Ethnosymbolism

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Ethnosymbolism is a school of thought in the study of nationalism that stresses the importance of symbols, myths, values and traditions in the formation and persistence of the modern nation state. [1]

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Developed as a critique of modernist theories of nationalism, ethnosymbolism emphasizes historical roots of nations in drawing on ethnic symbols, myths, values and traditions inherited from earlier ages. Like the modernists, and in contrast to primordialists, ethnosymbolist scholars agree nationalism is a distinctly modern phenomena. [2] [3]

The term was first used as "ethno-symbolist approach" in an article by Daniele Conversi, Smith's former student at the London School of Economics. However, Conversi was slightly critical, arguing: "if we focus exclusively on the power of the past and its symbols, we miss two other key features of nationalism: first, its relationship with political power, and particularly with the state; second, its crucial border-generating function". [4]

John A. Armstrong, Anthony D. Smith and John Hutchinson are commonly regarded as key theorists of ethnosymbolism.

Important theorists

John A. Armstrong

Armstrong's contribution to ethnosymbolism is his myth-symbol complexes in Nations before Nationalism (1982), which firstly underlined the significance of la longue durée , according to Anthony D. Smith. [5] Armstrong believes that ethnic consciousness can far back in ancient civilisations such as Egypt, and that nationalism is merely "the final stage of a larger cycle of ethnic consciousness reaching back to the earliest forms of collective organization". Therefore, similar to the longue durée of Annales School, formation of ethnic identity should be examined across a timespan of many centuries. [6]

Drawing on the work of Fredrik Barth, Armstrong argues that "groups tend to define themselves not by reference to their own characteristics but by exclusion, that is, by comparison to 'strangers'". In other words, the character of a group is never fixed, and in accordance with group member's individual perceptions the boundaries of identities vary. [7] Armstrong contrasts this to modern nationalist thought, which "has sought permanent "essences" of national character instead of recognizing the fundamental but shifting significance of boundaries for human identity". Despite these pursuits, Armstrong maintains that, historically, "persistent group identity did not ordinarily constitute the overriding legitimization of polity formation". [8]

Nonetheless, for Armstrong, "myth, symbol, communication and cluster of associated attitudinal factors are usually more persistent than purely material factors", indicating his emphasis on the persistence of symbolic boundary mechanisms. He specified and analysed several factors that ensure such persistence.

The first such factor, also the most general one, is ways of life and the experiences associated with them. There are two fundamentally different ways of life: the nomadic and the sedentary. The second factor is religion, exemplified by Christianity and Islam, both of which gave birth to different civilizations and myths/symbols. The third factor is city formation, whose effect upon ethnic identification requires examination of a host of factors ranging from the impact of town planning to the unifying of centrifugal effects of various legal codes, especially the Lübeck and Magdeburg law. The fourth factor is the role of imperial polities in maintaining myth-symbol complexes across dispersed geographical spaces.[ citation needed ] The final factor is language. Uniquely, Armstrong concludes that "the significance of language for ethnic identity is highly contingent" in the pre-modern era. Its significance relied on political and religious force and allegiances for centuries. [9] [ clarification needed ]

In his later works, Armstrong more explicitly agreed with modernists like Benedict Anderson and Eric Hobsbawm that national identity had been an invention, although he maintained an emphasis on "the antiquity of some inventions and the repertory of pre-existing group characteristics that inventors were able to draw upon". [10]

Anthony D. Smith

A former student of the prominent modernist Ernest Gellner, Anthony D. Smith developed a distinct perspective from his teacher, best exemplified in the so-called "LSE debate" on nationalism (named by Gellner). [11] Smith argues the "modern state cannot be understood without taking pre-existing ethnic components into account, the lack of which is likely to create a serious impediment to 'nation-building". [12] Smith believed the definitions of "nation" and "nationalism" offered by both modernism and primordialism were limited. For him, the problem of modernism is mainly that modernists define nation as "modern nation" with characters of European nations of 18th and 19th centuries, making their definition Eurocentric and partial. [13] Instead, Smith proposes an "ideal-typical" definition of the nation: "A named human population sharing an historic territory, common myths and historical memories, a mass, public culture, a common economy and common legal rights and duties for all members".

Smith also introduces the important term ethnie, meaning "ethnic group", which is used to describe pre-modern ethnic communities. Ethnies contain six main attributes:[ citation needed ]

  1. a collective proper name
  2. a myth of common ancestry
  3. shared historical memories
  4. one or more differentiating elements of common culture
  5. an association with a specific "homeland"
  6. a sense of solidarity for significant sectors of the population.

