The concept of Nationalism
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Introduction
When reflecting on how various activists’ use the Nationalism in their theory books, we find that different scholars understand Nationalism in different terms. It is important to note that the chief organizational purpose of a given nation or state is to molds her citizens and create broad identification and make members feel that they belong to one nation (Razsa et al., 2015). the contemporary nations are always being founded on the conflicting and at the same time on the complementary interplay which exists between modernity and ethnicity. In viewing Nationalism, we find different theories from different scholars that reveal the polarization of viewpoints.
Other theory books argue that the nation is a new phenomenon that is completely disassociated from the past. It responds to modern conditions; this argument is different from Bastard Utopia, who views the nation as an expression of cultural continuity, which is mainly based on the existence of the traceable ethnic past from which different sense of ethnocentrism is derived. Nationalism Again, we find that when the Nationalism is used in ethnographic, it relies mostly on metaphors of kinship and blood to assist in engaging the members of a given society to shows that they belong to one origin; this is not clearly brought up in other theories from different scholars (Razsa et al., 2015).
From comparing the work of different theorists and Maple Razsa, I have concluded that the scholars share the modernist idea of Nationalism, which is seen as a byproduct of industrialization and capitalism. However, it is still notable that Maple Razsa is differing with them on the use of film and how he passively talks about Nationalism, which is more focused on politics. To understand these differences, we will start by first looking at the origin of Nationalism.
Origins of Nationalism (found in Anderson’s Imagined communities)
According to Andersons, when we are looking at the origin of Nationalism, we trace it back from the year 1983. he tried to bring up different theories that elaborated on the conditions that resulted in Nationalism in the 18th and 19th centuries. According to Anderson the
Nationalism emerged since it entailed a sense of horizontal or communal comradeship on people who never met. Benedict Anderson defined Nationalism as an imagined community. It is conceived as limited since even the largest nation has its limitations and boundaries that lie in other countries. And again, he emphasizes that the government is also supposed to be a sovereign since the “nationalism” concept was born when the revolution and enlightens destroyed the hierarchical dynastic realm and divinely ordained legitimacy.
We find that Nationalism was first imagined as one community because, despite the actual exploitation and inequality that may occur within a given nation, it will always be observed as a deep and horizontal comradeship. Considered Nationalism very conventionally, since it is the primary belief of a particular nation, constructed or real, this logic changed Nationalism from cultural forms to political forms(Ghodsee et al., 2016). Hall and discussed that Nationalism has gone through three great ages. These involve the new state’s foundation in Latin America- which took place in the 19th century, the enlargement caused by Woodrow Wilson in Versailles, and more genuinely and much more significant expansions- which was led by decolonization. In other cases, Nationalism has been observed as a sense of shared solidarity of ethnics.
Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, Nationalism was used when the elites fought in overthrowing colonial administrations and foreign imperial. Through this period, colonialism seemed inseparable from popular democracy. However, in the mid to late 19th century, colonial and imperial rulers found ways of siphoning the democratic base’s Nationalism. With this argument, the sharing of true destiny came later and realized. According to Hall, the emergence of Nationalism was liberating and egalitarian movements that broke into different localities of tradition, country, clan, and dialect and helped establish large and robust states. These nation-states had centralized structures and markets for taxation, administration, and education. Its appeal, however, was democratic and popular.
how Nationalism used in theory books compared to how it’s used in Maple Razsa’s Bastards of Utopia
The Bastards of Utopia described how activism results from nationalist wars. In this matter, many activists opposed Nationalism. Through this, an anthropological analysis was done on the violent collapse of Yugoslavia. Since it had undergone many changes, Nationalism impacted Croatia, similar to those of other countries from Eastern and Central Europe. However, changes were not predicted, but they eventually transformed Croatia. Some of the changes involved; social rhythms of life, urban topography recasting, and the geographic symbolic of national belongings. Besides, the federal, state, and religious symbols in Croatia were resuscitated or invented, thus refining women’s roles in society. The ethnographic process aimed to fight for democracy and extend the way that was used by anthropologists and other people in attaining democracy. In the former Yugoslavia, there was a dismantled of the official done with particular fury.
Examples of how Nationalism used in Maple Razsa book
In Razsa’s book, nationalism has been used in chapter two; here, a general question is involving nation and Nationalism. It brings different concerns that include national culture like language and why it is essential to preserve language in its pure state. In this chapter, the current view of national communities and their moral standing is used to answer Nationalism questions in a reasoned and systematic way. (Anderson, 2006).
An excellent example of how Nationalism is used is by introducing the simplification and use of fiction to understand the history and sociology of nations and nationalisms. The introduction of fictional help in forgetting the moment of complexities of real-life cases, and then home in the issue we especially would like to stress. In this way, we are placed in a position of real-life testing cases. To help understand this fictional example, Razsa introduces a fictional country and people and gives them the name Lavinians to stand for the real ethnic and cultural community.
Conclusion
To conclude, we find that the concept of Nationalism and the use of ethnographic can be virtually equated with individual consciousness of one’s nationality and looked at as the fusions of patriotism and where one identifies with a given community or nation. We find that the contributions towards ethnographic have involved other confrontation of several subjects. Different events are observed as the transformative effect of the participation and conflict in such power. The use of modern technologies like cameras and video filming has been applied in the ethnographic to monitor the contemporary movement within society.
Different states of politics within a nation can be represented in several ways, such as videos and surveillance cameras, which provide self-representations.
So in modern Nationalism, different technologies have taken control of most activities that control and manage society. Thus the improved technologies have harmonized Nationalism.
References
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of Nationalism. Verso books, 2006.
Ghodsee, Kristen. “Bastards of Utopia: Living Radical Politics After Socialism (Razsa).” Anthropology of East Europe Review 34, no. 1 (2016): 84-86.
Gilbert, Andrew. “Bastards of Utopia: Living Radical Politics after Socialism by Maple Razsa.” (2016). https://sites.google.com/site/brus6hgdk3/2KjXsQWA3DKjs3718
Hall, John A. “Anthony D. Smith, Nationalism, and Modernism: a critical survey of recent theories of nations and Nationalism. London: Routledge, 1998, xiv+ 270 pp.£ 15.99 (Pbk.).” Nations and Nationalism 6, no. 2 (2000): 295-316. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/nations-and-nationalism/article/anthony-d-smith-nationalism-and-modernism-a-critical-survey-of-recent-theories-of-nations-and-nationalism-london-routledge-1998-xiv-270-pp-1599-pbk/D3D77E609A10EC8D7FBB3A6FD53076DB
Hall, John A. “Nationalisms: classified and explained.” Daedalus, 122, no. 3 (1993): 1-28.
Hutchinson, John. Nationalism and war. Oxford University Press, 2017. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248666159_On_the_Nature_of_Nationalism_An_Appraisal_of_Ernest_Gellner’s_Writings_on_Nationalism
Milan, Chiara. Social mobilization beyond ethnicity: civic activism and grassroots movements in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Routledge, 2019 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337437116_Social_Mobilization_Beyond_Ethnicity_Civic_Activism_and_Grassroots_Movements_in_Bosnia_and_Herzegovina
Razsa, Maple John. Bastards of utopia: An ethnography of radical politics after Yugoslav socialism. Harvard University, 2007.
Razsa, Maple. Bastards of Utopia: Living radical politics after socialism. Indiana University Press, 2015.
Smith, Anthony D., and Anthony Smith. Nationalism and modernism. Routledge, 2013. https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US: 407c491e-a53f-4476-bfc2-cd7ca9758308#pageNum=1