Soil, blood and identity

Modern nations are products of nationalism, and can be defined only as such, rather than by their own distinctive traits - which anyway vary over an extremely wide range. Nationalism was, sociologically, an attempt made by the modern elites to recapture the allegiance (in the form of cultural hegemony) of the ‘masses’ produced by the early modern transformations and particularly by the cultural rupture between the elites and the rest of the population by the ‘civilizing process’, whose substance was the self-constitution and the self-separation of new elites legitimizing their status by reference to superior culture and knowledge. In the same way in which the modern state needed nationalism for the ‘primitive accumulation’ of authority, nationalism needed coercive powers of the state to promote the postulated dissolution of communal identities in the uniform identity of the nation. In the practice of both, there was an unallayed tension between the ‘inclusivist’ and ‘exclusivists’ prongs of the nation-state project; hence the never fully effaced link between nationalism and racism, nationalism being the racism of the intellectuals, and racism - the nationalism of the masses. Currently our part of the world undergoes the process of the separation between state and nation, effected by lesser reliance of state power on culturalist legitimation and a degree of de-territorialization of communal affiliations, which fills the efforts of nation-building, invention of heritage, tribal integration etc. with a new urgency and may lead to the sharpening of either of the two prongs of the nationalist project.     

Nationalist competition on the internet: Uyghur diaspora versus the Chinese state media

This article explores the evolving relationship between nationalism and identity formation as it is now facilitated on the internet. Particularly, it examines the implications of nationalist competition between the Uyghur diaspora online community and Chinese state media. Since the onset of the Information Age, each party has sought to influence international perception of the Uyghur people and their traditional homeland Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) by promoting English language representations of Uyghurs and Xinjiang on the internet. Further, this study looks at the question of how each party's engagement in this online nationalist competition affects either positively or negatively its own agenda. The question is investigated through comparative textual analysis of Uyghur diaspora and Chinese state media websites and an interview with a Uyghur diaspora website administrator.     

Elite positionings towards Hindi: Language policies,political stances and language competence in India1

In India, Hindi is imagined and institutionalized as the national language which weds together India's pluralistic population under the banner of a shared Indian identity. Approaching language competence as embedded in and performed through language practices and ideologies, I explore how a New Delhi elite community positions themselves towards Hindi vis‐à‐vis national language policies and political movements. Contrasting with traditional unified elite portrayals, e.g. ‘elite closure’ ( Myers‐Scotton 1990 ), India has multiple sociolinguistically discordant elite groups, and these liberal elites ideologically construct their Hindi (in)competency in an alternative framework attending to the history (and failure) of Hindi‐based nationalism, their disalignment with modern right‐wing movements, and their continued affiliation with English. This perspective of some elites as negotiating and disagreeing with contemporary political movements and language policy legislature illuminates language competencies as socially constructed and locally grounded, and challenges past interpretations of postcolonial elites as unified actors controlling the dominant linguistic marketplace.     

Castells' Catalan routes: nationalism and the sociology of identity

Castells' analysis of the rise of a global network society and information age is underpinned, paradoxically, by a nationalist vision with organic links in a Gramscian sense to Catalan nationalism. This leads to various weaknesses in his theory, especially an over-emphasis on language and nation at the expense of class. Exploring the specifically Catalan origins of his work, and testing its adequacy there, helps us to understand Castells' broader approach. Discussion of Castells has perhaps overlooked his commitment to nationalism because the sociology of identity sometimes unwittingly adopts what Billig has called a banal nationalist perspective. A stricter distinction between the different meanings of the term identity would help sociology to avoid arguments, such as that of Castells, that risk becoming determinist, teleological or both. The article concludes by asking whether the 'sociological imagination' has been alert enough to its banal nationalist form, facilitated by its intimate relationship with the state, its concern for policy relevance and methods of data gathering.     

The Double Meaning of Nationalism

Abstract  Although nationalism appears to be a kind of particularism, in fact we often find nationalist movements emerging within the trend toward universalism. For example, contemporary storms of nationalism are taking place in an era of unprecedented universalization in politics, economics and technology. The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the mechanism which generates nationalism by explaining the contradictory intersection between particularism and universalism. First, the paper looks at the difficulty in defining the nation, and shows that there are two historical stages in the establishment of nation. Second. the difference between social experiences in a nation and those in pre-nation society are discovered through consideration of the fact that the novel and the nation developed contemporaneously. Thus it is established that social experiences in nation are characterized by the acquisition of special transcendent viewpoint. Third, the paper searches for the origin of nationalism in the traditional European political theory according to which the king has two bodies. Fourth, the paper attempts to integrate two excellent theories of nationalism: those of Gellner and Anderson. Fifth, the paper analyses types of nationalism so as to clarify the inner structure of the transcendence proper to nationalism. Finally, this paper explains the mechanism of nationalism by relating it to the dynamics of capitalism. The explanation will enable us to understand why the nationalism chauvinism suddenly reemerges in today's Eastern European societies when they are exposed to capitalism.     