According to Smith, there are four main mechanisms of ethnic self-renewal:[ citation needed ]

  1. religious reform, as exemplified in the history of Jews
  2. cultural borrowing, exemplified with encounter between Jewish and Greek cultures
  3. popular participation, exemplified with the socio-religious popular movement of the Mazdakites in 5th-century Sassanid Persia undermining the foundations of the Sassanid state
  4. myths of ethnic election, the lack of which might be related to the diminishment of ethnic survival of Assyria, Phoenicia and the Philistines

In order to understand why and how does a nation emerges, Smith posits two types of ethnic community: the lateral (aristocratic) and the vertical (demotic). [14] [ clarification needed ] In later works, Smith added a third type: immigrant nations that consist of the fragments of other ethnies, such as the United States and Australia. [15]

According to Smith there are three ways in which the past may influence the national present:

  1. Through the recurrence of the nation-form. The concept of the nation, Smith tells us, refers to a type of cultural resource and of human association that is potentially available in all periods of human history.
  2. Through established continuities. Continuity can be found in "collective proper names, language codes and ethnic landscapes, all of which may linger on, even after the community to which they were attached has all but vanished". These components may also provide the framework for the revival of the community in a new form. Smith refers to the Greeks as a good example of this revival through continuity of names, language and landscapes.
  3. Through appropriation and reinterpretation - exemplified in the tendency of later generations to rediscover, authenticate, and appropriate aspects of what they consider to be ‘their’ ethnic past. [16] [17]

John Hutchinson

John Hutchinson was a PhD student of Smith's at the London School of Economics. Hutchinson's primary contribution to ethnosymbolism is the theory of cultural nationalism, developed in the Dynamics of Cultural Nationalism (1987).

Hutchinson separates nationalism into "political nationalism" and "cultural nationalism", which are different, even competing conceptions of the nation, and "have sharply diverging political strategies". Political nationalists are essentially cosmopolitan rationalists whose conception of nation "looks forward ultimately to a common humanity transcending cultural differences".[ citation needed ] Although the fact that the world has been divided into multiple political communities has forced them to work within existing borders, political nationalists' objectives are to "secure a representative state for their community so that it might participate as an equal in the developing cosmopolitan rationalist civilization".

In contrast, cultural nationalists believe humanity is "infused with a creative force which endows all things with an individuality" similar to nature. They regard the state as accidental, since for them a nation is essentially a distinctive civilisation, "the product of its unique history, culture and geographical profile". Nations are organic entities and living personalities. Hutchinson contests that cultural nationalism hardly draws attention from theories of modernism. [18]

Not only has he challenged modernism in his earlier works, he has also engaged postmodernism in his more recent works, especially in Nations as Zones of Conflict (2005).[ further explanation needed ]

Criticism

Thomas Hylland Eriksen says it is misleading to claim there is an unbroken continuity from pre-modern cultures to national ones. [19]

Similarly, Walker Connor and John Breuilly criticize ethnosymbolists for conflating ethnic groups and nations. Breuilly argues it is impossible to know from the evidence what meaning ethnic sentiments had for the majority of the people in the pre-modern era, going on to note how, unlike modern nations, many pre-modern identities lack an institutional basis through which national identity achieves form. [20]

Breuilly is also skeptical of anachronistic readings of cultural materials from the past, explaining how nationalist intellectuals and politicians seize upon myths and symbols in order to promote a particular national identity. Indeed, in many cases, he argues nationalists simply invent myths or ignore contrary evidence. [21] Furthermore, in contrast to the ethnosymbolist emphasis on early symbols, myths, values and traditions, Breuilly states there are many nationalist movements that have succeeded without having a rich ethnohistory to feed upon. [22]

Umut Özkirimli and Spyros Sofos criticize the unproblematic relationship between nations and ethnies posited by Smith, suggesting that ethnosymbolist thinking is marked by "retrospective ethnicization". That is, scholars "ethnicize" a complex, contradictory and ambiguous past, packaging together disparate cultural and social traditions, often unrelated to each other, using the notion of ethnie. They argue that nations are defined by nationalists who also retrospectively construct these ethnies - "collections/collations of cultural practices established over time or invented, and forged together often arbitrarily, according to the judgement or needs of nation-builders—politicians or romantic folklorists, musicologists, educationalists and so on—most often the product of retrospective legitimation of the very processes that have underpinned nationalist projects". [23]

Craig Calhoun argues that tracing continuity in ethnic traditions does not explain which traditions last or which will become the basis for nations. He emphasizes how traditions are not simply inherited, but reproduced, adapted to new circumstances to keep them meaningful, which may change meanings considerably. [24]

Further reading

Related Research Articles

Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, especially with the aim of gaining and maintaining its sovereignty (self-governance) over its perceived homeland to create a nation-state. It holds that each nation should govern itself, free from outside interference (self-determination), that a nation is a natural and ideal basis for a polity, and that the nation is the only rightful source of political power. It further aims to build and maintain a single national identity, based on a combination of shared social characteristics such as culture, ethnicity, geographic location, language, politics, religion, traditions and belief in a shared singular history, and to promote national unity or solidarity. Nationalism, therefore, seeks to preserve and foster a nation's traditional culture. There are various definitions of a "nation", which leads to different types of nationalism. The two main divergent forms identified by scholars are ethnic nationalism and civic nationalism.

