Isolation. Our persona are largely determined by genetics with instinct, intuition, preference beyond our thoughts and control, but we also are "completed" in place. Home is where the "heart" bloomed, where our persona enveloped it's self and "I" congealed. Now, same and very different are safe in general, but similar is dangerous - assertion on my part. Given that view, isolation creates an homogeneity in the body politic that produces "them" vs. "us."

So, given the community awareness of "them" and "us," the word that may be used to express us is nation, homogeneity of persona, home. "They" are not safe, "we" must ....

Do you want to promote these goals? My dad pointed out that in war the person at whom you aim may have been a richer experience for both of you than the person next to you in the trench, foxhole, guided missile control room, etc. The sadness in Navajo Benny's eyes as he recalled the falling Japanese soldier at whom he had shot trumps any proof that "they," or even "us," are RIGHT. Len

Well, this is actually a huge question, one that a answer in this social media can just point out some directions of where you can find academic proposals and answers.

First, I disagree with the colleague above in some terms. Individuals aren't largely determined by their natural instincts, hormones or genetics, but by them together with the environment (in a broad sense), influenced by psychological and social phenomena, together with space itself (where Geography takes its role).

The sense of being part of something, a social group or a determined "space" is not steady in space and time, and at contemporary times it gets mixed by globalization. Today, we are multi-scalar subjects, constantly in contact with global matters in the same time as we have our daily local lives. The transformation of our interaction with space and time has a great influence in society and individuals interaction. I strongly suggest that you read David Harvey's "The Condition of Postmodernity" and Doreen Massey's "For Space", that have different approaches applied by geographical science about the sense of place and the subject in contemporary capitalist world.

However, for a better understanding of patriotism, nationalism and the influence of Geography in the collective perception of 'nation', I recommend you to search for the work of Elisée Reclus and Friedrich Ratzel. Specially because they're classic authors with opposite views and, despite both being dead for more than a hundred years, their writings are still very relevant to understand state's role in this subject. Ratzel works with the concept of territory as a fundamental one, and French Geography later put the territorial debate in the center of their framework, including discussions about geopolitics and relations of power. I suggest you to read geographers like Jean Gottman, Yves Lacoste and Claude Raffestin, all of them with work in English language (original or translated).

Sharon Chebet, these are some open access works on this topic:

• Kaiser, R. J. (2017). The Geography of Nationalism in Russia and the USSR (Vol. 4862). Princeton University Press. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Geography_of_Nationalism_in_Russia_a/MpsrDgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=geography+nationalism,+patriotism+and+national+unity&pg=PP1&printsec=frontcover
• Mitchell, K. (2004). Geographies of identity: Multiculturalism unplugged. Progress in human geography, 28(5), 641-651. https://nationalismstudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Multiculturalism_Unplugged.pdf
• Paasi, A. (1997). Geographical perspectives on Finnish national identity. GeoJournal, 43(1), 41-50. https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/36087753/Paasi_Geojournal_1997-with-cover-page-v2.pdf?Expires=1665151537&Signature=E-rTMjU4xxrOXQ4O9Su7EFyen9wjOeqhr2-ZQsbpV0B8APxbo3gbwukIMr6GBsFHnjArurhI2VKazXjcjsgHCPYTw9OaTdsW~kP3SUj5wgJ8BXTvIQy9P3U7LuWkCduiAxfYXagxdmHu9GmCoW4grpkeeQGZC9xEf~MC7TL0FpJFM34Tb8lb0Pr05IbIuJ4hCdh5ijatyR9hIg67mzW9K71rd29LcZNye86pHl893TV3E5WdZVWdG2AJrI-xUDYRrv7y2J4yR2We2b3T8yAo9zUKGfkndaaIoVUWo87lQtkI92gqllAA-f~GIJZclXaf-tRm9I23Z9aqUM5kLlhoCA__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA

Because it deal local, national, regional issues base cultural and social dimension over space and time scale.