Book•
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: The authors describes six types of contradiction that arise for non-elite speakers whose practices diverge from the ideals of standardization but who nevertheless find themselves judged by those ideals, and other contradictions arise for political elites who come to believe that differences of standard language preclude a unified European public sphere.
Abstract: The dominant language ideology of contemporary Europe assumes standardized languages. In the political economic context of accelerated global migration and increased European unity, this ideology creates contradictions for speakers. The paper describes six types of contradiction that arise for non-elite speakers whose practices diverge from the ideals of standardization but who nevertheless find themselves judged by those ideals. Other contradictions arise for political elites. They come t believe that differences of standard language preclude a unified European public sphere, and fail to notice the intertextual processes and media circulations across standard languages that create politically significant publics.
179 citations
TL;DR: The authors argue that linguistic imperialism is not a simple matter, which is why it needs book-length treatment, so that claims and analyses can be stringently and validly grounded, publicised and assessed.
Abstract: This is a response to Alan Davies’ s review article ‘ Ironising the Myth of Linguicism’ (1996). It summarises principles for the analysis of linguistic imperialism and demonstrates that the phenomenon is far from mythical. The theoretical anchoring is followed by a response to some of the specific points raised by Davies so as to show that his fairly sweeping generalisations are not justified. In conclusion, issues of educational aid, its myths and realities, are raised and some pointers for future action indicated . o scarcely any attention has been paid to what I believe is the privileged role of culture in the modern imperial experience, and little notice taken of the fact that the extraordinary reach of classical nineteenth- and early twentieth-century European imperialism still casts a considerable shadow over our own times o direct colonialism has largely ended; imperialism, as we shall see, lingers where it has always been, in a kind of general cultural sphere as well as in specific political, ideological, economic, and social practices. (Said, 1993: 3‐ 8) Linguistic Imperialism Part of the cultural sphere that Edward Said alludes to is the linguistic legacy that imperialism has bequeathed to us, and the ways in which this inheritance is being enjoyed down to the present. Linguistic imperialism is not a simple matter, which is why it needs book-length treatment (Heath, 1972; Mu hlha usler, 1996; Pennycook, 1994; Phillipson, 1992a), so that claims and analyses can be stringently and validly grounded, publicised and assessed. My book is controversial, as it asks awkward questions, and challenges the established order to which I belong by background and experience. I am fully aware of the need for more refined analytical tools for coming to grips with linguistic imperialism, and many more aspects of the problem need to be explored. The reception of my book (reprinted twice in four years; plans for translating it into Chinese, French, Japanese and Korean; over 30 reviews, many of them enthusiastic) suggests that the issues are of increasing interest and that in the judgement of many people I seem to be on the right track. In my usage, linguistic imperialism is a theoretical construct, devised to account for linguistic hierarchisation, to address issues of why some languages come to be used more and others less, what structures and ideologies facilitate such processes, and the role of language professionals. My book primarily concentrates on English, and specifically on applied linguistics and educational aid. Far from wishing to ‘ escape’ history, as AD suggests, it attempts to bring into sharper
179 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors look at the construction of regions around the theme of development, looking at culture, institutions, social relations and leadership in two regions of Spain, Catalonia and Galicia.
Abstract: New regionalist theories of development place an emphasis on the changing relationship of territory and function and on the social construction of regional systems of production. Regional development policies have adapted, with more emphasis on decentralization and endogenous development. Much emphasis has been put in recent work on the concept of social capital, although this is often invoked more than analysed and often reduced to an inherent cultural trait. This article looks at the construction of regions around the theme of development, looking at culture, institutions, social relations and leadership in two regions of Spain. Catalonia and Galicia have similar powers as autonomous communities, yet they have produced quite distinct development projects and policies. This is less to do with inherent cultural traits than with different forms of institution building.
178 citations
TL;DR: The ad-hoc crisis community, which uses the social madia as a crisis platform to generate community crisis maps, is addressed.
Abstract: Social media provides the means for creating new communities and for reenergizing old communities. Recently, a new kind of quickly formulated, powerful community has formed as existing social media communities, news organizations, and users have converged in social media spaces to respond to sudden tragedies. This article addresses the ad-hoc crisis community, whith uses the social madia as a crisis platform to generate community crisis maps.
178 citations
TL;DR: In the case of Ecuador, state employees drew on their labor relations and political training to oppose the government's efforts to privatize the state oil company, and urban popular movements opposed the privatization of the hydrocarbons industry and its domination by foreign firms as mentioned in this paper.
177 citations