A nation is a large type of social organization where a collective identity has emerged from a combination of shared features across a given population, such as language, history, ethnicity, culture, territory or society. Some nations are constructed around ethnicity while others are bound by political constitutions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National myth</span> Inspiring narrative about a nations past

A national myth is an inspiring narrative or anecdote about a nation's past. Such myths often serve as important national symbols and affirm a set of national values. A national myth may sometimes take the form of a national epic or be incorporated into a civil religion. A group of related myths about a nation may be referred to as the national mythos, from μῦθος, the original Greek word for "myth".

An ethnicity or ethnic group is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of perceived shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include a common nation of origin, or common sets of ancestry, traditions, language, history, society, religion, or social treatment. The term ethnicity is often used interchangeably with the term nation, particularly in cases of ethnic nationalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National identity</span> Identity or sense of belonging to one state or one nation

National identity is a person's identity or sense of belonging to one or more states or one or more nations. It is the sense of "a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, and language". National identity may refer to the subjective feeling one shares with a group of people about a nation, regardless of one's legal citizenship status. National identity is viewed in psychological terms as "an awareness of difference", a "feeling and recognition of 'we' and 'they'". National identity also includes the general population and diaspora of multi-ethnic states and societies that have a shared sense of common identity identical to that of a nation while being made up of several component ethnic groups. Hyphenated ethnicities are examples of the confluence of multiple ethnic and national identities within a single person or entity.

Historiography is the study of how history is written. One pervasive influence upon the writing of history has been nationalism, a set of beliefs about political legitimacy and cultural identity. Nationalism has provided a significant framework for historical writing in Europe and in those former colonies influenced by Europe since the nineteenth century. Typically official school textbooks are based on the nationalist model and focus on the emergence, trials and successes of the forces of nationalism.

Anthony David Stephen Smith was a British historical sociologist who, at the time of his death, was Professor Emeritus of Nationalism and Ethnicity at the London School of Economics. He is considered one of the founders of the interdisciplinary field of nationalism studies.

Civic nationalism, otherwise known as democratic nationalism and liberal nationalism, is a form of nationalism that adheres to traditional liberal values of freedom, tolerance, equality, and individual rights, and is not based on ethnocentrism. Civic nationalists often defend the value of national identity by saying that individuals need it as a partial shared aspect of their identity in order to lead meaningful, autonomous lives and that democratic polities need a national identity to function properly.

Walker F. Connor was Distinguished Visiting Professor of Political Science at Middlebury College. Connor is best known for his work on nationalism, and is considered one of the founders of the interdisciplinary field of nationalism studies.

Cultural nationalism is a term used by scholars of nationalism to describe efforts among the intelligentsia to promote the formation of national communities through emphasis on a common culture. It is contrasted with "political" nationalism, which refers to specific movements for national self-determination through the establishment of a nation-state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nationalism studies</span> Interdisciplinary academic field

Nationalism studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to the study of nationalism and related issues. While nationalism has been the subject of scholarly discussion since at least the late eighteenth century, it is only since the early 1990s that it has received enough attention for a distinct field to emerge.

Among scholars of nationalism, a number of types of nationalism have been presented. Nationalism may manifest itself as part of official state ideology or as a popular non-state movement and may be expressed along civic, ethnic, language, religious or ideological lines. These self-definitions of the nation are used to classify types of nationalism, but such categories are not mutually exclusive and many nationalist movements combine some or all of these elements to varying degrees. Nationalist movements can also be classified by other criteria, such as scale and location.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reactionary modernism</span> Political ideology characterized by embrace of technology and anti-Enlightenment thought

Reactionary modernism is a term first coined by Jeffrey Herf in the 1980s to describe the mixture of "great enthusiasm for modern technology with a rejection of the Enlightenment and the values and institutions of liberal democracy" that was characteristic of the German Conservative Revolutionary movement and Nazism. In turn, this ideology of reactionary modernism was closely linked to the original, positive view of the Sonderweg, which saw Germany as the great Central European power neither of the West nor of the East.

