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TAMIL
NATION LIBRARY:
Nations & Nationalism
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'For ethno-symbolists, what gives nationalism
its power are the myths, memories, traditions, and symbols of
ethnic heritages and the ways in which a popular living past has
been, and can be, rediscovered and reinterpreted by modern
nationalist intelligentsias. It is from these elements of myth,
memory, symbol and tradition that modern national identities are
reconstituted in each generation, as the nation becomes more
inclusive and as its members cope with new challenges'
 From
the IntroductionThis volume celebrates
Anthony D. Smith's path-breaking contribution to the study of
nations and nationalism. Its objective is to assess and debate
various issues concerning the ethno-symbolic approach propounded by
him.
Ethnosymbolism stands in opposition to the modernist approach
underpinning constructivist and instrumentalist theories of nations
and nationalism. It argues that such theories fail 'to accord any
weight to the pre-existing cultures and ethnic ties of the nations
that emerged in the modern epoch' (Smith 1999: 9). In Smith's words:
'For ethno-symbolists, what gives nationalism
its power are the myths, memories, traditions, and symbols of ethnic
heritages and the ways in which a popular living past has been, and
can be, rediscovered and reinterpreted by modern nationalist
intelligentsias. It is from these elements of myth, memory, symbol
and tradition that modern national identities are reconstituted in
each generation, as the nation becomes more inclusive and as its
members cope with new challenges' (Smith 1999: 9).
According to Anthony D. Smith, the basic themes or motifs derived
from the claims made by ethno-symbolism are:
1. La longue duree. The origins and formation of nations as well
as their possible future course should be traced over long periods
of time, and we should not 'tie their existence and formation to a
particular period of history or to the processes of modernization'
(Smith 1999: 10). Nations are historical phenomena.
2. National past, present, and future. This is a major theme
examined under three headings: recurrence, continuity, and
reappropriation. Smith argues that the majority of nations and
nationalism emerged in the modern world while admitting that some
nations pre-dated modernity. In his view, 'the rubric of continuity
points to the persistence of cultural components of particular
nations' (Smith 1999: 11), while reappropriation represents a
`reaching back into the ethnic past to obtain the authentic
materials, and ethos for a distinct modern nation' (Smith 1999: 12).
3. The ethnic basis of nations. Most nations, modern and
pre-modern, were based on ethnic ties and sentiments and on popular
ethnic traditions, which have provided the cultural sources for
later nation-formation (Smith 1999: 13).
ethno-history, various symbols of identity, etc.) has become an
important focus for illuminating the origins and persistence of
nations.
These manifold debates have created several clearly discernible
'positions' on the basic issues in the field. Thus we can speak of a
modernist, a primordialist, a perennialist and an ethnosymbolic
approach � as well as a variety of less well defined 'post-modern'
(not necessarily 'post-modernise) approaches. This is not to say
that all scholars subscribe to one or other of these approaches;
various combinations are possible, and have been effected. But as a
heuristic tool (and pedagogic aid), these approaches serve as a
useful point of departure for further research and analysis.
Out of these conflicting paradigmatic approaches, a number of
more specific debates and issues have engaged, and divided, the
scholarly community. They include:
1. Problems of definition and nomenclature: more specifically.
how we are to distinguish 'nations' from ethnic communities (or
ethnies) and national states, and how the phenomena described by
these concepts are related, historically and sociologically;
2. The problem of 'pre-modern nations': in what sense, and to
what degree, we may legitimately speak of 'nations' (if not
'nationalism') in pre-modern epochs in different parts of the world;
and how far back in time we can trace the components of modern
nations;
3. The problem of participation: whether we can speak of 'elite
nations' and 'middle class nations', or only of nations that in
which the majority of the population participates, i.e. 'mass
nations'; and if the latter, what proportion of the designated
population counts for this purpose;
4. The related problem of 'citizenship': whether nationhood
always requires 'citizenship' in a polity, or how far non-political
membership (e.g. of a religious community) may act as a functional
equivalent; and hence whether the concepts of both 'nation' and
'nationalism' are predominantly political or mainly cultural;
5. The problem of 'ideology': to what extent we should regard
'nationalism' as a political ideology on a par with other such
ideologies, or as a form of culture and a secular or political
'religion';
6. The question of 'typology': whether there can he a single
'core doctrine' of nationalism, or, whether the term 'nationalism'
is a shorthand for a variety of discourses and ideologies, some of
them more 'voluntarist' and others more `organic':
7. The issue of `chosenness': the relationship between earlier
concepts of ethnic election and modern nationalism, and the degree
to which a sense of national identity is continuous with, influenced
by or radically different from religious beliefs in chosen people;
8. The problem of 'memory': how far ethnic history should be
regarded as a construct of present (nationalist) elites or whether,
as shared memories of 'golden ages', it can exert an inspirational
influence on the creation of modern national cultures and a sense of
national destiny;
9. The problem of 'homelands': how far popular attachments to
'historic homelands' are the product of modern states and elites
strategies, or are grounded in primordial cultural beliefs, ethnic
history and memories of wars and sacrifice;
4. The cultural components of ethnies. The pre-existing
components and longterm continuities of ethnic communities and
nations are cultural and symbolic rather than demographic.
