Patriotism Longitudinally Predicts Symbolic Projection of Indigenous Culture Yet Undermines Recognition of Historical Injustices

ABSTRACT Although Indigenous culture can help settler colonies positively distinguish themselves from other nations, unjust colonial histories can undermine national esteem. Patriotism among settler colonisers should therefore discourage marginalising Indigenous culture (low symbolic exclusion) yet encourage denying the contemporary relevance of colonial injustices (high historical negation). Using a random intercepts cross‐lagged panel model (RI‐CLPM), we test the within‐person effects of both patriotism and nationalism on symbolic exclusion and historical negation over 9 years among a nationwide sample of New Zealand Europeans ( N = 22,547). As hypothesised, patriotism (but not nationalism) uniquely predicted within‐person decreases in symbolic exclusion and increases in historical negation over time. Results replicated when (a) excluding nationalism and (b) examining patriotism's impact on symbolic‐ and resource‐based policy opposition. Thus, patriotism among settler colonisers simultaneously motivates the symbolic projection of Indigenous culture and the denial of the enduring impact of colonial injustices. These insights help explain why some settler colonisers display tokenistic (anti‐)bicultural beliefs.