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7/25/2019 9 the Modern State as Imperial State 97
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THE MODERN STATE AS
THE IMPERIAL STATEWeek 9
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OVERVIEW
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NATION-STATES
The emergence of nation-statesin non-European parts of theworld are seen to be part of anatural progression of worldhistory
This conflates the processes of colonialism andimperialism with the neutral processes ofmodernization
National identity in the world beyond Europe isusually associated with the struggle againstcolonialism
However, the colonial question needs to beconsidered as integral to the development of thenation-state within Europe as well
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THEORIES OF NATIONALISM
AnthonySmith:ethnicities exist everywhere andso each nation has its origin in its own sharedculture and history
EricHobsbawm:the invention of mass-national
traditions to create cohesive communities is aninevitable consequence of the divisions generatedby modern capitalism
BenedictAnderson:the nationalist demand fora sovereign, limited community arises out of themodern processes of print capitalism
Emergence in the UK and France, followed byGermany and Italy, then the rest of the world
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EMERGENCE OF NATION-STATES
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IMAGINED COMMUNITIES
When immediate contact doesnot occur then the communitythat exists is an imagined one this is not to imply that it isimaginary
People imagine others doingthings similar to themselveswithin the same temporal space
The new development that led to nationalism was the
emergence of communities based around printedvernacular languages Later versions of nationalism are seen to be pirated/modeled on earlier ones
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IMAGINED COMMUNITIES
Latin and North AmericaCreole nationalism where print-men created theidea of the nation in relation to travels to Europe
Europe
Vernacular nationalism based on history andlanguage, creating dictionaries, grammars, nationalliteratures
Eastern Europe and AsiaOfficial nationalisms created by dynastic rulers in anattempt to reassert control in the face of vernacularmovements
Africa and AsiaColonial nationalism is pirated from all of the above
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POSTCOLONIAL RESPONSE
ParthaChatterjeeasks:If nationalisms in the rest of the world have tochoose their imagined community from certainmodular forms already made available to
them by Europe and the Americas, what dothey have left to imagine?
Those in the postcolonial world are
condemned only to be the consumers ofmodernity, never its creators, or authors:Even our imaginations must remain forevercolonized (Chatterjee 1996: 216)
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THE PROJECT OF THE NATION-
STATE
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COLONIAL GOVERNMENTALITY
Colonial populations were routinely seenas subordinated subjects whose health andresources were objects of legitimateinterest to the colonial government
The first application of finger printing wasin India in the1860s where it was used bythe colonial government in Bengal
Vaccination / immunisation programmeswere first instituted in the colonies
English literature appeared as a subject inthe curriculum of the colonies long before itwas ever institutionalized in the home country(see Viswanathan1989)
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RECONSIDERATIONS
The interpretation of Britain and France asindependently originary, and others as imitation,is not the only way of understanding thephenomenon of the modern nation-state
The nation-state emerged in the context of thecolonial state and developments that aregenerally ascribed to one are done so byabstracting phenomena out of the relationshipsand interconnections between them
By locating the nation-state within the context ofthe wider interconnections would enrich ourunderstandings of particular events as well asthe wider contexts in which they occur
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ORIGINAL AND THE COPY
With the assumption of a particular version of
the nation-state having emerged in 18thcentury
Europe, and then being modelled or copied by
others, there is no option but to theorize others in
relation to that original model and as beingimitations of itas Charles Taylor (1999) argues, all they (that is,
non-Europeans) want to do is what has already been
done in the WestThus, distinguishing between the original and
the copy has implications for the way in which
different histories are understood and analyzed
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ORIGINAL AND THE COPY
Following Foucault (1969) in describing theoriginal, what is taken as important is thehistory of changes and transformationsthe ways in which new forms rose up to produce new
landscapesThe copy is understood in terms of inertiaa slow accumulation of the pasta sedimentation of things in which what is addressedis what is held in common as opposed to what is
uniqueThis maps onto the way in which things arevalued with the original being more highlyregarded than the copy, which is mere imitation
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IN SUM
When nationalism emerged in the rest of Europethere was no feeling that the nation was notculturally equipped to reach the standards set outby the pace-makers, Britain and France
Yet, with the emergence of nationalism in otherparts of the world, it was often suggested thatsome time of development and civilization usually colonial rule and education had to passbefore these countries could be considered
prepared for self-ruleThe refrain of not yet emanates from a historicalconception of cultural progress that justifiescolonial intervention in the name of that progressand, in doing so, denies coevalness with others
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The difference between being European andbeing Europeanized is the difference thatproduces knowledge as a form of social control inwhich to be Europeanized isemphaticallynot to
be European (Bhabha)The nation-state emerged as a colonial stateThe writing out of the colonial relationship fromunderstandings of its emergence impoverishesour analyses of it
The failure to address this complex relationshipis key to the continuing misapprehension aboutthe singularity of modernity and its dispersalglobally from Europe outwards
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QUESTIONS FOR READING:
What does it mean to say that modern state
formation is aculturalproject?
In which ways is colonialism implicated in the
project of the nation state?
In your reading groups, research one example of
something that you would imagine occurred first
in Europe, but actually has its roots elsewheree.g. fingerprinting