Culture, Community and Territory: The Politics of Ethnicity and Nationalism
Author(s): Anthony D. Smith
Reviewed work(s):
Source: International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-), Vol. 72, No. 3,
Ethnicity and International Relations (Jul., 1996), pp. 445-458
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Royal Institute of International Affairs
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and
community
Culture,
of
thepolitics
territory:
andnationalism
ethnicity
ANTHONY
D. SMITH
and
on ethnicity
on theimpactofpolitics
usuallyfocus
and historians
Socialscientists
and nationalism
ofethnicity
The impact
politicalusesforelites.
and their
nationalism,
adhereto an instrumentalist
becausemostanalysts
treated,
onpoliticsis lesscommonly
toexploretherelaWe needrather
and nationalism.
viewofethnicity
and modernist
tiesand modern
ethnic
premodern
and between
andpolitics,
culture
between
tionship
ofculture
thepurfication
ofthreemajortrends:
an examination
througlh
nations,
theuniversaland socialexclusion;
whichcan lead tocultural
authentication,
through
nationalsoliwhichengenders
ideology,
nationalist
through
chosenness
izationofethnic
inspires
which
memory,
shared
of
and theterritorialization
darityand self-assertion;
canbefound
and sacredsites.Theseprocesses
homelands
claimsto historic
historical
in themodern
marked
and widespread
buttheyareparticularly
history,
throughout
politicalconflicts.
manycurrent
epoch;and theyunderlie
In approachingthe politicsof ethnicityand nationalism,the firstimpression
and bitterconflict.Even
thatcomes to mostpeople'smindsis one of extremism
is thoughtto be charpolitics
and
nationalist
ethnic
is
absent,
where violence
and acute passions.At the
unpredictability
acterized by endemic instability,
same time,manypeople are aware of the obverse:the way in which ethnicity
and the basis they
theirrole in state-making,
and nationalismcreatesolidarity,
thisparadox?
we
explain
in
How
can
politics.
participation
provideforpopular
What are the sourcesof phenomena thatproduce,at one and the same time,
unpredictableviolence and
passionand participation,
solidarityand instability,
the basisforour systemof states?
nationbetweenethnicity,
There have been manystudiesof the relationships
What theorythereis has been
alism and politics,but littlesystematictheory.
and modernist,whicheverend of the causal chain we
largelyinstrumentalist
consider.On the one hand,the politicsof ethnicityand nationalismcan mean
This in turncan signithe impactof politicson ethnicityand nationalidentity.
fyeitherthe uses of ethnicityand nationalismin the powerstrugglesof leaders
of ethnicpolitics;or the processesby
and parties,leading to a micro-analysis
Affairs72, 3 (996)
In-t.er-atio_al
44-45 8
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44A
D. Smith
Anthony
which statescreateethnicgroupsand nationsand theirconflicts,
producinga
of nationalformation.
macro-analysis
On the otherhand,one can analysethe impactof ethnicityand nationalism
on politics.This in turncan signifyeitherthewaysin which ethnicgroupsand
nationalist
movementsseek theirpoliticalgoals,againleadingto a micro-analysis
of the politicsof ethnicnationalists;
or the role of cultureand ethnicityin creating statesand influencingstatesystems,
producinga macro-analysisof state
and interstate
formation.
Of these fourtypesof analysis,the firstpair is, fromthe standpointof ethnicityand nationalism,largelyinstrumentalist
and modernist.It assumesthat
ethnicityis plasticand malleable,an instrument
forotherends,usuallythose of
politicalelites;and thatnationsand nationalismsare both recentand the product of specifically
modern conditionslike the modernstate,bureaucracy,
secularismand capitalism.
The second pairis moreprimordialist
It tendsto assumethat
and perennialist.
ethniesare primordial,
givensof the humancondition,and thatnationsare historicalbut immemorial.States,parties,bureaucraciesand politicsare regarded
largelyas the public expressionof thesepre-existingethniccleavagesand culturalidentities.
By themselves, none of these standpoints is plausible or adequate.