Methodological Nationalism,the Social Sciences,and the Study of Migration: An Essay in Historical Epistemology1

The article examines methodological nationalism, a conceptual tendency that was central to the development of the social sciences and undermined more than a century of migration studies. Methodological nationalism is the naturalization of the global regime of nation‐states by the social sciences. Transnational studies, we argue, including the study of transnational migration, is linked to periods of intense globalization such as the turn of the twenty‐first century. Yet transnational studies have their own contradictions that may reintroduce methodological nationalism in other guises. In studying migration, the challenge is to avoid both extreme fluidism and the bounds of nationalist thought.     

"More Basque than You!": Class,Youth, and Identity in an Industrial Basque Town

In this article, I argue that those of us who study nationalism need to "think class as we think the nation," and I suggest a framework for exploring the relationship between class and national identities and projects. I present the case of Basque nationalism and examine how different visions of the nation either include or exclude non-Basque, working-class immigrants. I show how during the economic crisis of the 1980s to early 1990s, young people created a novel Basque identity in the bars associated with the radical-Basque-nationalist movement. This identity combines leftist and nationalist politics with the styles of punk rock, a genre that flourished in the declining centers of industrial capitalism throughout Europe and the United States. Unlike competing versions of Basqueness, radical Basque identity is not ethnically exclusive. Thus it invites youths who are not ethnically Basque to become Basque by drawing on their oppositional politics and working-class backgrounds as alternative sources of "authenticity."     

Stillborn chrysalis: reflections on the fate of national culture in neoliberal Zambia

Abstract In this article I use the analysis of a Zambian on‐line magazine to explore the problems and limits of nationalism in neoliberal times. The magazine, Chrysalis, was a bold attempt by a group of young, educated, cosmopolitan elites to craft a new Zambian nationalism for the information age. The discussions that unfolded in the magazine illustrate some of the difficulties in creating national culture and nationalist discourses of legitimation under conditions of neoliberalism.     

Historicising Activism in Late Colonial and Post-Colonial Sub-Saharan Africa

Despite Africa's reputation as a place of political repression and limited popular agency, activism and popular mobilisation have been central to political change in colonial and post-colonial Africa. The social and cultural identity of activists has been neglected by historians, who have commonly studied activism through imposed normative frameworks (e.g. class struggle or decolonisation) that have not always been central to the motivations of activists themselves. This article identifies and analyses specific phases of popular activism. Mass mobilisation was crucial to the success of anti-colonial nationalism, but did not commonly result in governments that addressed the aspirations or grievances of activists. From the 1970s, African governments became vulnerable to popular pressure, in the form of urban riots and uprisings, but attempts to establish more institutionalised pressure groups for change were not generally successful. The pro-democracy movements of the early 1990s again utilised mass mobilisation to achieve their aims, but the advent of multi-party democracy across the continent did not translate into meaningful popular reform. Since 2000, popular movements have expressed discontent with neo-liberal economic policies and authoritarian governments. The Arab Spring has inspired new waves of activism, but it remains unclear whether this will bring about significant political change across the continent. Two underlying linked themes will be analysed in the paper. Firstly, the interaction between local activism and broader ideological movements and influences (nationalism, socialism, religious belief, etc): to what extent have these ideological frameworks, commonly introduced by external agents, assisted or hampered in the development of discourses of resistance or activism? Secondly, African activists, in contrast to their western counterparts, have commonly operated in relationship to both local state and western or international elites, including colonial governments, multinational corporations and international donors. The paper will examine the extent to which these relationships have shaped the ideas and behaviour of African movements.     

Biography,Nationalism and Yvonne Vera's Nehanda

Abstract

This paper shows how biographies of individuals and nations are interlinked. While this story-telling has generally been seen as pivotal to anti-colonial African nationalist struggles, it is also a vital feature of the present. Nation-building, policy-making and a range of internal struggles within the nation are conveyed through distinctive stories about individuals and groups. Many stories about individuals and collectivities can be described as hagiographical in the sense that they extol messages of nationalism triumphantalism and the courage and altruism of those who struggled for liberation. Traditions of patriotic history in the postcolonial context have drawn on hagiography to bolster the precarious authority of elites: the censoring of certain memories and the rewriting of others have worked to create artificial collectivities, spurious alliances and fabricated enemies. The imaginative writing of Yvonne Vera, who revisions the story of Nehanda as an icon in Zimabwean nationalist history, radically rethinks fundamental assumptions about nationalism in relation to biographical storytelling. While clearly offering a laudatory and hagiographical representation, Vera contests the patrilineal and patriotic focus of much nationalist hagiography. Emphasising the imaginative and productive powers of biographical storytelling, Vera seeks to configure inspirational, resonant and liberating stories of pasts, presents and futures.     

