Showing papers on "Nationalism published in 2010"

The Sociology of War and Violence

Abstract: War is a highly complex and dynamic form of social conflict. This book demonstrates the importance of using sociological tools to understand the changing character of war and organised violence. The author offers an original analysis of the historical and contemporary impact that coercion and warfare have on the transformation of social life, and vice versa. Although war and violence were decisive components in the formation of modernity most analyses tend to shy away from the sociological study of the gory origins of contemporary social life. In contrast, this book brings the study of organised violence to the fore by providing a wide-ranging sociological analysis that links classical and contemporary theories with specific historical and geographical contexts. Topics covered include violence before modernity, warfare in the modern age, nationalism and war, war propaganda, battlefield solidarity, war and social stratification, gender and organised violence, and the new wars debate.

Imagined Noncommunities: National Indifference as a Category of Analysis

Abstract: Since the birth of mass political movements, European nationalists have lamented the failure of their constituents to respond to the siren song of national awakening. This article explores the potential of national indifference as a category of analysis in the history of modern central and eastern Europe. Tara Zahra defines indifference, explores how forms of national indifference changed over time, probes the methodological challenges associated with historicizing indifference, and examines the intersections between national indifference and transnational history. Making indifference visible enables historians to better understand the limits of nationalization and thereby helps to challenge the nationalist narratives and categories that have traditionally dominated the historiography of eastern Europe.

From 'foreign natives' to 'native foreigners' : explaining xenophobia in post-apartheid South Africa : citizenship and nationalism, identity and politics

Abstract: The CODESRIA Monograph Series is published to stimulate debate, comments, and further research on the subjects covered. The Series will serve as a forum for works based on the findings of original research, which however are too long for academic journals but not long enough to be published as books, and which deserve to be accessible to the research community in Africa and elsewhere. Such works may be case studies, theoretical debates or both, but they incorporate significant findings, analyses, and critical evaluations of the current literature on the subjects in question.

The Kurdish Nationalist Movement: Opportunity, Mobilization and Identity

Abstract: David Romano's 2006 book focuses on the Kurdish case to try and make sense of ethnic nationalist resurgence generally. In a world rent by a growing number of such conflicts, the questions posed about why, how and when such challenges to the state are mounted are becoming increasingly urgent. Throughout the author analyses these questions through the lens of social movement theory, considering in particular politico-social structures, resource mobilization strategies and cultural identity. His conclusions offer some thought-provoking insights into Kurdish nationalism, as well as into the strengths and weaknesses of various social movement theories. While the book offers a rigorous conceptual approach, the empirical material - the result of the author's personal experiences - makes it a compelling read. It will find a readership amongst students of the Middle East, and also amongst those interested in ethnic relations, minority rights, terrorism, state repression, social movement theories and many other related issues.

Marx at the Margins: On Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Non-Western Societies

Abstract: In "Marx at the Margins", Kevin B. Anderson uncovers a variety of extensive but neglected texts by Marx that cast what we thought we knew about his work in a startlingly different light. Analyzing a variety of Marx's writings, including journalistic work written for the "New York Tribune", Anderson presents us with a Marx quite at odds with our conventional interpretations. Rather than providing us with an account of Marx as an exclusively class-based thinker, Anderson here offers a portrait of Marx for the twenty-first century: a global theorist whose social critique was sensitive to the varieties of human social and historical development, including not just class, but nationalism, race, and ethnicity, as well. "Marx at the Margins" ultimately argues that despite his overarching critique of capital, Marx created a theory of history that was multilayered and not easily reduced to a single model of development or revolution. Through highly informed readings of work ranging from Marx's unpublished 1879-92 notebooks to his passionate writings about the antislavery cause in the United States, this volume delivers a groundbreaking and canon-changing vision of Karl Marx that is sure to provoke lively debate in Marxist scholarship and beyond.