Primordialismper se is untenable,since it assumeswhat is to be explained:why
human beingsare so widely differentiated
by ethnicoriginand culture.It fails
to explainwhy particularethniccommunitiesemerge,change and dissolve,or
why so manypeople choose to emigrateand assimilateto otherethnies.Nor
can it explainwhyin some caseswe witnessa fiercexenophobicethnicnationnationalidentity.
alism,and in othersa more tolerant,multicultural
Perennialism,
thoughmore plausible,is also untenableifit means thatparticular nationsare in factimmemorial(as opposed to appearingto theirmembers
to be so); veryoftenthesenationscan be shown to be fairlyrecentqua nations.
There is a more acceptableversionof perennialismwhich holds thatin most
nationsare being continuallyformedand dissolved,on the
periods of history,
basis of pre-existingethnicties,a propositionwhich,at least,could be tested.
on the otherhand,failsto explainwhy ethnicconflictsare
Instrumentalism,
so often intense and unpredictable,and why the 'masses' should so readily
respondto the call of ethnicoriginand culture.It also failsto addressthe proband why so manypeolem of why some ethniesare so durableand persistent,
ple may be readyto lay down theirlives fortheirnations.Modernism suffers
froma similarinadequacybecause its account of nationsand nationalismtells
The otherhalf,the factthatso many
only one half,the recenthalf,of the story.
modern nationshave been builton the foundationsof pre-existingethniesand
so manyethnicnationalismscan draw on ethnicsentimentsand sharedmemories,myths,symbolsand values,is omittedfromthe modernistaccounts.
One should add thata recent,fifth,
position,the so-calied'post-modern'perspective,which seeksto show thatethniesand nationsare simplyculturalarte-
446
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and territory
Culture,
community
mytholofacts,constructsof culturalengineersor chefswho tailorpre-existing
gies,symbolsand historyfortheirown ends,is even more seriouslyflawed.It
tends to exaggeratethe abilityof elites to manipulatethe massesand failsto
explain why millionsof people may be preparedto die fora culturalartefact;
and once again it disregardsthe premodernhistoryof ethnicity.'
If we are to understandthe relationshipbetween politics,ethnicityand
nationalism,we need to clarifythe conceptsof'ethnie'and 'nation'and to recognize the importanceof a long historyof ethnicityfor the formationof
nations.Here I definean ethnic community(or'ethnie') as a named human
population of alleged common ancestry,shared memories and elements of
and a measureof solidarity;
common culturewith a linkto a specificterritory
common
a 'nation' as a named human populationsharinga historicterritory,
mythsand historicalmemories,a mass,public culture,a common economyand
common legal rightsand duties;and 'nationalism'as an ideological movement
forthe attainmentand maintenanceof autonomy,unityand identityon behalf
of a population some of whose membersdeem themselvesto constitutean
actual or potential'nation'.
Given thesedefinitions,
we should recognizethat:
mostnationsare modern,and so is nationalismas an ideologyand movement,
ethnieshave emergedin everyera,and manyhave been durable;
ethniesand the ethnic
3 manynationsare formedon the basisof pre-existing,
model of the nationremainsextremelyinfluentialtoday;
4 would-be nationsthatlack a dominantethnicbase oftenhave greatproblems in forgingnationalconsciousnessand cohesion.
i
2
In other words,the relationshipbetween premodernethnicties and modern
nationalismis the keyto a largesegmentof modern nationaland international politics.A greatdeal of theliteratureon thissubjectis flawedby itsfailureto
give due weightto thiscontinuingrelationship.
State-centred approaches
This shortcomingcan be broughtinto sharperfocus by examiningthe view
that the modern stateand political action are responsiblefor forgingethnic
groupsand nations,and forthe directionand successof theirnationalisms.We
mighttermthisthe politicalvariantof modernism.To some degree,thisview
is held by scholarslike CharlesTilly,AnthonyGiddensand Michael Mann, but
its purestexpressionis to be foundin the theoryofJohnBreuilly.He argues
that nationalismis a politicalargumentwith a fixedand limitedrole,which
only emergedin earlymodernEurope because of the growingchasmbetween
I
AnthonyD. Smith,'Gastronomyor geology?The role of nationalismin the constructionof nations',
Nationts
atnd
Natiotnalismtl
I: I, I995, pp. 3-23.
