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Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism
01 Jan 1983-
TL;DR: In this paper, Anderson examines the creation and global spread of the 'imagined communities' of nationality and explores the processes that created these communities: the territorialisation of religious faiths, the decline of antique kingship, the interaction between capitalism and print, the development of vernacular languages-of-state, and changing conceptions of time.
Abstract: What makes people love and die for nations, as well as hate and kill in their name? While many studies have been written on nationalist political movements, the sense of nationality - the personal and cultural feeling of belonging to the nation - has not received proportionate attention. In this widely acclaimed work, Benedict Anderson examines the creation and global spread of the 'imagined communities' of nationality. Anderson explores the processes that created these communities: the territorialisation of religious faiths, the decline of antique kingship, the interaction between capitalism and print, the development of vernacular languages-of-state, and changing conceptions of time. He shows how an originary nationalism born in the Americas was modularly adopted by popular movements in Europe, by the imperialist powers, and by the anti-imperialist resistances in Asia and Africa. This revised edition includes two new chapters, one of which discusses the complex role of the colonialist state's mindset in the development of Third World nationalism, while the other analyses the processes by which all over the world, nations came to imagine themselves as old.
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TL;DR: This article found that national identification, national pride, and an ethnic conception of nationhood are additional explanations of radical right voting, and national identification is found to be stronger when populations on average perceive stronger ethnic threat.
Abstract: Voting for radical right-wing parties has been associated most strongly with national identity threats. In Europe, this has been framed by the radical right in terms of mass-migration and European integration, or other politicians bargaining away national interests. Perhaps surprisingly given the radical right’s nationalist ideology, nationalistic attitudes are hardly included in empirical research on the voting behaviour. In this contribution, we test to what extent various dimensions of nationalistic attitudes affect radical right voting, next to the earlier and new assessed effects of perceived ethnic threat, social distance to Muslims, Euroscepticism and political distrust. The findings show that national identification, national pride and an ethnic conception of nationhood are additional explanations of radical right voting. National identification’s effect on radical right voting is found to be stronger when populations on average perceive stronger ethnic threat.
99 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the pratique du recensement avant, pendant, and apres la periode coloniale en Inde, centrant son analyse sur l'enumeration, considere comme un processus central dans la formation de l'Etat and des identites.
Abstract: L'A. examine la pratique du recensement avant, pendant, et apres la periode coloniale en Inde, centrant son analyse sur l'enumeration, considere comme un processus central dans la formation de l'Etat et des identites. Afin de restaurer l'autonomie d'action des Indiens, il examine la signification de l'enumeration dans l'etablissement des frontieres sociales. Il montre que l'enumeration ne fut pas une innovation de l'administration coloniale. Les effets essentiels de l'enumeration pendant la periode coloniale et postcoloniale sont relies a la formation d'un espace politique indien unitaire et a l'institution politique electorale. L'A. examine d'abord les significations fiscales et politiques des pratiques administratives des Mughal et leur heritage au 18 eme siecle au niveau sous-continental. Il centre ensuite son analyse sur les regions de l'Inde occidentale et centrale jusqu'a la fin du 19 eme siecle, passant a nouveau a l'echelle sous-continentale pour les periodes suivantes. Finalement, il propose une etude de cas, montrant comment, en Inde occidentale, au niveau etatique, les communautes pouvaient communiquer, se reunir et de changer, en opposition a la legislation officielle, et independemment du recensement.
99 citations
TL;DR: The authors examine what is meant by "context" in Social Psychology and present an example of how to place identity in its social and institutional context, taking the case of British naturalisation, the process whereby migrants become citizens, and show that the identity of naturalised citizens is defined by common sense ideas about Britishness and by immigration policies.
Abstract: In this paper we suggest that there is a need to examine what is meant by "context" in Social Psychology and present an example of how to place identity in its social and institutional context. Taking the case of British naturalisation, the process whereby migrants become citizens, we show that the identity of naturalised citizens is defined by common-sense ideas about Britishness and by immigration policies. An analysis of policy documents on "earned citizenship" and interviews with naturalised citizens shows that the distinction between "elite" and "non-elite" migrants is evident in both the "reified" sphere of policy and the "common sense" sphere of everyday identity construction. While social representations embedded in lay experience construct ethno-cultural similarity and difference, immigration policies engage in an institutionalised positioning process by determining migrants' rights of mobility. These spheres of knowledge and practice are not disconnected as these two levels of "managing otherness" overlap-it is the poorer, less skilled migrants, originating outside the West who epitomise difference (within a consensual sphere) and have less freedom of mobility (within a reified sphere). We show that the context of identity should be understood as simultaneously psychological and political.
99 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a new analytical approach to the study of identity options offered in foreign and second language textbooks is introduced, grounded in poststructuralist theory and critical discourse analysis, applied to two popular beginning Russian textbooks.
Abstract: This article introduces a new analytical approach to the study of identity options offered in foreign and second language textbooks. This approach, grounded in poststructuralist theory and critical discourse analysis, is applied to 2 popular beginning Russian textbooks. Two sets of identity options are examined in the study: imagined learners (targeted implicitly by the texts) and imagined interlocutors (invoked explicitly). It is argued that, while one text, Russian Stage 1, offers a richer variety of identity options for the students, neither book fully reflects the diversity of contemporary Russian society. The biases and oversimplifications identified in the texts represent lost opportunities for cross-cultural reflection; they may also negatively affect the students and deprive them of important means of self-representation and at times even self-defense. The discussion suggests some directions for future research inquiry, as well as for material writing and classroom practice that would promote inte...
99 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the role of sport events in contributing to reconciliation and inclusive social change between disparate communities in ethnically divided Sri Lanka is investigated, and the authors suggest that if strategically designed, sport events allow the establishment of interpersonal friendships and the creation of inclusive social identities along national lines, organizational lines, common interests and imagined factors.
Abstract: Reconciliation is about bringing disparate communities together and creating the communication necessary to reduce intergroup barriers, generate understanding, and connect with others to achieve a peaceful togetherness. This article investigates the role of sport events in contributing to reconciliation and inclusive social change between disparate communities in ethnically divided Sri Lanka. Following an interpretive mode of enquiry, findings suggest that if strategically designed, sport events allow the establishment of interpersonal friendships and the creation of inclusive social identities along national lines, organizational lines, common interests and imagined factors. Events can create ‘momenta of togetherness’ for members of disparate ethnic groups and as such may contribute to positive social change and a sense of imagiNation. While sport events provide a starting point, booster and catalyst for positive social change and development on a community level, they need to be integrated into a larger...
99 citations