Nationalism and Social Policy: The Politics of Territorial Solidarity

Abstract: Introduction 1. Understanding the Nationalism-Social Policy Nexus 2. Canada: Nationalism, Federalism, and Social Policy 3. The United Kingdom: Nationalism, Devolution, and Social Policy 4. Belgium: Nationalism, State Reform, and the Federalisation Debate Conclusion

Spiritual Economies: Islam, Globalization, and the Afterlife of Development

Abstract: Anderson, Warwick; and Pols, Hans. 2012. Scientific Patriotism: Medical Science and National SelfFashioning in Southeast Asia. Comparative Studies in Society and History 54(1): 93–113. Moon, Suzanne. 2007. Technology and Ethical Idealism. A History of Development in the Netherlands East Indies. Leiden: CNWS Publications. Mrazek, Rudolf. 2002. Engineers of Happy Land: Technology and Nationalism in a Colony. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Pols, Hans. 2009. European Physicians and Botanists, Indigenous Herbal Medicine in the Dutch East Indies, and Colonial Networks of Mediation. EASTS 2009 3(2–3): 173–208.

Mother Tongues and Nations: The Invention of the Native Speaker

Abstract: This monograph examines the ideological legacy of the the apparently innocent kinship metaphors of "mother tongue" and "native speaker" by historicizing their linguistic development. It shows how the early nation states constructed the ideology of ethnolinguistic nationalism, a composite of national language, identity, geography, and race. This ideology invented myths of congenital communities that configured the national language in a symbiotic matrix between body and physical environment and as the ethnic and corporeal ownership of national identity and local organic nature. These ethno-nationalist gestures informed the philology of the early modern era and generated arboreal and genealogical models of language, culminating most divisively in the race conscious discourse of the Indo-European hypothesis of the 19th century. The philosophical theories of organicism also contributed to these ideologies. The fundamentally nationalist conflation of race and language was and is the catalyst for subsequent permutations of ethnolinguistic discrimination, which continue today. Scholarship should scrutinize the tendency to overextend biological metaphors in the study of language, as these can encourage, however surreptitiously, genetic and racial impressions of language.

X-Marks: Native Signatures of Assent

Abstract: Contents, Preface, Introduction: Migrations/Removals, 1. Identity Crisis, 2. Culture and Its Cops, 3. Nations and Nationalism since 1492, Conclusion: Resignations, Notes, Index