447
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Anthony
D. Smith
societyand the modern state.By invokingthe idea of'the nation',nationalists
are able to mobilize,unifyand legitimatethe goals of different
sub-elitesin
theirquest forpower.They do so by appealingto the specious historicistidea
of an organicnation,which offersa plausiblesolutionto the alienationcreated
by the growinggulfbetweenstateand societyin the modernworld.Politicsis
about capturingand holdingpower in the state-and nationalismis an argumentfordoing so. Nationalismis therefore
a politicalmovement,not a question of cultureor identity.
Nations are ultimatelythe productof a nationalism
formedby and targetedon the modernstate.2
These approachesrecognizethe role of cultureand ethnicityin state-making, but treatthem as secondary.It is political nationalismthat holds centre
a purelypoliticalnationalismin thisway?Doesn't
stage.But can we distinguish
Breuilly'sresortto Herderian argumentsabout historicismsuggestthat he is
conscious thatthe appeal of nationalismresides,at leastin part,elsewhere?And
mustwe not agree with Hutchinsonthatwe should distinguishcyclesof culthe one takingover when the other is temturaland political nationalisms,
porarilyexhausted,the one fillingout what the otherneglected?3
it seems too simpleto endow the state,whetherancient or
More generally,
modern,withtheprimaryrolein creatingethniccommunitiesor nations.Even
to suggest,asWeber hesitatingly
did,thatethniccommunityis largelythe product of politicalaction is simplistic.Certainlythe stateand politicalaction play
importantroles in crystallizingethnic sentimentsand national identities,
But ethnic ties and
notablythroughprotractedwarfareand territorialization.
nationalsentimentsare createdby a varietyof factors-ecological, social and
especiallyculturaland symbolic,such as religion,languageand the arts.4
Besides,attemptsby statesin Africaand Asia to createunitarynationsout of
ethnicallyveryheterogeneouspopulationshave not met with greatsuccessup
to now. One needs only to recallthe cleavagesand conflictsin such new states
as Myanmar,Sri Lanka,Indonesia,Iraq, Somalia and Angola,and theirrelative
failureto date to produce an overridingpopularcommitmentto the civic,territorial'nation'based on the post-colonialstateand itsboundaries.
We mustthereforeacknowledgethe limitationsof state-centred
approaches,
and turnto the otherside of the coin: the influenceof ethnicorigin and cultureon politicsand stateformation.I proposeto explorethisby analysingthree
which have been especiallymarkedin thelastfew cenmajor trendsin history,
2 John Breuilly,Natiotnalistm
antdthestate(Manchester:ManchesterUniversityPress,1982), introductionand
oftnatiotnal
statesitnWestertn
ch. i6; Charles Tilly,ed., Tlieformiiatiotn
Europe(Princeton,NJ: Princeton
(Cambridge: Polity,i985); Michael
atndtioletnce
UniversityPress,I975); AnthonyGiddens, The tnatiotn-state
states,176o-1914(Cambridge:
Mann, The sourcesofsocialpower.Vol.II, theriseofclassesantdtnatiotn
Cambridge UniversityPress,I993).
3 John Hutchinson, The dytnamtics
oftheIrishnlatiotntheGaelicretivalatndthecreatiotn
ofculturalntatiotnalismtl:
state(London: Allen and Unwin, I987), ch. i.
4 Max Weber,Ecotnotmy
ed., G. Roth and C. Wittich (New York: BedminsterPress,i986), vol. i,
atndsociety,
ofntationalismtl
itnwvestertn
thedetelopmttett
ch. s;Josep Llobera, The God oftioderntity:
Europe
(Oxford/Providence,RI: Berg, I994), chs 2, 4.
