IMAGINED COMMUNITIES

- 1983
- WRITTEN BY BENEDICT ANDERSON, POLITICAL SCIENTIST AND HISTORIAN
 CONTEXT: INDO-CHINA WARS OF 1978-1978

VIETNAMESE INVASION & OCCUPATION OF CAMBODIA REPRESENTS FIRST

LARGE SCALE CONVENTIONAL WAR WAGED BY ONE REVOLUTIONARY MARXIST
REGIME AGAINST ANOTHER

SINCE WW II, EVERY SUCCESSFUL REVOLUTION HAS DEFINED ITSELF IN

NATIONAL TERMS (PRC, USSR); UN ADDS NEW MEMBERS EACH YEAR; OLD
NATIONS ‘DISINTEGRATE’ INTO SMALLER NATIONS.

NATION-NESS THE MOST UNIVERSALLY LEGITIMATE VALUE IN OUR POLITICAL

TIME
 CENTRAL ARGUMENT
NATION-NESS, AS WELL AS NATIONALISM, ARE ARTEFACTS OF A PARTICULAR
KIND. THE ATTEMPT HERE IS TO UNDERSTAND HOW THEY CAME INTO
HISTORICAL BEING, IN WHAT WAYS THEIR MEANINGS HAVE CHANGED, AND HOW
THEY CAME TO COMMAND SUCH PROFOUND EMOTIONAL LEGITIMACY.
ANDERSON WILL ATTEMPT TO SHOW HOW, TOWARDS THE END OF 18TH C., A
PONTANEOUS DISTILLATION OF A COMPLEX CROSSING OF DISCRETE
HISTORICAL FORCES CREATED THESE ARTEFACTS
 NATION

IMAGINED POLITICAL COMMUNITY;

IMAGINED AS INHERENTLY SOVEREIGN
AND LIMITED
1. INTRODUCTION
2. CULTURAL ROOTS
3. THE ORIGINS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUNESS
4. CREOLE PIONEERS
5. OLD LANGUAGES, NEW MODELS
6. OFFICIAL NATIONALISM & IMPERIALISM
7. THE LAST WAVE
8. PATRIOTISM & RACISM
9. THE ANGEL OF HISTORY
 CULTURAL ROOTS
NATIONALIST IMAGINING LIKE RELIGIOUS IMAGINING- CONCERNED WITH DEATH
AND IMMORTALITY

NATIONALISM HAS TO BE UNDERSTOOD BY ALIGNING IT WITH LARGE CULTURAL

SYSTEMS WHICH PRECED IT- RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY & DYNASTIC REALM- OUT
OF WHICH IT CAME INTO BEING

GREAT GLOBAL COMMUNITIES OF THE PAST CAME TOGETHER THROUGH SACRAL

LANGUAGE DESPITE NOT HAVING ORAL LANGUAGE IN COMMON- FOR THEM, THE
SIGN IS NOT ARBITRARY
ONLY A TINY % OF PEOPLE COULD READ THE LANGUAGE, THOUGH. SO HOW
DOES A TINY ELITE CLASS BOND WITH A VAST OCEAN OF ILLITERATE MEN AND
WOMEN TO FORM A COMMUNITY?

ANS. FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTION ABOUT SOCIAL GROUPS CENTRIPETAL AND

HIERARCHICAL

THE BILINGUAL INTELLIGENTSIA (LATIN + VERNACULAR) MEDIATES BETWEEN

HEAVEN AND EARTH
BUT THIS SHARED SENSE OF “UNSELFCONSCIOUS COHERENCE” (EVERYONE IN
THEIR DIVINELY ORDAINED PLACE) WANES STEADILY AFTER LATE MIDDLE AGES.
WHY?

• EXPLORATION OF NON-EUROPEAN WORLD

GIVES EXAMPLE OF MARCO POLO’S DESCRIPTION OF KUBLAI KHAN LARGE,
SOVEREIGN KINGDOM (US V/ THEM EMERGES, CHRISTIANITY ‘TRUEST’)

• GRADUAL DEMOTION OF THE SACRED LANGUAGE

(FEBVRE AND MARTIN ESTIMATE THAT 77% OF THE BOOKS PRINTED BEFORE
1500 WERE STILL IN LATIN. IN PARIS, AFTER 1575, MAJORITY PRINTED IN
FRENCH)
DYNATIC REALSM- DIVINELY ORDAINED POWER CENTRES; BORDERS POROUS;
RELIGIOUSLY SANCTIONED POLYGYNY AND SEXUAL POLITICS; EASY THEREFORE
TO RULE LARGE HETEROGENOUS POPULATIONS

DECLINE BEGINS IN 17TH C.