African Soccerscapes: How a Continent Changed the World’s Game

Abstract: African Soccerscapes: How a Continent Changed the World's Game By Peter Alegi Athens: Ohio University Press, 2010 xviii + 179 4 Figures, 3 Maps, 2 Tables The book has endnotes for each chapter and a bibliography $2295, (paper), ISBN: 978-0-89680-278-0African Soccerscapes: How a Continent Changed the World's Game by Peter Alegi descriptively details soccer's regional morphology Broadly considered, this book breaks down into two parts The first four chapters assess soccer's contested history within the continent The final two chapters then address transnational issues of the game as they have evolved through globalization and neo-liberalism Alegi's account, which utilizes archival research and interviews, narrates soccer's place visa-vis popular and political discourse, by providing examples locally in urban realms, regionally, and internationally Throughout the text, emerging themes discussed include: colonialism, imperialism, nationalism, neo-liberalism, globalization, and gender related issues The author dissects how soccer's central role in each theme, relative to how Africa has historically been perceived Furthermore, this timely book challenges readers to engage with such pertinent socio-political issues, written just prior to South Africa hosting the continent's first World Cup In addition, this book offers readers the chance to reflect upon communications presented during the 2010 World CupAlegi begins Chapter 1 with soccer's emergence into the African landscape By first acknowledging colonialism, the author details the forging of the sport's cultural diffusion Therefore, readers initially become aware of how soccer became an intermediary to further implement Western values such as Christianity, capitalism, and work ethic Moreover, he discusses the semblance of power structures enacted through sport by describing how Africa's first club teams were initiated by Europe's colonizing elites Chapter 2 takes these grounded legacies further by exploring alterations in the urban landscape between 1920 and 1940 During this time period, Alegi describes how Africans began to reclaim urban spaces Using soccer, collective assemblies promoted socio-political transformations that became manifest in the landscape By materializing urban social spaces through sport, African peoples assimilated their sense of local cultural identity Alegi engages these interplays of associated struggles over identity by discussing differences between spaces within race Readers are engaged with the struggles over separate spaces, racially; moreover, African peoples claimed soccer and urban soccer pitches as significant "black" places in the landscape, whilst rugby grounds symbolized spaces for "white" Europeans Throughout Chapter 2, the author provides several examples of how Africans reasserted local senses of identity, further structuring contestations of hegemony during periods of colonialism Africans used soccer fields and stadia to situate their place in the landscape; Alegi mentions how spectators incorporated local rituals, including displays of witch doctors, magic, song, and dance among the crowd, in addition to unique styles of play during matchesMoving through history, Chapters 3 and 4 discuss anti-colonial movements and post-colonial Africa, respectively Both chapters place a strong emphasis on nationalism Again, Alegi remarks how the landscape became significant, because during anti-colonial movements, African political leaders made use of soccer stadia to intensify anti-colonial sentiment The author acknowledges the lack of recognition given by other academics regarding soccer's role in African nationalist movements He seeks to reverse this deficiency by highlighting examples from Nigeria, Algeria and South Africa, where nationalist leaders gathered around popular soccer clubs to promote a sense of common ethnic nationalism to challenge colonial authoritarian rule Chapter 4 then highlights soccer's importance to nation and state building during the independence era …

Free floating in the cosmopolis? exploring the identity-belonging of transnational knowledge workers

Abstract: In this article I explore what I call the 'identity-belonging' of trans- national knowledge workers, a diverse group of serially migrating career professionals who have spent extended periods of time in at least three countries, usually following career opportunities. Unlike most recent writing on trans- nationalism, which focuses on enduring connections of migrants with their 'home' countries/places, here I explore a transnationalism that may transcend the national, and generally the territorial, principle, with repercussions for identity-belonging. In this context, how transnational knowledge workers position themselves towards belonging to a nation and towards the idea of cosmopolitanism is of particular interest. From data collected through in-depth interviews in Australia and Indonesia, I conclude that their globally recognized profession forms the central axis of their identity-belonging, alongside a weak identification with their nation of origin. The feeling of belonging to and identifying with particular locales and local communities was articulated flexibly and instrumentally in association with professional and wider social networks, while no primordial territorial attachments could be identified.

Western Sahara: War, Nationalism, and Conflict Irresolution

Abstract: The Western Sahara conflict has proven to be one of the most protracted and intractable struggles facing the international community. Pitting local nationalist determination against Moroccan territorial ambitions, the dispute is further complicated by regional tensions with Algeria and the geo-strategic concerns of major global players, including the United States, France, and the territory s former colonial ruler, Spain. For over twenty years, the UN Security Council has failed to find a formula that will delicately balance these interests against Western Sahara s long-denied right to a self-determination referendum as one of the last UN-recognized colonies. In the first book-length treatment of the issue in over two decades, Zunes and Mundy examine the origins, evolution, and resilience of the Western Sahara conflict, deploying a diverse array of sources and firsthand knowledge of the region gained from multiple research visits. Shifting geographical frames local, regional, and international provide for a robust analysis of the stakes involved.