448
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and territory
Culture,
community
of chosenness,and the
turies:the purificationof culture,the universalization
territorialization
of memory.
The purification of culture
AlthoughGellneris rightto highlightthe oftenfluid,overlappingand interwoven natureof cultures,therehave been timesand places where we finda
hardeningof the boundariesof cultureand a movementto purifyits contents.
but it is
of some formsof nationalism,
This is certainlya processcharacteristic
foundelsewhere,even in premoderntimes.
or earlierphasesof the same broad
In fact,the harkingback to earliercultures,
culture,which are deemed to be in some wayssuperiorto presentcultures,can
be foundalreadyin the Middle and New Kingdomsof ancientEgyptand the
ThirdDynastyof Ur, which is oftenlabelledforthatreason'neo-Sumerian'.In
both periods therewas a quite conscious archaism,a desireto model elements
of both cultureand societyon earlierpatternsand motifswhich were veneratA similarpatterncan be foundthroughoutChinese hised by latergenerations.
preachthe need to conservethepastand
tory,as laterdynastiesand intellectuals
veneratethe waysof the ancestors.5
Nostalgia,however,is only one elementof thisprocess.A more didacticnote
is also struck,forexample,in late republicanRome, wherean earlierage of austerevirtueand harshdisciplinewas extolled,the age of Cato and Scipio; and,
even earlier,that of Cincinnatus,Scaevola and the consul Brutus who condemned his own sons to death for consortingwith Tarquin,the traitor.For
Cicero,Livy andVirgil,the presentage was corruptby comparisonwith earlier,more heroic epochs,in which a simpleand austerelifeproduced the valour
and wisdom thatmade Rome what it was.The implicationwas clear:Romans
must alwayseschew orgiasticforeignritesand lax morals,and cleave to the
sternpreceptsand truepathsof theirancestors.In similarvein,Tacitus'admiration forthe freeand heroic Germansis a clear condemnationof what he saw
as the contemporaryRoman decline fromthe pure and wholesome ways of
theirforefathers.6
findit,already,not
Implicitin thisapproachis a concept of authenticity.We
just among the Romans, but also among PtolemaicEgyptiansand theirJewish
The multiculturalism
of the hellenisticworld produced not
contemporaries.
only the nativistrebellions of Egyptians subjected to a Greek-speaking
Macedonian dynastyrulingover them fromAlexandria,but also perhapsthe
firstreligiouswar,the revoltof theJudeanMaccabees againstthe enforcedhellenization of the Near East by the Seleucid monarch,AntiochusEpiphanes.
5 Georges Roux, Antcientt
to Chlinese
Iraq (Harmondsworth:Penguin, I964), ch. io;J. Meskill,An inttroduction
(Lexington,MA: D. C. Heath, I973); B. G. Trigger,B. J. Kemp, D. O'Connor and A. B. Lloyd,
civilisation
(Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress,I983), part III.
Egypt:a socialhistory
An-cienit
6 J.V.P. Balsdon, Roniants atndalietns
(London: Duckworth, I979); Erich Gruen, Cultureand tnationtalideentity
(London: Duckworth, I994).
intRepublicanRotmie
449
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Anthony
D. Smith
What is strikingabout theseresponsesis theirreversionto older culturalmodels in the name of 'the true way'. Here we findsome of the many meanings
thatwill attachthemselvesto the ideal of'genuineness':the 'genuine' is mine,
but it is also distinctive,
originaland valid.ForJewsand Egyptiansof thisperiod, confrontedby the cosmopolitanassimilationof a dominant culture,the
preservation
of theiridentityrequiredan effortto definewhatwas originaland
in theirculture,religionand history.7
distinctive
was seen in religiousterms:as
During the medievalera,culturalpurification
whetherin the Church Councils,
a need to be rid of heterodoxyand heresy,
the movement of iconoclasm in Byzantium,or the Crusades against the
Bogomils and Albigensians.Similar purificatorymovementsswept through
Islamicterritories,
culminatingin theWahhabitemovementin eighteenth-centurySaudi Arabia.What was at stakehere was the validityor otherwiseof religious beliefsand practices.8
thatof ancientdidacticismand thatof medieval reliThese two traditions,
gious conformism,came togetherin the earlymodern era to produce those
which have had such a profoundimpactupon
processesof culturalpurification
politicallifein the modern world.In the Dutch and Englishrevolutions,and
movementsto purify
even more duringthe Frenchand Americanrevolutions,
national culture came to the fore.These were at firstmodelled on Old
butlaterclassicalmodelspredominated.