Unfinished Imagined Communities: States, Social Movements, and Nationalism in Latin America

This article addresses two shortcomings in the literature on nationalism: the need to theorize transformations of nationalism, and the relative absence of comparative works on Latin America. We propose a state-focused theoretical framework, centered on conflicts between states elites and social movements, for explaining transformations of nationalism. Different configurations of four key factors — the mobilization of excluded elites and subordinate actors, state elites’ political control, the ideological capacities of states, and polarization around ethnoracial cleavages — shape how contrasting trajectories of nationalism unfold over time. A comparative analysis of early– and mid–twentieth century Mexico, Argentina, and Peru illustrates the explanatory power of our theoretical framework. José Itzigsohn is Associate Professor of Sociology and Ethnic Studies at Brown University. He is the author of Developing Poverty (Penn State University, 2000). His current research focuses on two main topics. The first is the formation of ethnic, racial, and national identities. The second is grassroots economies and workplace democracy. Matthias vom Hau is Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Sociology at Brown University. He is currently completing his dissertation, a comparative-historical analysis of nationalism in twentieth-century Argentina, Mexico, and Peru. His research interests involve the intersections among culture and identity, state power, and social movements.     

Elites and popular nationalism

Much current theory concerning nationalism holds that elites commonly create or cause popular nationalism. In part, that thesis may be due to an overwhelming emphasis in research on nationalism on positive cases: cases where nationalism has appeared, ignoring cases where it has not. In this article, I challenge the thesis by showing numerous historical cases in which elites have promoted nationalisms that ordinary people have not adopted, or in which ordinary people have adopted a nationalism before it was taken up by elites. Even if elites do not create popular nationalism, however, they can and do shape its expression in a variety of ways, such as organizing it, providing relevant information, or providing opportunity or incentive for it. I show this through historical examples.     

Despite the crisis: The resilience of intercultural nationalism in Catalonia

Interculturalism provides the core framework for immigration‐related policies in Catalonia, while remaining deeply intertwined with Catalan nationalism. We first identify ‘intercultural nationalism’ as the core doctrine through which Catalan nationalist discourse has been articulated in relation to immigration. We trace interculturalism's origins to nationalism in Quebec and argue that, in Catalonia also, regional immigration policies have been constructed in opposition to those of the central state, while attempting to involve immigrants closely in subnational belonging and social cohesion. Second, we investigate whether interculturalism is durable during economic and political crises, arguing that intercultural policies did not change following the economic recession of the 2010s. This harmonises with broader interpretations that de‐emphasise the role of economic factors in ethnic conflicts. In conclusion we note how the continuing resilience of interculturalism in Catalan policies on immigration contrasts sharply with the rise of xenophobia elsewhere.     

Collective Identity in Social Movements: Central Concepts and Debates

The concept of collective identity has been used extensively by social movement scholars seeking to explain how social movements generate and sustain commitment and cohesion between actors over time. Despite its wide application, collective identity is a notoriously abstract concept. This article focuses on the use of the concept in the literature on contemporary social movements and offers a comprehensive theoretical overview. The central elements of collective identity in the social movement literature are developed, and some key differences in interpretations are highlighted. Finally, some contemporary debates around the continuing usefulness and limitations of the concept of collective identity are explored, with a special emphasis on the challenges of applying the concept to movements that define themselves in terms of heterogeneity, diversity and inclusiveness.     

Positivism and Nationalism in 19th Century France and Mexico

Abstract This article explores the relationship between positivism and nationalism in 19^th century France and Mexico, arguing that positivism cannot be understood without considering it in close relation to the rise of collectivistic and civic nationalism in each society. To elite intellectuals in both France and Mexico, positivism seemed to resolve the apparent chaos generated by the political-conceptual revolution that nationalism had given rise to, and to provide the background to an historical narrative that served nationalist aims, by seeming to assure the ultimate triumph of the nation.     

Problems of Nationalism and Historical Memory in China's Relations with Japan

This paper employs concepts and analytical frameworks drawn from Sociology, particularly collective memory, to examine China's attempts – and the limitations of those attempts – to improve relations with Japan in the new century. In particular, it focuses on a specific episode, the attempt to bring “new thinking” to Sino-Japanese relations. It concludes that the difficulties and complexities are the product of many factors. In the first place, CCP is constrained by its own definition of nationalism and national identity. Secondly, Beijing's control mechanisms and its ability to direct nationalist discourse in ways convenient to itself are challenged by the rise of popular nationalistic sentiment. In addition, the rise of revisionist nationalism in Japan further complicates Beijing's stance toward Japan. The achievement of China's vision of harmonious world and of “Mutually Beneficial” relations with Japan will depend on how well China handles the delicate matters of the construction of national identity and the basis of government legitimacy.     