Morales’s MAS Government Building Indigenous Popular Hegemony in Bolivia

Abstract: At his 2006 inauguration, Bolivia’s President Evo Morales claimed a lineage that included Andean indigenous insurrectional struggles, Simon Bolivar’s nationalism, and Che Guevara’s socialism. He and his MAS party have been attempting to articulate three very different lines of struggle, focusing on indigenous rights, economic justice, and popular democracy. They mediate these contradictions by adopting a core agenda that might be called “indigenous nationalism.” Comparison of the strategies of Morales and Vice President Garcia Linera illuminates the productive tensions of different approaches to dealing with the violent counterrevolution from the eastern lowlands. Despite having to confront serious obstacles and multiple critiques, this “unstable confederation” appears to be holding, allowing the government to continue on its path to long-term change refounding the nation and decolonizing society.

Memory in a global age : discourses, practices and trajectories

Abstract: Preface Note on the Contributors Introduction PART I: WITNESSING IN A GLOBAL ARENA Addressing Painful Memories: Apologies as a New Practice in International Relations C.Daase Australian Memory and the Apology to the Stolen Generations of Indigenous People D.Celermajer & D.Moses PART II: MORAL CLAIMS AND UNIVERSAL NORMS The Past in the Present: Memories of State Violence in Contemporary Latin America E.Jelin Vietnam, the New Left and the Holocaust: How the Cold War Changed Discourse on Genocide B.Molden The Holocaust - a Global Memory? Extensions and Limits of a New Memory Community A.Assmann PART III: GLOBAL MEMORIES AND TRANS-NATIONAL IDENTITIES Globalization, Universalization, and the Erosion of Cultural Memory J.Assmann Victimhood Nationalism in Contested Memories: National Mourning and Global Accountability J.H.Lim Remembering Asia: History and Memory in Post-Cold War Japan S.Conrad PART IV: GLOBAL ICONS AND CULTURAL SYMBOLS Globalizing Memory in a Divided City: Bruce Lee in Mostar G.Bolton & N.Muzurovic 'Fragments of Reminiscence': Popular Music as a Carrier of Global Memory A.Sobral Neda - The Career of a Global Image A.Assmann & C.Assmann

From Foreign Natives to Native Foreigners. Explaining Xenophobia in Post-apartheid South Africa: Explaining Xenophobia in Post-apartheid South Africa

Abstract: Xenophobia is a political discourse As such, its historical development as well as the conditions of its existence must be elucidated in terms of the practices and prescriptions that structure the field of politics In South Africa, its history is connected to the manner citizenship has been conceived and fought over during the past fifty years at least Migrant labour was de-nationalised by the apartheid state, while African nationalism saw it as the very foundation of that oppressive system However, only those who could show a family connection with the colonial/apartheid formation of South Africa could claim citizenship at liberation Others were excluded and seen as unjustified claimants to national resources Xenophobia's current conditions of existence are to be found in the politics of a post-apartheid nationalism were state prescriptions founded on indigeneity have been allowed to dominate uncontested in condition of passive citizenship The de-politicisation of a population, which had been able to assert its agency during the 1980s, through a discourse of 'human rights' in particular, has contributed to this passivity State liberal politics have remained largely unchallenged As in other cases of post-colonial transition in Africa, the hegemony of xenophobic discourse, the book shows, is to be sought in the character of the state consensus Only a rethinking of citizenship as an active political identity can re-institute political agency and hence begin to provide alternative prescriptions to the political consensus of state-induced exclusion

The Populist Radical Right in Poland: The Patriots

Abstract: 1 Pre-communist legacies 2 Communist-period legacy The national question and the communist regime 3 After communism 4The league of polish families and its integral nationalism 5Self-defence: radical populism 6 The anti-liberalism of law and justice 7 Nationalist populism in power: the 2005-7 experiment and beyond 8 Conclusion

The cachet dilemma: Ritual and agency in new Dutch nationalism

Abstract: In 2006, the Dutch government introduced a naturalization ceremony for foreigners wishing to become Dutch citizens. Local bureaucrats who organize the ceremony initially disapproved of the measure as symbolic of the neonationalist approach to migration. I analyze how their criticism is undermined in the process of designing the ritual, the form of which continues to express a culturalist message of citizenship, despite organizers’ explicit criticism or ridicule. Using the concept of "cultural intimacy," I show how nationalism builds on a shared embarrassment among local bureaucrats, from which the new citizens are excluded by way of the ceremony.

