NATIONALISM
Political Science 274
Spring 2005
Th 3:30-5:30 p.m.
Professor Vickie Langohr
326 Fenwick
Vlangohr@holycross.edu
While the value and rights of the individual have never been more valued worldwide
than they are today, two forms of collective identity that seek to merge us into
larger communities remain incredibly powerful: religion and nationalism. Many
scholars have commented on the strong similarities between the two, arguing that
nationalism and religion are the only two identities for which large numbers of
people have been willing to give their lives on behalf of communities most of
whose members they have never met. Other authors highlight the centrality of symbols
(flags/crosses), rituals (the pledge of allegiance or national anthems/ prayers),
and in some cases reverence for particular "founding" documents (the
American constitution/the Koran) to the practice of both religion and nationalism.
Indeed, an American national identity centered on pride in the Founding Fathers,
the Declaration of Independence, and American democracy has often been described
as this country's "civic religion."
This seminar will explore the connections between nationalism and religion
first in the writing of theorists and then in the construction of the identities
of several different "nations" in the contemporary world. Religion
and nationalism have been very successful as principles around which to organize
large human communities, to bind people together who are otherwise very dissimilar,
and to evoke the loyalty of masses of people. But how specifically are they
connected? Benedict Anderson, Ernest Gellner, and other prominent theorists
of nationalism contend that the rise of capitalism leads nationalism to "replace"
religion as the main organizing identity of contemporary society. In this view,
the conditions under which religion becomes the primary collective identity
of large numbers of people are substantively different than those under which
nationalism does, and those conditions make nationalism more successful than
religion in binding people together in the modern world. This understanding
of history leads to the conclusion that nationalism and religion are two completely
different constructs and that nationalism is an inherently secular phenomenon
which transcends religious identity. Anthony Marx disputes this claim, arguing
that European nationalism's roots lie two centuries earlier than Anderson and
Gellner would have it and, more importantly, that exclusion of and violence
towards religious minorities was the first base upon which the British and French
based their national identities. Many national identities in today's world are
clearly constructed around a shared religious identity and draw on religion
to justify their particular claims, and a wide variety of nations have justified
their existence and expansion in terms of their being a "chosen people"
uniquely blessed by God. If nationalism is a secular phenomenon which has replaced
religion, how can we account for the increasing importance of groups seeking
to configure their nations around a shared religious identity? And is this "religious
nationalism," as other authors contend, uniquely likely to lead to violent
conflict?
Course Requirements
The requirements for this course, in addition to regular attendance, are participation
in discussions (15%), 5 short weekly papers (15% of your grade), a 7-10 page
paper (35%), and a 12-15 page paper (35%).
Readings
The following books are available for purchase at the Holy Cross bookstore:
- Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin
and Spread of Nationalism, (New York: Verso Press, 1991)
- Linda Colley, Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707-1837, (Yale, 1994)
- Ernest Gellner, Nations and Nationalism, (Ithaca: Cornell
University Press, 1983)
- Misha Glenny, The Fall of Yugoslavia: The Third
Balkan War , (New York: Penguin Press, 1996)
- Thomas Blom Hansen, Thomas, Wages of Violence: Naming and Identity
in Postcolonial Bombay, ( Princeton University Press, 2001)
- Mark Juergensmeyer, The New Cold War? Religious Nationalism Confronts
the Secular State , (Berkeley: University
of California Press, 1993)
- Anthony Marx, Faith in Nation: Exclusionary Origins of Nationalism,
( Oxford University Press, 2003)
- Arvind Rajagopal, Politics After Television: Religious Nationalism
and the Reshaping of the Indian Public, (Cambridge : Cambridge University
Press, 2001)
- Michael Sells, The Bridge Betrayed: Religion and Genocide in
Bosnia , (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996
- Ashutosh Varshney, Ethnic Conflict and Civic Life, (New Haven:
Yale University Press, 2003)
How To Reach Me
My office hours will be Mondays 2-2:50 p.m. and Tuesdays 9-10 a.m. and 2-3:30
p.m. If you cannot make these hours let me know and we can set up other appointment
times. The best way to reach me between classes is to e-mail me.
CLASS SCHEDULE
Th Jan 20: Introduction
Th Jan 27: Definitions of, and Ethical Reflections On, Nationalism
- Ernest Renan, "What Is A Nation" (ER)
- Johann Gottlieb Fichte, "Addresses to the German Nation. Eighth Address:
What Is A People in The Higher Meaning of the Word, and What Is Love of Fatherland?"
(ER)
- Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin
and Spread on Nationalism, 9-12
- Giuseppe Mazzini, "The Duties of Man, Section V: Duties to Country."