Testamentprototypes;
Religious beliefs
and practiceswere cleansed,or proscribed;languageswere elevatedand puriin termsof religious
fied;and politicalaction came to be judged increasingly
vernacor secularvisionsof nationalauthenticity.
Thus,ideals of Saxon liberty,
and heroicRoman (and Gallic) fraternity
ularAmericanancestralism
began to
to underpinnotions of
influencepoliticalconceptionsand came increasingly
The culturethatwas to guide the processof purificationwas
nationalidentity.
identifiedwith the earliest,usuallymedieval,phases of a community'sdocumentedhistory;the ethnicpastor pastsservedas repositoriesof culturalexemplarsto be emulated.9
What are the major componentsand consequencesof the processof cultural
The first
is therediscovery
ofan ethnicpast,and especiallyofa goldpurification?
en age thatcan act as an inspiration
forcontemporary
problemsand needs.These
paststhenbecome standards
againstwhich to measurethe allegedfailingsof the
vercommunity.
Alongwithethno-history,
presentgenerationand contemporary
7 Pierre Grimal,Helletnisti
atndtheriseofRomle(London:Weidenfeld and Nicolson, i968);Victor
(NewYork: Athenaeum, I970);
Tcherikover,Helletnistic
civilisatioti
atndthieJetvs
(NewYork:Doubleday,I992).
atndfall
ofJetvisli
tiatiotnalistn
Doron Mendels, Th-erise
8 Steven Runciman, The tmiedieval
Matnicliee
(Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress,I947);John
(Chapel Hill, NC: Universityof North Carolina Press, I982).
before
Armstrong,Natiotns
tnatiotnalistm
9 Robert Herbert,David, Voltaire,
(London: Allen and Unwin, I972); E. G.
BrutusantdtileFrentch
Revolutiont
and the cruel step-mother:ideologies of descent in the American
Burrows,'Bold forefathers
Revolution', paper presentedto conferenceon 'Legitimationby Descent', Paris,Maison des Sciences de
(Cambridge,MA: Harvard University
roadsto tmiodertnity
l'Hommle, I982; Liah Greenfield,Natiottalistt:five
Press,I992), ch. 2.
450
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Culture,
community
and territory
nacularsymboliccodes and indigenousartifacts
and achievementswere rediscovered.Historians,archaeologists,
philologists,
folklorists
and othersscouredthe
a pictureof
documentaryand materialrecordsof the communityto reconstruct
collectivenativelife in earliertimes,fromwhich the present-daycommunity
could derivea sense of continuityand dignity.
In doing so, theydrew up the
boundariesof a communityon thebasisof sharedcodes,oftena vernacularlanguage,to producea strongsenseof culturalidentityand difference.'0
Afterrediscoverycomes authentication.
This bringstogethera number of
recurrentdimensions:possessionthroughfiliation,
minebecause of myancestry;
ofperiod and place,thedistinctiveness
of theethnicpast;origrepresentativeness
the clear,unmixed,non-derivative
characterof cominationin the community,
and validationof lifestyle,
and clarityof
munal achievements;
the truth-content
communalways.This is thephase of sifting:
whatis and whatis not
determining
can be deemed
whatis and whatis notindigenous,and whattherefore
distinctive,
to be 'trulyours'. In the process,what is universalbecomes particular.
