willing to learn more about countries that I knew very little about.

In particular, I am interested in Germany and Japan, because of the major role they played in WW2 as the aggressor, and how 'patriotism' would mean something very different to them compared to other countries, due to historical reasons. I am also reading up more about patriotism in Russia and post-Soviet countries. This one is hard for me. As I was never a history student, so I don't even know who is Stalin. I have found reading academic papers on citizenship education in these countries difficult, because I lacked contextual knowledge. (Maybe I should really made a trip to Japan and visit a museum. This way of learning works for me. Being there in the country and sensing the place.)

So this is what I have been doing lately, I have put aside the USA, China and Hong Kong works, because they really skew how you think about patriotic education and the world. The American and Chinese governments are very pro-patriotism and its inculcation in schools. They can afford to. They are big countries, and powerful, and their people have a lot to be proud of. They are powerful enough to provide their people with a generally good standard of living and they have not been invaded in a big way like the other smaller and weaker states. Hong Kong also seems like it simply wants to be different from China and more like America, in the sense of wanting to be far from communism/socialism, and near to liberalism. So these three units of study are very well aligned.

But... There are countries that do not believe in patriotism in citizens. My friend told me that Spain is one of them. There's no need at all to link citizenship with patriotism. I can be a good and loyal citizen, without any emotional attachment to my country. So yes, now I am interested in these other countries. I want to see if I can form another framework of patriotism. It means I have to broaden my search of literature. Some of these works are hidden you know, in books, that are published by European publishers which I have never heard of before. So yes, that's what I have been doing. I have been reading up more about patriotism and its education in countries that are quieter about patriotism.

I believe there are probably such hidden works about patriotism in other Southeast Asian countries, like the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand... But yes... How do I find them? I would love to know more about these countries as well...