Imagined Communities (1983)

Section 1: Introduction ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------● “A fundamental transformation in the history of Marxism and Marxist movements is upon us” (1) ● Since World War II, successful revolutions have defined themselves as being for the people (i.e. The People’s Republic of China, The Socialist Republic of Vietnam) ○ By doing this, these nations have made these decisions because of conflict in the past ● Nations have “sub-nationalisms” within their own (i.e. Scotland & Wales in the UK), nations that are keen on independence ● There is no clear definition of nationalism ○ “Nationalism has proved an uncomfortable anomaly for Marxist theory” (3) ● Aim for this text: to explain the “anomaly” of nationalism, and understand its future ● To understand nationalisms we need to: ○ Consider how they came to be ○ How have their meanings changed overtime ○ Why do they still matter, and are so contentious ● “Definition of the nation: it is an imagined political community - and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign” (6) ○ The members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow citizens, yet, their relationship still exists in their own minds ● Gellner → “Nationalism is not the awakening of nations to self-consciousness: it invents nations where they do not exist” (6) ● No individual assumed of a nation or even world composed only of their nationalism, it is because the idea of a sovereign nation was created during the Enlightenment, which was the downfall of hierarchical dynasty-dreams ● A nation is imagined as limited because no nation imagines itself outside of their own boundaries and in line with the human race as a whole ● They are imagined as communities because, regardless of the inequality or problems they have, a nation at its core is ultimately a deep companionship ● Core problem caused by nationalism: ○ What makes recent/superficial history cause such massive sacrifices? ● Collapse of the Dynastic Realm -- Church and Monarchy/Elite breaks down Latin ○ Nations are created in their wake ○ The desire to live in a nation of one’s own people/values ○ Section 2: Cultural Roots --------------------------------------------------------------------------------● Key example of nationalism: Tombs of ‘Unknown Soldiers’ ○ This type of empty symbolic tomb has no historical precedent ○ “Saturated with ghostly national imaginings” (9) ● For years heritage/religion have been dealing with the difficult meanings of life, of humans struggling with the infinite and their place in the universe ○ “The great weakness of all evolutionary/progressive styles of thought is that such questions are answered with impatient silence” (10) ● 18th Century Western Europe is the dawn of nationalism, but the end of deeply religious mindsets ● “Disintegration of paradise: nothing makes fatality more arbitrary” (11) ● Presently: the two relevant cultures are: religious community and the dynastic realm ● Characters (writing) can create a global community, like arabic between Maguindanno and Berbers in Mecca (similar today to mathematical language) ○ Just because we are able to read the Quran does not mean we fully understand Islamic nationality, “their readers are only tiny literate reefs on top of vast illiterate oceans” (15) ● Downfall of greatly religiously imagined communities: ○ Effect of exploration into the non-european/christian world ○ Downfall of classical languages themselves ● Idea of something happening simultaneously is alien to our own thoughts ○ Benjamin → “A simultaneously of past and future in an instantaneous present” (24) ● The linkage between societies is imagined ○ On a newspaper different stories about different countries are displayed all together on the spread: ■ “The steady onward clocking of homogenous, empty time … the arbitrariness of their inclusion and juxtaposition shows us that the linkage between them is imagined” (33) ○ This link occurs for two key reasons: ■ Simply a coincidence of their occurence ■ Relationship between the print and its market ● The rise of the nation is only possible after the fall of two entities: ○ Religious community (Latin is power) ○ Dynastic realm ■ “Homogenous empty time” ● The possibility of imagining a nation started when: ○ The idea that a language (characters) offered privileged access to the truth ○ The notion that societies are established around monarchs ○ The creation of temporality in that cosmology and history are indistinguishable Section 3: The Origins of National Consciousness ------------------------------------------------- ● One of the earliest forms of capital enterprise = book publishing ○ Texts were originally only published for those literate in Latin ○ Capitalism via reading was thrust into middle European society through three main factors: ■ Change in the character of Latin itself ■ Impact of the reformation ■ Slow geographic movement of languages as instruments of communication in particular monarchies ○ For some time French was regarding as a slew of Latin ● The element of fatality that a language has is essential, the future of said language is not known and its death is arguable even evident from the beginning ○ When print of these languages was widespread its inevitability seemed lessend ○ Had print only stuck to Latin and classical languages, it would have sought to exploit the developing English and French languages ● Print Languages laid the cornerstone for national consciousness development 3 key ways: ○ Created unified communities of dialect underneath the wealthy Latin ○ Print-capitalism gave communities a permanent new language, which was an essential ingredient to developing nationalism ○ Printed language gave languages-of-power to individuals who weren’t previously wealthy and educated in the means of Latin, the power of being able to read ● The convergence of capitalism and print technology allowed for diverse human languages and nationalisms to build ○ This is a new imagined form of community that sets the stage for a modern nation to develop ● However, just because a nation state is built and developed with that language does not mean it is the only dialect spoken ○ i.e.) Quechua in Andean Peru ● Nations are inherently limited and fixed to specific boundaries Section 4: Creole Pioneers _______________________________________________________________________ ● All US states are considered creole states ○ They were formed and led by people who shared the same languages and descent with those whom against they fought ● “The arrival of nationalism in a distinctively modern sense was tied to the political the political baptism of the lower classes” (47) ● Here is the question: ○ Why is it that LAC developed notions of nationality much earlier than Europe? ○ The two possible explanations to this are: ■ The tightening of Madrid’s control in the region ● Spain imposed new taxes and unfair rule ● This common enemy/ goal of sorts would lead to these creole populations to unite more and create nationalities ■ Spread of liberalizing ideas due to the Enlightenment ● The growth of creole communities in and outside of America led to to appearance of Euroasisans, Eurafricans, and Euro-Americans