Author: Sophia Dzhemakulova
“Imagined Communities” (1983), written by Benedict Anderson, gives an impressive historical overview on the topic of national identity. It explains how we as modern humans came from the world of empires to the world of nations, through imagined links that connect people and which therefore form the idea of nation in people’s heads. From associating themselves only with their religion, family, job or class, people started to see the world filled with imagined connections and identify themselves with imagined nationalities, which in turn started shaping national communities. Anderson touches on all three concepts: nation, nationality (nation-ness), nationalism. To explain nationalism, he dwells on descriptions of the emergence of nation and nationality as instruments that eventually led to the appearance of nationalism, making the nation and nationality the central concepts in the book.
The author himself says that the aim of this book is “to offer some tentative suggestions for a more satisfactory interpretation of the ‘anomaly’ of nationalism” (Anderson, 1983, p. 4). I would add that the main goal of the book is to find the origins of the emergence of national consciousness in people, as well as to explain how people feel about themselves being part of a particular nation.
Anderson’s main argument is that nationalism arose from previous cultural systems (Anderson, 1983, p. 12). Accordingly, since nationalism could not have arisen before the nation, the origins of the nation and nationality must also be sought in culture. Anderson supports his argument with historical factors that influenced national identity, by looking back at when empires ruled the world, and when the principle of nationality had not yet gained relevance. People then were guided by religions and the tradition of subordination to imperial blue-blooded families. Over time, religion began to lose popularity, which became one of the first starting points for national self-awareness.
If religion previously answered all of humanity’s questions, giving hope for the future, then after the decline in the relevance of faith, another mechanism was needed. This mechanism was partially the idea of imagined communities that started the formation of nations. Cultural phenomena such as print capitalism, Creole pioneers, official nationality also contributed to the advancement of the idea of nation. Print capitalism appeared because printers wanted to sell more books and making them in vernaculars was a good way to make more money (Anderson, 1983, p. 38). Print capitalism made it possible for people to think about themselves and to relate to others through books, which were written in their own language.
The concept of Creole pioneers showed how the idea of nations was spreading not only in Europe, but in America as well. It showed a different approach, when people, who already spoke the same languages (English and Spanish) started to gain national consciousness. The period of countries’ official language was one of the main steps which made countries national – before kings and monarchs could have mixed connections from different countries and used Latin as a universal language of bureaucracy. Imperialists were powerful because of traditions, beliefs etc.
At some point the world became mostly based not on religion and antiquity, but on science and skepticism (Anderson, 1983, p. 85). Monarchs needed something more to make people believe that they had the right to hold all the power. Official nationality was a great option, because one can be considered as the first German in the country and therefore have rights to be in power (Anderson, 1983, p. 85). Official nationality helped keep monarchs’ legitimacy, but also it showed that nationality is more powerful than an empire.
These three concepts were not the only ones that helped people start seeing themselves as a nation. Also of great importance were:
- the educational systems in Europe, which made people become pilgrims for the sake of education, thus meeting other pilgrims on the way and creating an imaginary connection with them;
- the census, which had the goal of grouping people together according to similar characteristics;
- flags, which quickly became a logo of the country and helped people associate themselves with a specific territory and group of people;
- museums, which showed people the objects of national pride.
In addition, the sense of imaginary connection was reinforced by a sense of shared forgetting and remembering. People began to especially value national self-awareness, as it meant that they were not alone in the world and that there were people with whom they shared a common understanding of the world, as well as a common love for their unique, unifying, cultural characteristics and shared suffering. All these principles are part of the cultural system that led to national consciousness and subsequently to nationalism.
However, the example of official nationality is not entirely successful, because it was more favorable for people who were part of the dominant or one of the dominant nations. The logic of official nationality’s concept is that imperialists were selecting one nation, of which they would be the main representative. Imperialists understood that people must feel something in order to recognize the monarch as worthy of power that acts as a unifying instrument for the people. The understanding of this logic led imperialists to create an official nationality. It is important to realize that empires united a huge number of small and large nations.
Thus, the concept of official nationality perfectly describes the emergence of national consciousness for dominant nations but ignores smaller nations that did not become official. For this reason, official nationality does not fully meet its goals, since it works for already dominant nations and is not applicable to many others.
Benedict Anderson’s approach includes many options for how to consider the emergence of a nation and nationality. But at the same time, the book almost never mentions bureaucratic processes and issues of citizenship. Although Anderson, for his own reasons, did not want to discuss bureaucracy, this issue remains very important for understanding the definition of nations.
Firstly, a huge number of people associate a person’s nation with their citizenship and other documents. Secondly, bureaucracy has a huge power over people. A country that has a hold of a person’s documents will actively influence the number of their rights in the world and how people can treat them, therefore what prejudices they can have about this person.
It would be very important and interesting to read Anderson’s position on bureaucracy. I can assume that he probably does not believe that citizenship determines a person’s nation, because the bureaucratic machine is another empire that limits individuals and makes them believe in what is written in their passport. The bureaucracy works in such a way that if a document states someone’s nationality or nation to be French, then that is how it is, making it impossible for people to quickly change documents and easily choose a new identity.
Despite the fact that Anderson’s book had an example that was not entirely convincing, and also did not touch on the very important and popular issue of citizenship, “Imagined Communities” plays a key role in understanding the emergence of nationalism through the birth of nations and nationalities.
Anderson presents his arguments very logically and clearly, which makes it easy to read even for those who do not have a deep knowledge about issues regarding nationalism, providing a thorough overview of how nations and nationalities emerged through cultural systems, making it one of the most important books on national identity.
Sources
Anderson, B. (1983). Imagined Communities.
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