“Can such goodness be profitably discarded?” Benedict Anderson and the politics of nationalism.

Wollman, Howard; Spencer, Philip

Abstract

Imagined Communities has been extraordinarily successful and one of the most (if not the most) influential books in the contemporary literature on nationalism. Anderson’s definition of the nation as an “imagined community” has become one of the most quoted and probably over-quoted phrases by both students and scholars alike. Closer scrutiny reveals a number of problems with the term and its deployment. Some of these paradoxes or contradictions have their roots, we might suggest, in Anderson’s formation, personally, politically and academically. Factors at this level provide an essential context for the critical discussion of his work.

Citation

Wollman, H., & Spencer, P. (2007). “Can such goodness be profitably discarded?” Benedict Anderson and the politics of nationalism. In A. McCleery, & B. Brabon (Eds.), The Influence of Benedict Anderson (1-20). Merchiston Press

• Publication Date: 2007
• Deposit Date: Apr 8, 2008
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 8, 2008
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 1-20
• Book Title: The Influence of Benedict Anderson
• ISBN: 978-0-9553561-1-7
• Keywords: Benedict Anderson; Nationalism; Viewpoint; Development; Personal environmental influences
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/2231
• Contract Date: Apr 8, 2008