John Hutchinson is a British academic. He is a reader in nationalism at the London School of Economics (LSE), in the Department of Government.

According to some scholars, a national identity of the English as the people or ethnic group dominant in England can be traced to the Anglo-Saxon period.

John Alexander Armstrong Jr. was Professor Emeritus of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Ethnic nationalism, also known as ethnonationalism, is a form of nationalism wherein the nation and nationality are defined in terms of ethnicity, with emphasis on an ethnocentric approach to various political issues related to national affirmation of a particular ethnic group.

Gellner's theory of nationalism was developed by Ernest Gellner over a number of publications from around the early 1960s to his 1995 death. Gellner discussed nationalism in a number of works, starting with Thought and Change (1964), and he most notably developed it in Nations and Nationalism (1983). His theory is modernist.

Several scholars of nationalism support the existence of nationalism in the Middle Ages. This school of thought differs from modernism, the predominant school of thought on nationalism, which suggests that nationalism developed largely after the late 18th century and the French Revolution. Theories on the existence of nationalism in the Middle Ages may belong to the general paradigms of ethnosymbolism and primordialism (perennialism).

Modernization theory is the predominant explanation for the emergence of nationalism among scholars of nationalism. Prominent modernization scholars, such as Benedict Anderson, Ernest Gellner and Eric Hobsbawn, say nationalism arose with modernization during the late 18th century. Processes that lead to the emergence of nationalism include industrialization and democratic revolutions.

References

  1. Özkirimli, Umut (2010). Theories of Nationalism: A Critical Introduction (2nd ed.). London: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 143.
  2. Armstrong, John A. (1982). Nations before Nationalism. University of North Carolina Press. p. 4. Since the late eighteenth century, nationalism has in many respects become the dominant political doctrine. The right of individuals to [...] establish territorial political structures corresponding to their consciousness of group identity
  3. Smith, Anthony D. (1998). Nationalism and Modernism. London and New York: Routledge. p. 170.
  4. Conversi, Daniele (1995). "Reassessing current theories of nationalism: Nationalism as boundary maintenance and creation". Nationalism and Ethnic Politics. 1: 73–85. doi:10.1080/13537119508428421.
  5. Smith, Anthony (2004). Guibernau, M.; Hutchinson, John (eds.). "History and National Destiny: Responses and Clarifications". History and National Identity: Ethnosymoblism and its Critics: 199.
  6. Özkirimli, Theories of Nationalism: A Critical Introduction, p.145
  7. Armstrong, Nations before Nationalism, p.5
  8. Armstrong, Nations before Nationalism, pp.4-5
  9. Özkirimli, Theories of Nationalism: A Critical Introduction, p.147
  10. Armstrong, John A. (1995). "Towards a Theory of Nationalism: Consensus and Disconsensus". In Periwal, S. (ed.). Notions of Nationalism. p. 36.
  11. Gellner, Ernest (1995). Encounters with Nationalism. Oxford:Blackwell. p. 61.
  12. Özkirimli, Theories of Nationalism: A Critical Introduction, p.148
  13. Smith, Anthony D. (2005). Ichijo, A.; Uzelac, G. (eds.). "The Genealogy of Nations: An Ethno-Symbolic Approach". When is the Nation?: 95.
  14. Smith, Anthony D. (1991). National Identity. London: Penguin.
  15. Smith, Nationalism and Modernism: A Critical Survey of Recent Theories of Nations and Nationalism, p.194
  16. Smith, Anthony (2001). Nationalism: Theory, Ideology, History. Cambridge: Polity. pp. 83–5. ISBN   0745651283.
  17. When is the nation? : towards an understanding of theories of nationalism. Ichijo, Atsuko, 1967-, Uzelac, Gordana, 1966-. London: Routledge. 2005. pp. 99–100. ISBN   0-415-35493-5. OCLC   57506554.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  18. Hutchinson, John (1994). Hutchinson, J.; Smith, A. D. (eds.). "Cultural Nationalism and Moral Regeneration". Nationalism: 122–31.
  19. Eriksen, Thjomas Hylland (2010). Ethnicity and Nationalism (3rd ed.). London: Pluto Press. p. 129.
  20. Özkirimli, Theories of Nationalism: A Critical Introduction, p.159
  21. Özkirimli, Theories of Nationalism: A Critical Introduction, p.161
  22. Özkirimli, Theories of Nationalism: A Critical Introduction, p.161
  23. Özkirimli, Umut; Sofos, Spyros (2008). Tormented by History: Nationalism in Greece and Turkey. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 9. ISBN   9780199326648.
  24. Özkirimli, Theories of Nationalism: A Critical Introduction, p.161