Ottoman Brothers: Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Early Twentieth-Century Palestine

Abstract: In its last decade, the Ottoman Empire underwent a period of dynamic reform, and the 1908 revolution transformed the empire's 20 million subjects into citizens overnight. Questions quickly emerged about what it meant to be Ottoman, what bound the empire together, what role religion and ethnicity would play in politics, and what liberty, reform, and enfranchisement would look like. Ottoman Brothers explores the development of Ottoman collective identity, tracing how Muslims, Christians, and Jews became imperial citizens together. In Palestine, even against the backdrop of the emergence of the Zionist movement and Arab nationalism, Jews and Arabs cooperated in local development and local institutions as they embraced imperial citizenship. As Michelle Campos reveals, the Arab-Jewish conflict in Palestine was not immanent, but rather it erupted in tension with the promises and shortcomings of "civic Ottomanism."

Third World Protest: Between Home and the World

Abstract: If boundaries protect us from threats, how should we think about the boundaries of states in a world where threats to human rights emanate from both outside the state and the state itself? Arguing that attitudes towards boundaries are premised on assumptions about the locus of threats to vital interests, Rahul Rao probes beneath two major normative orientations towards boundaries-cosmopolitanism and nationalism-which structure thinking on questions of public policy and identity. Insofar as the Third World is concerned, hegemonic versions of both orientations are underpinned by simplistic imageries of threat. In the cosmopolitan gaze, political and economic crises in the Third World are attributed mainly to factors internal to the Third World state with the international playing the role of heroic saviour. In Third World nationalist imagery, the international is portrayed as a realm of neo-imperialist predation from which the domestic has to be secured. Both images capture widely held intuitions about the sources of threats to human rights, but each by itself provides a resolutely partial inventory of these threats. By juxtaposing critical accounts of both discourses, Rao argues that protest sensibilities in the current conjuncture must be critical of hegemonic variants of both cosmopolitanism and nationalism. The second half of the book illustrates what such a critique might look like. Journeying through the writings of James Joyce, Rabindranath Tagore, Edward Said and Frantz Fanon, the activism of 'anti-globalisation' protesters, and the dilemmas of queer rights activists, Rao demonstrates that important currents of Third World protest have long battled against both the international and the domestic, in a manner that combines nationalist and cosmopolitan sensibilities.

Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?: Demography and Politics in the Twenty-First Century

Abstract: Perhaps Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens have won the argument for secularism with the majority of the West. But the facts point in the other direction: what no one has noticed is that far from declining, religious populations are actually multiplying. This extraordinary demographic phenomenon indicates that the more religious people are, the more children they will have. Within Judaism, the Ultra-Orthodox will almost certainly achieve a majority status over their liberal counterparts this century. Evangelical and neo-traditional Christians will follow suit and Islamist Muslims and are not far behind. Not only will the religious eventually triumph over the non-religious, but it is those who are the most extreme who have the largest families. Drawing on extensive demographic research, and considering questions of multiculturalism, nationalism and terrorism, Kaufmann examines the implications of the decline in liberal secularism as religious conservatism rises – and what it will mean for the future of western modernity.

Redeemed by Fire: The Rise of Popular Christianity in Modern China

Abstract: This book is the first to address the history and future of homegrown, mass Chinese Christianity. Drawing on a large collection of fresh sources-including contemporaneous accounts, diaries, memoirs, archival material, and interviews-Lian Xi traces the transformation of Protestant Christianity in twentieth-century China from a small, beleaguered "missionary" church buffeted by antiforeignism to an indigenous popular religion energized by nationalism and millenarianism. Lian shows that, with a current membership that rivals that of the Chinese Communist Party, and the ability to galvanize China's millions into apocalyptic convulsion and messianic exuberance, the popular Christian movement channels the aspirations and the discontent of the masses and will play an important role in shaping the country's future.