(ER)
- Yael Tamir, Liberal Nationalism, (Princeton , 1993), 78-94 (ER)
- Judith Lichtenberg, "Nationalism, For and (Mainly) Against," in
The Morality of Nationalism, eds. Robert McKim and Jeff McMahan,
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997) (ER)
Th Feb 3: Nationalism As The Historical Successor of Religion
- Ernest Gellner, Nations and Nationalism, 8-52 and 63-87
- Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 9-46
Th Feb 10: Protestantism and Capitalism As The Bases of British Nationalism
- Linda Colley, Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707-1837, (Yale, 1992),
1-100
Th Feb 17: Exclusion Of (And Violence Against) The Religious "Other"
Were Key to The Rise of British and French Nationalism
- Anthony Marx, Faith in Nation: Exclusionary Origins of Nationalism,
(Oxford University Press, 2003), preface, 3-39, 45-79, 86-117
Th Feb 24: A Survey, and A Theory, of Contemporary Religious Nationalism
- Marx, Faith in Nation, 122-145 & 148-164
- The New Cold War? Religious Nationalism Confronts the Secular State
, Mark Juergensmeyer, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), 1-41,
50-69, 153-170
Weeks 7, 8, 9 & 10: India and Hindu Nationalism
Th Mar 3: The Origins of Hindu and Muslim Nationalism in
British India
- A History of India , Volume Two , Percival
Spear, (London: Penguin Books, 1978), 221-229 (ER)
- Thomas Blom Hansen, The Saffron Wave: Democracy and Hindu Nationalism
in Modern India , (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999),
65-89 (ER)
- "Hindu Revivalism and Education in North-Central India," Krishna
Kumar, in Fundamentalisms, (ER)
Opposing Visions of the Indian Nation
- Jawaharlal Nehru, excerpts from Selected Works, in Sources
of Indian Tradition, Volume II, Second Edition, ed. Stephen Hay, (New
York: Columbia University Press, 1988), 315-324 (reserve)
- Vinayak Savarkar, excerpts from Hindutva, in Sources of Indian
Tradition, Volume II (ER)
- Rahmat Ali, "Sovereign Nations in Homeland or Sub-Nations in Hindoolands,"
excerpted in Sources of Indian Tradition (ER)
- Muhammad Ali Jinnah, "Presidential Address," excerpted in Sources
of Indian Tradition, (ER)
- Abul Kalam Azad, "The Muslims of India and the Future of India,"
excerpted in Sources of Indian Tradition, (ER)
-----------------FRIDAY MAR 4 - SUNDAY MAR 13: SPRING BREAK-------------------------
Th Mar 17: The Ramayana
, Babri Masjid, and the Role of Mass Media in Hindu Nationalism
- "Hindu Nationalism, the Ayodhya Campaign and the Babri Masjid,"
in Leveling Crowds: Ethnonationalist Conflicts and Collective Violence
in South Asia, Stanley Tambiah, (Berkeley: UC Press, 1996),
244-265 (ER)
- Arvind Rajagopal, Politics After Television: Religious Nationalism
and the Reshaping of the Indian Public, (Cambridge : Cambridge University
Press, 2001), 72-120, 151-211
------------THURSDAY MARCH 24 - MONDAY MARCH 28: EASTER BREAK-------------
Th March 31:
- Wages of Violence: Naming and Identity in Postcolonial Bombay,
Thomas Blom Hansen, (Princeton University Press, 2001), 1-6, 20-53, 85-94,
121-147
- "The Rebirth of Shiv Sena: The Symbiosis of Discursive and Organizational
Power," Mary Fainsod Katzenstein, Uday Singh Mehta, Usha Thakkar, The
Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 56, May 1997 (ER)
Th Apr 7:
- Ethnic Conflict and Civic Life: Hindus & Muslims in India
, Ashutosh Varshney, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002), 55-86, 3-18,
95-111, 219-278 (read in this order)
Weeks 11, 12 & 13: Conflict Between Religious Communities
in the Former Yugoslavia
Th Apr 14: Religions, Ethnicities, or Nations? Was Violent Conflict Inevitable?
- Carole Rogel, The Breakup of Yugoslavia and the
War in Bosnia , (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1998), p. 3-42
(ER)
- Misha Glenny, The Fall of Yugoslavia: The Third Balkan War, (New
York: Penguin Press, 1996), Chapters 2, 3, and 1 (read in this order)
Th Apr 21: Serbian Christianity and Anti-Muslim Genocide
- Michael Sells, The Bridge Betrayed: Religion and Genocide in
Bosnia , (California: University of California Press, 1998), 1-114
Th April 28: How Could This Have Been Prevented?
- Rogel, The Breakup of Yugoslavia , 57-69 (ER)
- Sells, The Bridge Betrayed, 115-145
- "Nationalism and the Marketplace of Ideas," Jack Snyder and Karen
Ballentine, in Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict, eds. Michael E. Brown,
Owen R. Cote, Jr., Sean M. Lynn-Jones, and Steven E. Miller, (Cambridge: The
MIT Press, 1996) (ER)