The Construction of Nationhood: Ethnicity, Religion and NationalismCambridge University Press, 6 nov 1997 - 235 pagina's The Construction of Nationhood, first published in 1997, is a thorough re-analysis of both nationalism and nations. In particular it challenges the current 'modernist' orthodoxies of such writers as Eric Hobsbawm, Benedict Anderson and Ernest Gellner, and it offers a systematic critique of Hobsbawm's best-selling Nations and Nationalism since 1780. In opposition to a historiography which limits nations and nationalism to the eighteenth century and after, as an aspect of 'modernisation', Professor Hastings argues for a medieval origin to both, dependent upon biblical religion and the development of vernacular literatures. While theorists of nationhood have paid mostly scant attention to England, the development of the nation-state is seen here as central to the subject, but the analysis is carried forward to embrace many other examples, including Ireland, the South Slavs and modern Africa, before concluding with an overview of the impact of religion, contrasting Islam with Christianity, while evaluating the ability of each to support supra-national political communities. |
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Africa already anti-Catholicism become Bede Bible biblical Bishop Bosnia Britain British Buganda Catholic Catholicism central Christian church claim Clarendon Press clergy colonial consequence Croat Croatia cultural dialects distinct diversity dominance early ecclesiastical eighteenth century Empire England English nationalism ethnicity European existence fact fourteenth century France French Gaelic Greater Serbia Greenfeld Habsburg Empire Hobsbawm imagined impact inevitably Ireland Irish Islam King kingdom Kosovo language late later Latin Liah Greenfeld linguistic literary London medieval missionary modern modernist Muslim myth nation-state national consciousness national identity nationalist nationhood Nations and Nationalism Nevertheless nineteenth century Old English oral Oxford parliament particular political Protestant Protestantism reality recognised religion religious remained role Saxon Scotland Scots sense Serb Serbia shared single sixteenth Slav Slovenes social society sort South Slav Štokavian survival territorial Testament tradition translation unity University Press vernacular literature Vuk Brankovic Vulgate Wales Welsh Yoruba Yugoslavia