Understanding ethnic conflict: The international dimension

Abstract: The first decade of the twenty-first century has demonstrated how nationalism, ethnicity, and religion remain among the most powerful political forces shaping the world. Even while democracy makes headway all over the globe-in 2005, about two-thirds of the 192 countries in the United Nations could be regarded as electoral democracies-a seemingly atavistic attachment to the nation a citizen is born in continues to profoundly shape the nature of world politics. The presence or absence of ethnic or ethnoreligious movements often determines whether a country will enjoy domestic stability or not and, more recently, whether entire regions of the world are at peace or at war. Indeed, some academics have speculated that wars between regions and even entire civilizations may occur because of cultural differences rooted in ethnicity and religion. For many people who had looked forward to an era of global peace and stability after the winding down of the cold war, it is deeply disappointing to have to live in a decade dominated by a war on terror, Islamic jihadism, increased anti-Americanism, political divisions between "new" and "old" Europe, proliferation of nuclear weapons into more and more "non-Western" countries, and simple low-intensity clashes of cultures and values in various parts of the world. The post-cold war nationalisms of peoples fanned by ethnoreligious movements have contributed much to a decade of unfulfilled hopes and expectations.

Making History in Mugabe's Zimbabwe: Politics, Intellectuals and the Media

Abstract: Contents: African Nationalism - Robert Mugabe - Public Intellectuals - Patriotic History - The Use of History to Legitimise Power - Human Rights - Sovereignty - Race Relations - History and Politics of Land in Africa - Nationalism - Ethnicity.

The Domestic Abroad: Diasporas in International Relations

Abstract: 1. Introducing the Domestic Abroad 2. Re-imagined Nations and Re-structured States: Explaining the Domestic Abroad 3. Putting the Diaspora in its Place: From Colonial Transnationalism to Postcolonial Nationalism 4. The Making and Unmaking of Hegemony: Indian Capitalism from Swadeshi to Swraj 5. From Indians Abroad to the Global Indian CONCLUSION APPENDICES NOTES INDEX

The Young Turk Legacy and Nation Building: From the Ottoman Empire to Atatürk's Turkey

Abstract: The grand narrative of "The Young Turk Legacy and Nation Building" is that of the essential continuity of the late Ottoman Empire with the Republic of Turkey that was founded in 1923. Erik J. Zurcher shows that Kemal's 'ideological toolkit', which included positivism, militarism, nationalism and a state-centred world view, was shared by many other Young Turks. Authoritarian rule, a one-party state, a legal framework based on European principles, advanced European-style bureaucracy, financial administration, military and educational reforms and state-control of Islam, can all be found in the late Ottoman Empire, as can policies of demographic engineering. The book focuses on the attempts of the Young Turks to save their empire through forced modernization as well as on the attempts of their Kemalist successors to build a strong national state. The decade of almost continuous warfare, ethnic conflict and forced migration between 1911 and 1922 forms the background to these attempts and accordingly occupies a central position in this volume. This is a powerful history reflecting and contributing to the latest research from a leading historian of modern Turkey. It is essential for all readers interested in the history of the Ottoman Empire and Turkey, and for an understanding of a key player in the politics of the Middle East and Europe.

