IMAGINED COMMUNITIES BENEDICT ANDERSON both Marxist and liberal attempts to explain nationalism were unsatisfactory. nationalism according to Anderson: is an imagined political community that is imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign. Cultural roots of nationalism : (i) religious community and (ii) the dynastic realm Decline of religious community because of the explorations of the non-European world and the gradual waning of the sacred language. Dynastic realm - centered on kinship, and its legitimacy is derived from divinity rather than populations.

Conception of temporality in which cosmology and history were indistinguishable. In the 18th century Europe saw the rise of newspapers and novels. Resorted to the vernacular languages rather than the old privileged languages. Print languages created national consciousness in three different ways (i) created unified models of exchange and communication (ii) gave a fixity to language (iii) created “languages of power” different from the older administrative vernaculars

Creole communities developed early conceptions of nation-ness well before most of Europe 2 most common explanations for this are : (i) Madrid's tightening control (ii) spread of Enlightenment ideas A Creole rising to a position of importance in Spain was almost unheard of Emergence of local presses, the Creole print-men, played a vital historical role.

Close of the era of successful national liberation movements in the America coincided with the onset of the age of nationalism in Europe. “new nationalism” was different in two aspects : (i) “national print languages were of central ideological and political importance (ii) they were able to work with existing models provided by the Creole pioneers State of bureaucracy underwent a rapid expansion which led to the rise of a bureaucratic middle class.

Official nationalism developed after, and in reaction to, popular nationalist movements These nationalisms were conservative, even reactionary, policies adapted from the popular nationalism that proceeded them Pursued by the colonial powers in Asia and Africa Official nationalism was later on also picked up by non-European countries (eg Japan and Siam)

“last wave” of nationalism – transformation of the colonial state to the national state One important aspect of the expansion of the state functions was the generation of centralized and standardized school system Nation-ness is “natural” in the sense that it contains something that is unchosen (gender, color, parentage) Racism and anti-Semitism does not derive from nationalism Racism erases nation-ness

Imagined Communities came under criticism (notably from Partha Chatterjee), for its assumption that nationalism could be unproblematically exported from Europe to post-colonial societies Anderson’s theory of nationalism took on a universal form, and failed to consider adequately the subjectivities of the post-colonial experiences In response to this criticism Anderson added the chapter Census, Map, and Museum

The census, maps and museums created something bounded, determinate and countable The census - created identities The map - totalizing classification Museums - state appeared as a guardian of traditions