Tuesday 1/26 (Sorry the date's are out of order...)

On Tuesday, January 26, we continued our discussion of nationalism from the previous class. We began by reviewing the arguments presented by Ernest Renan, Anthony Smith, and E.J. Hobsbawm. In particular, we noted how each of these authors construct their nationalist theories based on the Western experience.

We then turned our attention to Benedict Anderson's book Imagined Communities. Anderson claims that three paradoxes have traditionally "perplexed" nationalist theorists: the relative modernity of nations in the eyes of historians versus the inherent antiquity of nations in the eyes of nationalists, the perceived universality of nationality versus the particularity of its real-life application, and the philosophical poverty of nationalism versus its political power. Anderson's response to these inconsistencies is to define a nation as an imagined political community that is inherently both limited, and sovereign. In class, we examined each part of this definition. According to Anderson, a nation is an imagined community due to the fact that, although most of the nations inhabitants will never interact with the majority of their fellow citizens, a nation promotes a sense of horizontal brotherhood and shared purpose. A nation is limited in the sense that it is not imagined to be coterminous with all humanity; it is sovereign due to the fact that the concept of a nation has historically replaced the system of hierarchical dynastic rule.

We then discussed Anderson's claim that nations and nationalism have arisen out of the disintegration of two long-standing cultural systems: the religious community and the dynastic realm. He cites the emergence of the phenomenon he labels "print capitalism" as the primary force in breaking the socio-political hold of these ingrained systems and encouraging the development of nationalism. Print capitalism refers to the commercialization and secularization of literature that followed the invention of the printing press. Religious texts, which traditionally made up the entirety of most people's literary canon, were generally written in "sacred" languages such as Latin. It was believed that these language facilitated a deep connection with God, and were an necessary component of the sanctity of the texts. This allowed for a monopolization of religious communication by the educated. The invention of the printing press however, promoted the competition of languages and the capitalization of literature, thus exposing numerous people to texts written in their own vernacular. Anderson makes the case that being able to read in one's own language is conducive, indeed necessary, for nationalism to develop.


We ended with a discussion of two main components of print capitalism: the newspaper and the book. Anderson argues that both have played a significant role historically in the rise a nationalism. As Americans, we instinctively are aware of which novel's constitute the American canon. The literary canon of a nation allows for the dissemination of values that come to be seen as "characteristic" of that particular nation's citizens. By consolidating information from widespread sources in one place, newspapers also serve to affirm a person's nationality. Reading a newspaper, which Anderson compares to a form of prayer, gives the reader a sense of commonality with his fellow citizens, whom he knows are reading the very same news. In this way, both novels and newspapers serve to consolidate and strengthen nationalist sentiment.

Thank you Professor Trivedi!