In the Name of the Nation: Nationalism and Politics in Contemporary Russia

Abstract: PART I: MOBILIZING AGAINST THE OTHER: FROM THE EXTREME RIGHT TO MASS XENOPHOBIA The Soviet Origins of Russian Nationalism The Evolution of Political Radicalism, 1990-2000 On the Impossibility of a Typological Classification In Quest of Social Mobilization: The Skinhead Phenomenon Anti-Immigration: the Long-Awaited Ideological Consensus Xenophobia: a Mass Phenomenon in Russia PART II: A POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT SHAPED BY THE NATIONALIST REFERENT 'Identity Populism': The Communist Party and Liberal-Democratic Party Rodina, the New Face of Uncomplicated Nationalism Patriotic Centrism Under the Auspices of the Kremlin United Russia or Nomenklatura Nationalism PART III: THE MOTHERLAND, A NEW SOCIAL CONTRACT? Rediscovering Pride: The Rehabilitation of the Motherland The Army as a Metaphor for the Nation: Patriotic Education Programs Promoting Symbolic Capital: the Orthodox Church Reorganizing the Associative Fabric: the Youth Movements Thinking the Nation in its Complexity: Doctrinal Debates in the Kremlin

Curriculum and National Identity: Exploring the Links between Religion and Nation in Pakistan.

Abstract: This paper investigates the relationship between schooling and conflict in Pakistan using an identity-construction lens. Drawing on data from curriculum documents, student responses to classroom activities, and single-sex student focus groups, it explores how students in four state primary schools in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Pakistan, use curricula and school experiences to make sense of themselves as Pakistani. The findings suggest that the complex nexus of education, religion, and national identity tends to construct 'essentialist' collective identities?a single identity as a naturalized defining feature of the collective self. To promote national unity across the diverse ethnic groups comprising Pakistan, the national curriculum uses religion (Islam) as the key boundary between the Muslim Pakistani 'self' and the antagonist non-Muslim 'other'. Ironically, this emphasis creates social polarization and the normalization of militaristic and violent identities, with serious implications for social cohesion, tolerance for internal and external diversity, and gender relations.

Linking Citizens and Parties

Abstract: Do political parties respond to shifts in the preferences of their supporters, which we label the partisan constituency model, or to shifts in the mean voter position (the general electorate model)? Cross-national analyses – based on observations from Eurobarometer surveys and parties’ policy programmes in fifteen countries from 1973-2002 – suggest that the general electorate model characterizes policy shifts of mainstream parties. Alternatively, when we analyze the policy shifts of Communist, Green, and extreme nationalist parties (i.e. “niche” parties), we find that these parties respond to shifts in the mean position of their supporters. These findings have implications for spatial theories and political representation.

Emerging China and Critical Geopolitics: Between World Politics and Chinese Particularity

Abstract: A prominent political and human geographer assesses the rise of contemporary China through the lens of critical geopolitics. In doing so he challenges both (a) conventional world political views of China as merely the most recent world power to emerge through a natural process of linear succession ("the linear narrative") and (b) conceptions of the country as a completely unique phenomenon shaped by a distinct historical experience and cultural particularity ("Sino-centrism"). The paper develops the argument that China's rise rather is shaped by a contradictory amalgam of Western-style nationalism and a traditional totalistic conception of world order that is reactive to and dependent on current world politics.

Unpacking the School: Textbooks, Teachers, and the Construction of Nationhood in Mexico, Argentina, and Peru

Abstract: This article examines trajectories of nationalism in twentieth-century Argentina, Mexico, and Peru through the analytical lens of schooling. I argue that textbooks reveal state-sponsored conceptions of nationhood. In turn, the outlooks and practices of teachers provide a window for understanding how state ideologies were received, translated, and reworked within society. During the late nineteenth century, textbooks in Mexico, Argentina, and Peru conceived of the nation as a political community, emphasized civilization for having achieved national unity, and viewed elites as driving national history. During the twentieth century, textbooks eventually advanced a cultural understanding of the nation, envisioned national unity to be achieved through assimilation into a homogeneous national identity, and assigned historical agency to the masses. Yet teacher responses to the textbooks varied. In Mexico, under Lazaro Cardenas (1934–1940), teachers predominantly embraced textbooks that promoted a popular national culture. Teachers in Argentina under Juan Peron (1946–1955) and in Peru under Juan Velasco (1968–1975) largely opposed the texts.