Luther
theBible into German,to be followedby othertranslations,
and Latin
translates
is displacedbyvernacularlanguages;geniusis increasingly
seen througha nationmusic and literatureare
al lens; native,national schools of art,architecture,
encouraged,all of which increasethe rangeof objectsto be authenticated."
The people must be
What is authenticatedmust then be reappropriated.
encouragedto takepossessionof theirauthenticvernacularheritageand their
genuineethno-history.The
historyof severaleastEuropean nationalismsreveals
in
the ways which intellectualsdefinedthe culturalprofileof 'their'peoples
of an authenticatedvernacularlanguage and culthroughthe reappropriation
ture,even where elementsof thatlinguisticculturelong pre-existedthe activI2
ities of nationalistintellectuals.
In this way,the cultureof a designatedpopulation is purifiedof allegedly
extraneous elements and created anew in a strictlyvernacular mould.
Individualsand movementswhich set greatstoreby culturalpurificationand
the creationof a vernaculartype oftenturn againstthose whom they hold
responsiblefor culturalassimilationand corruption.In thisrespect,Herder is
atypical,withhisvisionof theworthof each popularculturein theface of cosmopolitan assimilation.In the modern world,at least,Wagner,Maurras and
and the
Dostoevskysymbolizethe close linksbetweencultureand community,
tendencyto exclude fromthe communitythe alien as a corruptinginfluence
'3
of the inauthentic.
and a representative
(London:Verso/
otftle origin1s
oBenedictAnderson,Im)lagitned
comtiiiuniities:
atndspread ftnationtalistmt
reflections
II
12
'3
(Oxford:Blackwell,1985),ch. 2.
atd idetntity
New LeftBooks, 1983),chs 3, s;John Edwards,Lan1guage,society
ch. S.
Anderson,Itimagitned
comtmituniities,
ofniatiotnal
Miroslav Hroch, Socialprecon-iditionis
reviialitnEurope(Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress,
anlddiversity
Europe(Santa Barbara,CA: ABC-Clio, I980).
conflict
I985); cf. Peter Sugar,ed., Etlitnic
itneasterni
Russia (Seattle:UniversityofWashington
it1tnitneteethti
century
See Edward Thaden, Conservative
tnationialistm1
(London: Macmillan, i965), ch. 9; Ernest Nolte, Tllreefaces
qfGermtaniy
Press,I964); Hans Kohn, The tmtind
trans.L.Vennewitz (New York/Toronto:Mentor Books, I969), part I; Isaiah Berlin, Vicoatd
ofFascismt,
Herder(London: Hogarth, 1976).
45'
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Anthony
D. Smith
The universalization of chosenness
Of equal antiquityand importis the concept of a chosen people. Originally,
thishad a strictlyreligiousconnotation,signifying
the sense of sacredmission
entrustedto a communityby its god. Mythsof ethnicelectionwere common
in the ancient world: Sumerians and Babylonians,Egyptiansand Assyrians,
Israelitesand Persians,as well as Greeksand Romans, saw theircommunitiesas
sanctifiedand theirrole as providential;and much the same ideas could be
foundin China,at leastfromtheHan dynasty.
It was not simplythattheircomand
munities
kingdomswere the centreof the civilizedworld,and the repositoryof value; theirswas a sacredmissionto bringtheirculture,ifnot theirrule,
to less fortunateneighbours.So, fromthefirst,
chosennessimpliedboth expansion and exclusion,culturalif not directlypolitical.
Some communitiesevolved a strictercovenantalform of ethnic election
The commandmentto be a holy people,a nationof priests,so decisivemyths.
ly enunciatedin the OldTestament,implieda conditionalelection:the Israelites
were to be leftunmolestedin the promisedland,only on conditionthatthey
fulfilledthe various statutesand commandmentsordainedin the Mosaic Law.