1649- CHARLES STUART BEHEADED IN WORLD’S FIRST MODERN REVOLUTION
FRENCH REVOLUTION

AS LATE AS 1914, DYNASTIC STATES MADE MAJORITY OF THE MEMBERSHIP OF

WORLD’S POLITICAL SYSTEM BUT THE CONCEPT OF LEGITIMACY NO LONGER
HOLDS
RADICAL CHANGE IN HOW WE APPREHEND TIME: NO LONGER SIMULTANEOUS
(“SIMULTANEITY OF PAST AND FUTURE IN INSTANTANEOUS PRESENT”) BUT
HOMOGENOUS, EMPTY, MEASURED BY CLOCK AND CALENDAR

ANDERSON ANALYSES TWO FORMS OF LITERARY PRODUCTION THAT

FLOURISHED IN 18TH C. TO ILLUSTRATE HOW TIME BEGAN TO BE DIFFERENTLY
STRUCTURED; THESE RE-PRESENT THE KIND OF IMAGINED COMMUNITY THAT IS
A NATION

ARBITRARINESS OF INCLUSION & JUXTAPOSITION (OF NEWS STORIES FROM

DIVERSE PLACES IN A NEWSPAPER) SHOWS THAT LINKAGE BETWEEN THEM IS
IMAGINED; DERIVED FROM CALENDRICAL COINCIDENCE, RELATIONSHIP B/N
MARKET AND PAPER
THE ORIGINS OF NATIONAL CONSCIOUNESS
FACTORS BEHIND THIS COMPLEX AND VARIOUS BUT ANDERSON MAKES A CASE
FOR THE PRIMACY OF CAPITALISM

PUBLISHING BOOM ACROSS EUROPE

LATIN BECOMES INCREASINGLY REMOVED FROM CHURCH
REFORMATION (MARTIN LUTHER NAILS THESIS TO CHAPEL DOOR, GETS MASS-
CIRCULATED)
SPREAD OF VERNACULARS FOR ADMIN PURPOSE BY WOULD-BE MOMARCHS
PRINT LANGUAGES LAID BASIS FOR NATIONAL CONSCIOUNESS IS 3 WAYS:

•CREATED UNIFIED FIELDS OF EXCHANGE & COMM BELOW LATIN BUT ABOVE
SPOKEN VERNACULARS

•GAVE FIXITY TO LANGUAGE WHICH BECOMES ESSENTIAL IN BUILDING THE IDEA

OF ANTIQUITY SO CENTRAL TO NATIONAL CONSCIOUNESS

•CREATED LANGUAGES-OF-POWER BASED ON HOW CLOSE THEY WERE TO THE

LANGUAGE OF PRINT
 CREOLE PIONEERS
NO CLEAR LANGUAGE/DIALECT DIVISION BETWEEN IMPERIAL
METROPOLE/COLONIES IN USA, BRAZIL, COLONIES OF SPAIN

SO HOW/WHY DO THESE CREOLE COMMUNITIES DEVELOP EARLY CONCEPTIONS

OF NATION-NESS?
1. TIGHTENING OF MADRID’S CONTROL (FOR SPAIN)
2. SPREAD OF ENLIGHTENMENT IDEAS

NEW SOUTH AMERICAN REPUBLICS HAD BEEN ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS FROM 16-
18TH C. LATER INFLUENCED AFRICA AND ASIA
 THE LAST WAVE
INDUSTRIAL CAPITALISM CHANGES THE SHEER SCALE OF TRAVEL

SHEER SIZE OF GLOBAL EUROPEAN EMPIRES MEANS THAT PURELY

METROPOLITAN OR EVEN CREOLE BUREAUCRACIES NOT AFFORDABLE. ENTER
ARMIES OF CLERKS.

MODERN STYLE EDUCATION NOT JUST BY COLONIAL STATE BUT ALSO PVT
RELIGIOUS AND SECULAR ORG

NATIONS ARE NOW THE GLOBAL NORM BUT THEY CAN BE IMAGINED W/O
LINGUISTIC COMMUNALITY
INDUSTRIAL CAPITALISM CHANGES THE SHEER SCALE OF TRAVEL

SHEER SIZE OF GLOBAL EUROPEAN EMPIRES MEANS THAT PURELY

METROPOLITAN OR EVEN CREOLE BUREAUCRACIES NOT AFFORDABLE. ENTER
ARMIES OF CLERKS.

MODERN STYLE EDUCATION NOT JUST BY COLONIAL STATE BUT ALSO PVT
RELIGIOUS AND SECULAR ORG

NATIONS ARE NOW THE GLOBAL NORM BUT THEY CAN BE IMAGINED W/O
LINGUISTIC COMMUNALITY