Armed masculinity,Hindu nationalism and female political participation in India

Male and female bodies as well as societal ideas defining cultural interpretations of masculinities and femininities are potent metaphors for expressing nation. This article examines two cultural expressions of nation and manliness – the Hindu soldier and warrior monk – disseminated by Hindu nationalist organizations in India. These images, among others, emerged from India's experience of British imperialism and are defined by values of martial prowess, muscular strength, a readiness to go to battle and moral fortitude. Men and women both respond to the call of a nationalism glorifying muscular warriors radiating an uncompromising moral resolve to defend their nation (us) against an easily recognizable enemy (them).

This article argues that this masculinized vision of nation carries important implications for women. Women enter this masculine environment through roles such as heroic mother, chaste wife and celibate warrior. Although divergent in their articulation at the grassroots, all three models of female behavior articulate two social themes. One, women's bodies represent national honor and two, this embodiment only works if women are chaste and virtuous. Indian feminists view such feminine activism with suspicion because the considerable empowerment women may derive from Hindu nationalist politics ultimately does not challenge the gendered power imbalances within the patriarchal Hindu family.     

What’s the matter with being Indonesian? A social representation approach to unravelling Indonesian national identity / ¿Qué significa ser indonesio? Una perspectiva de la representación social para desentrañar la identidad nacional indonesia

Due to its diverse nature, being an Indonesian is sometimes confusing as it entails overlapping national, ethnic and religious identity. By using a social representation approach, online survey research involving 114 Indonesians was carried out to explore these questions: How do Indonesians negotiate their ethnic, religious and national identity? What identity markers should one possess to claim being an Indonesian? And lastly, who is the nationalist? Research findings suggest that national and ethnic identity as well as ethnic and religious identity were consensual, while the relation between religious and national identity was emancipated. It is also found that being a Muslim and possessing a stronger sense of ethnic identity would increase the likelihood of being a prouder Indonesian, while being a female, living abroad for 5–10 years, being a nationalist Muslim and embracing transnational Islamic movements reduced the probability of having a stronger sense of national identity.     

Nationalism, Comparatively Speaking

Abstract This paper is offered as an extended exploration of the common sense mythologies of modem nationalism. Using Fijian dualism as a point of comparison, it argues that nationalist ideologies of unity rest on a historically contingent principle of social order: namely, that societies are (normatively) distinct sets of like individuals. Nationalist movements use this principle to delineate and construct various 'nations." To illustrate this approach, the paper compares the unification of France to the disintegration of the Hapsburg Empire, and asks why a singular nation was invented in France, and a plurality of nations in the Empire. The paper suggests that these very different histories can be explained by considering the relationship of these nationalist movements to the hierarchical orders of monarchical absolutism and colonial subordination.
Our current definitions and conceptions stem from our own modern culture, even when anthropological experience … has modified them to some degree. This is not enough in the way of including ourselves - our own culture - in the picture, as true comparison requires. For our current definitions express our own culture, and our own culture … embodies an exceptional development . Any sociological generalisation must integrate it for what it is: an exception, an eccentric phenomenon. It follows that the general sociological model can in no case be modern, or modern with mere modification: it must be such a reflection of the wide experience of mankind that the modern exceptional development is clearly formulated and accommodated in it.     

Situated Interpretations of Nationalism,Imperialism, and Cosmopolitanism: Revisiting the Writings of Liang in the Encounter Between Worlds

The idea of the nation has been considered to have delivered political modernity from its native Europe to the rest of the world. The same applies, though more implicitly, to those paradoxes inherent to the nationalist ideology – that between universalism and national particularity and that between liberal nationalism and imperialism. This article seeks to complicate these theses by looking at the interpretations of nationalism, imperialism, and cosmopolitanism provided by Liang Qichao, one of the most influential Chinese intellectuals in early twentieth century, during his exile in Japan when increasingly exposed to the encounter between worlds. This reading also engages with the wider debates on modernity/modernities in non-Western societies through showing that neither the “consumers of modernity” approach nor the “creative adaptations” approach can be easily applied here. I argue that the various tensions, contingencies and historical situatedness in Liang's accounts of the nation-state structure represent and constitute the paradox of the structure itself. They also shed light on contemporary debates about the limits of our political imagination in the misnamed “global politics” beyond the false opposition between nationalism and cosmopolitanism.