Any backslidingwould be punishedby expulsionfromthe land and termination of theirstatusas a holy people.The Israelitecovenantalformof election
myth proved contagious: Armenians,Georgians and Copts, Monophysite
Amhara and Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox and Irish Catholics,
AfrikanerCalvinists,Scottish Presbyterians,
ProtestantIrish and American
in the world,
all feltthemselvesto be God's people,His instrument
Protestants
destinedto fulfilHis commandmentsso as to bringsalvationforthe world.'4
In the medieval epoch, concepts of chosennesswere widespread.Thus the
and were seen by
Frankishkings,and theirCapetian successors,saw themselves,
successivePopes, as latter-dayKing Davids, theirkingdoma sacredrealmand
theirsubjectsa holypeople.This was the traditionon whichJeanned'Arc built
in equating the sacredland and realmof France with God's people and king.
In Russia, too, theTsar became a fatherand protectorof a sacredland and a
holy people, basingthe mythof Russian ethnicelectionon ideas of Orthodox
and in ElizabethanEngland we finda growingsense of
religiousauthenticity;
nationalidentityand exaltation,firedby a beliefin providentialmissionin the
aftermathof the defeatof theArmada.'5
We can trace the growingimportanceof the ideal of chosenness,and of
mythsof ethnic election into the modern world,in the Dutch resistanceto
Spain,in theAmericancolonists'revoltagainstBritain,in the Frenchbeliefin
the superiorityof theircivilizationand realm,in theVictorianBritishassumpDonald Akenson, Gods peoples(Ithaca: Cornell UniversityPress,1992); AnthonyD. Smith,'Chosen peoples: why ethnic groups survive',Etlhniic
anidRacial StudiesIS: 3, I992, pp. 436-56.
'5 Michael Cherniavsky,'Russia',in Orest Ranum, ed., Nationialcotnscioustness, hiistory
anidpoliticalcultureitn
earlytmioder,,
Europe(Baltimore/London:JohnsHopkins UniversityPress,I975); Richard Pipes, Russia
ch. 6;
un-ider
theold regimte
(London: PeregrineBooks, 1977); Armstrong,Natiotns
befireniationialismt,
ch. 2.
Greenfield,Nationialismt,
'4
452
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and territory
Culture,
community
tion of an imperialrole,and in the Meiji Japanesebeliefin theirinnatesuperiority.We can also find the sense of chosennessand unique identityamong
smaller,oftensubjectpeoples such as Czechs and Poles,Greeksand Serbs,Finns
and Norwegians, Armenians and Georgians, Maronites,Druse, Sikhs and
Tamils.In all thesecases,beliefsand mythsinspiredpoliticalactions.
In the modern world the old religiousideal of chosennesshas been universalized throughthe specificdoctrinesof nationalism,which claim that every
nation mustpossessan authenticidentity,
thatis, have its own distinctiveand
its peculiarhisoriginalethnicculture.A nationmustpossessits individuality,
tory and destiny,and therebyrevealits unique contribution,its 'irreplaceable
culturevalues',to the world.In emphasizingthe unique featuresof the ethnie
or nation,nationalismencouragesthe beliefthatthe people who are to form
In thatsense,theycome to
the nation are also unique and incommensurable.
see themselvesas 'chosen',thatis,as havinga specialculturaltaskin the world's
one thatno otherhumangroupcan perform.Thisis,of course,
moraleco.nomy,
fromthe olderreligiousconceptionof chosennesswithitssense
ratherdifferent
of a sacred missionto fulfilGod's commands.Yetthe modern counterpartof
thisreligiousconception,the sense of uniquenessand superiorityencouraged
by nationalism,
mayeasilybe combinedwith older ideas of election,as we can
witnessin Irelandand Serbia,Iranand Sri Lanka.As religiousnationalismflourishesin manypartsofLatinAmerica,Asia and Africa,and even in theWest,this
confluenceof older religiousideals of electionwith more recentdoctrinesof
ethnic nationalismhas generateda markedincreasein communal strifeand
violence.The dangersforglobal accommodationhave become all too evident;
those thatreach deepestinto their
the bitterestand most protractedconflicts,
respectivepopulations,are those thatcombine the processesof culturalpurification with the sanctificationand election of an ethnicallydefined nation.
