Required Texts
Smith, Anthony. Nationalism and Modernism. New York, NY: Routledge, 1998. ISBN: 9780415063418.
Snyder, Jack. From Voting to Violence: Democratization and Nationalist Conflict. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 2000. ISBN: 9780393048810.
Kymlicka, Will. Politics in the Vernacular: Nationalism, Multiculturalism and Citizenship. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780199240982.
Horowitz, Donald. Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1985. ISBN: 9780520053854.
Gellner, Ernest. Nations and Nationalism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1983. ISBN: 9780801492631.
Tilly, Charles. Coercion, Capital, and European States. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 2007. ISBN: 9781557863683.
Herbst, Jeffrey. States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780691010281.
Brubaker, Rogers. Nationalism Reframed. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780521576499.
Greenfeld, Liah. Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780674603196.
Chatterjee, Partha. Nationalist Thought and the Colonial World. London, UK: Zed Books for the United Nations University, 1986. ISBN: 9780862325534.
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities. New York, NY: Verso, 1991. ISBN: 9780860915461.
Robinson, Dean E. Black Nationalism in American Politics and Thought. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780521626279.
Readings by Session
| WEEK # | Topics | READINGS | READING QUESTIONS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction: Objectives and Requirements of the Course | ||
| 2 | Nationalism and Ethnicity: Primordial or Constructed? |
Smith, Anthony. Nationalism and Modernism. New York, NY: Routledge, 1998, Introduction, chapters 1, 7, and 8. ISBN: 9780415063418. Horowitz, Donald. Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1985, chapters 1, and 2. ISBN: 9780520053854. Patterson, Orlando. “Context and Choice in Ethnic Allegiance.” In Ethnicity: Theory and Experience. Edited by Nathan Glazer, and Daniel Moynihan. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1975, pp. 305-349. ISBN: 9780674268562. |
The principal cleavage among theorists of ethnic and national identities is between those who posit that such identities are enduring and culturally based and those who view them as constructions and instruments for gain, without deep roots. In what ways are nationalist and ethnic sentiments derived from cultural cleavages between groups? In what ways are they rational responses to immediate and identifiable incentives? And if such identities are constructed, who (or what) constructs them and why? |
| 3 | Democratization and Nationalism |
Greenfeld, Liah. Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007, Introduction, chapters 1, 4, and 5. ISBN: 9780674603196. Snyder, Jack. From Voting to Violence: Democratization and Nationalist Conflict. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 2000, chapters 1-4. ISBN: 9780393048810. Horowitz, Donald. Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1985, chapter 7. ISBN: 9780520053854. |
What is the connection between democratization and nationalism? What determines whether democratic nationalism emerges in civic or ethnic form? What effects do different electoral arrangements have on ethnic politics and relations in democracies? |
| 4 | Economic Modernization as a Determinant of Nationalism |
Gellner, Ernest. Nations and Nationalism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1983, chapters 2, 3, 4, and 8. ISBN: 9780801492631. Horowitz, Donald. Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1985, chapter 3. ISBN: 9780520053854. Mann, Michael. “The Emergence of Modern European Nationalism.” In Transition to Modernity: Essays on Power, Wealth and Belief. Edited by John Hall, and I. C. Jarvie. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1992. ISBN: 9780521382021. |
Industrialization, colonization, and sudden economic change have all been linked to either the creation of modern nationalism or with more recent nationalist mobilization. What are the connections between economic change and nationalism? |
| 5 | War, State-Building, and Nationalism |
Tilly, Charles. Coercion, Capital, and European States. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 2007, chapters 3, 4, and 7. ISBN: 9781557863683. Finer, Samuel. “State and Nation-Building in Europe: The Role of the Military.” In The Formation of National States in Western Europe. Edited by Charles Tilly. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1975. ISBN: 9780691007724. Evera, Stephen Van. “Hypotheses on Nationalism and War.” International Security 18, no. 4 (Spring 1994): 5-39. |
What is the connection between war, the state, military mobilization and nationalism? |
| 6 | Nationalism and the Modern State |
Herbst, Jeffrey. States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780691010281. (Entire) Brubaker, Rogers. Nationalism Reframed. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1996, Introduction, chapters 1, 2, and 4. ISBN: 9780521576499. |
Nationalism is arguably indispensable to state-building. It can also be an underlying source of state collapse. Under what conditions has nationalism been a force in state-building or in state collapse? |
| 7 | The Nation in Words: Language as a Source and Conduit of Nationalism |
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities. New York, NY: Verso, 1991. ISBN: 9780860915461. (Entire) Snyder, Jack. From Voting to Violence: Democratization and Nationalist Conflict. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 2000, chapter 5. ISBN: 9780393048810. |
Language and narrative have been theorized to contribute to nationalist thought and practice in two ways. First, a common language helps to create a sense of “people-hood.” Second, nationalist narratives are often communicated in ways to create and/or entrench nationalist sentiment. Means of modern communication, e.g. printing presses, radio, television as well as public educational institutions create and spread national narratives. How do such technologies and public institutions do what they purportedly do? What is the role of intellectuals? Do they (meaning intellectuals) impose the national narrative on the masses or do the masses create and act upon their own? |
| 8 | Class Presentations of Research Paper Proposals | ||
| 9 | Religious Nationalism: A Contradiction in Terms? |
God’s Peoples: Covenant and Land in South Africa, Israel, and Ulster. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1992, chapters 1-3, 7, 10, and 12. ISBN: 9780801427558. The New Cold War? Religious Nationalism Confronts the Secular State. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1994, chapters 1-2. ISBN: 9780520086517. |
Do religious beliefs change either the tone and/or nature of nationalist politics? If so, in what ways and of how much significance and/or consequence? |
| 10 | Post-Colonial Nationalisms: Does their Rootedness in Colonialism Matter? |
Chatterjee, Partha. Nationalist Thought and the Colonial World. London, UK: Zed books for the United Nations University, 1986, chapters 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6. ISBN: 0862325528. Snyder, Jack. From Voting to Violence: Democratization and Nationalist Conflict. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 2000, chapter 6. ISBN: 9780393048810. |
How are non-European nationalisms different from and similar to those of Europe? What are the material and ideational relationships between European and non-European nationalisms? |
| 11 | New World Nationalisms: The Triumph of Civic Nationalism? |
Kymlicka, Will. Politics in the Vernacular: Nationalism, Multiculturalism and Citizenship. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2001, chapters 1, 5, 8, and 10-15. ISBN: 9780199240982. Walzer, Michael. “What does it Mean to be an American?” Social Research 57, no. 3 (Fall 1990). Robinson, Dean E. Black Nationalism in American Politics and Thought. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780521626279. (Recommended) Faust, Drew Gilpin. The Creation of Confederate Nationalism: Ideology and Identity in the Civil War South. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1988. (Recommended) |
There is a strong, often unstated, presumption that the liberal democracies of the New World (principally the U.S. and Canada) have somehow gotten it right. How accurate and what is the basis of that assessment? |
| 12 | Class Presentation of Research Papers |