5. Ethnic myths and symbols. Myths of ethnic origin and election,
and symbols of territory and community are key components of
ethnicity.
6. Ethno-history. This denotes the ethnic members' memories and
understanding of their communal past or pasts, rather than more
objective and
dispassionate analysis by professional historians (Smith 1999:
16).
7. Routes to nationhood. It refers to the various processes
leading to the construction of modern nations.
8. The longevity of nationalism. It concerns the power and
durability of nations and nationalism encompassing 'nationalism as a
modern ideological movement, but also the
expression of aspirations by various social groups to create, defend
or maintain nations � their autonomy, unity and identity-by drawing
on the cultural resources of pre-existing ethnic communities and
categories' (Smith 1999: 18).
This volume aims to explore the implications of this framework by
bringing together scholars from different perspectives to address
some of the major issues in the field. Anthony Smith in setting out
a prospectus for the contributors laid down a challenge which he
framed in these terms:
Of the many issues that have engrossed, and divided, scholars in
the study of nationalism, none has been so critical as the problem
of the origins of nations. All other issues have in the end revolved
around this question: should we regard nations as perennial in
history, perhaps even primordial to the human condition, or are they
a product of very specific, modern conditions, and hence
qualitatively novel? Unlike the fashionable question as to whether
nations are 'real' or `constructed' (since in a sense all human
categories and associations are 'constructed', but for the
participants they are all too `rear), this seems to me to be a
genuine problem, and one which has a strong bearing on the
persistence or erosion of a sense of national identity in a
'post-modern' world.
Of course, the question of the modernity or antiquity of nations
depends in part on our definitions of the concept of `nation'; but
it also reflects a view about the relations between nations and
`nationalism'. Broadly speaking, those who believe that nationalism
(the movement and ideology) was instrumental in creating nations
also subscribe to a modernist belief in the post-Revolutionary
advent of nations. Conversely, those who hold that the rise of a
nationalism depends on the prior existence of a corresponding nation
(or ethnie) tend to regard nations as neither so recent nor so
novel, but rather as phenomena that reflect continuity and
recurrence across the pre-modern/ modern divide.
A further perspective argues that, even if nations and
nationalism are temporally and qualitatively modern, they draw much
of their content and strength from pre-existing ethnies. Though most
nations have been created out of ethnically heterogenous
populations, those that can point to a dominant ethnie as the
fulcrum of their community and state, have been historically among
the most influential and sociologically among the most `successful'
in terms of longevity, consciousness and distinctiveness, if not
always of power. Hence, the study of the components of ethnies
(myths of descent and election, attachment to homelands, shared
memories of
10. The problem of popular 'resonance': how far elites can
mobilise populations by creating and channelling mass sentiments
through rituals and traditions, or are constrained by pre-existing
popular myths, symbols and traditions;
11. The problem of 'representation': how far images of the nation
disseminated in literature and art should be regarded as cultural
artefacts of elites in the creation and diffusion of the national
idea, or, whether they can be seen as expressions and
crystallisations of a pre-existing ethnicity or sense of national
identity, with artists and writers articulating the 'voice' of the
nation, or its major myths, memories and symbols;
12. The problem of 'passion' or 'mass sacrifice': how far
nationalist fervour and sacrifice can be understood as strategic
choice and calculation, or more in terms of familial bond and
religious commitment;
13. The problem of 'ethnicity': the extent to which modern
nations and nationalism are still permeated by ethnic attachments
and exclusiveness, and how far the 'ethnic-civic' dichotomy of
nations and nationalisms is a valid distinction and a useful
heuristic tool;
14. The problem of `transcendence': how far nations, as well as
nationalism, as products of modernity, are likely to be superseded
by `post-modern' continental networks or global associations, or
whether nations and their members' sense of national destiny, if not
nationalism, are in a sense transhistorical, or are reinvigorated by
globalism, and hence likely to persist.
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