While not all such fusionsresultin collectiveviolence-Poland is a case where
a Catholic-inspiredlinguisticnationalismsought restraintin more recent
and ethnic
years-the generaltendencyis forideals of collectivesanctification
chosennessto generate,or amplify,
ethnicor nationalconflicts.'6
The territorialization of memory
Since the time of ErnestRenan, collectivememorieshave alwaysbeen recognized as a vital element in the constructionof the nation and the selfunderstandingof its nationalism.What is less often appreciatedis that,to
become national,sharedmemories must attach themselvesto specificplaces
The processby which certainkindsof sharedmemoand definiteterritories.
to
ries are attached particularterritoriesso that the formerbecome ethnic
16 See Max Weber,Fromt
Max Weber:essaysit1 sociology,
eds, Hans Gerth and C. Wright Mills (London:
The tesvCold War?Religioustnatiotnalism
Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1947), p. 176; Mark Juergensmeyer,
confronts
thesecularstate(Berkeley:Universityof CaliforniaPress,1993), part II.
453
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Anthony
D. Smith
landscapes(or ethnoscapes)and the latterbecome historichomelands,can be
of memory'.I7
called the 'territorialization
Once again,thisis a processthatcan be foundin manycountriesand periods. It is oftenassociatedwith miraculousor sacred sites:mountainsthatare
'homes of the gods' or possesswondrouspower like Olympus,Sinai,Meru or
Fuji; sacred riverssuch as the Ganges and the Nile; or special shrineslike
Nippur,Yazilikaya,
Delphi and Mecca-sites thathave attractedawe and venerationfromlargenumbersofpeople.To thesereligioussiteswe mayadd thevarious tombs and monumentswhich mark the exploits and resting-placesof
heroes,sages,artistsand statesmenhonoured by the community.
But perhaps
the mostimportantof the sitesof territorialized
memoryare the variousfields
in the fortunesof the commuof battlewhich markedcriticalturning-points
nity,be theyvictorieslike Marathon,Lake Peipius,Bannockburn or Blood
River or defeatslike Kosovo, Avarayr,Karbala or the fall of Jerusalemor
Constantinople.
I8
At thesame time,sacredmountainsand rivers,
shrines,tombs,monumentsand
fieldsofbatdecould not and did not demarcatetheextentof thehistorichomeland.In fact,theboundariesof eventhemostsacredof ancestralhomelandsflucin premoderntimes:witnessthe radicalshiftsin theboundtuatedconsiderably
aries of 'Armenia'or 'Russia', 'Spain' (Hispania) or 'Germany'(Germania).Very
few ethnies enjoyed the geographicaladvantagesof island peoples like the
Japaneseor Icelanders,or the clearscriptural
promisesof theJews.I9
It was onlyin the late medievaland earlymodernperiods thatthe territorializationof memorybegan to influencethe waysin which some statesbecame
increasinglycongruentwith theirdominantethnies.Whilefactorslike diplomacy,inheritance,
marriagealliancesand conquest determinedthe boundaries
and heroicfigures
of moststates,the memoriesthatattachedto turning-points
became the ground for subsequentclaims in popular memory,because they
were crucialforthe developmentof the community;any subsequentdemarcations of the historichomelandwould have to include the sitesand territories
associatedin popular consciousnesswith these events.This is what makes the
province of Kosovo so importantto present-daySerbs,Ulster to many Irish,
Macedonia to many Greeks and Judea and Samaria to many Israelis,turning
theminto contestedzones where rivalethnictitle-deedshave resultedin protractedconflicts.
The boundaries of nationsand national statesmay be
We can go further.
for
but theirsignificance
determinedby military,
economic and politicalfactors,
associatedwith a particutheirinhabitantsderivesfromthejoys and sufferings
17Ernest Renan, Qu'est-cequ'utletnatiotn?
(Paris: Calmann-Levy,1882).
'S AnthonyD. Smith, The etlhniic
origitns(f tlatiotns(Oxford:Blackwell, i986), ch. 8.
19 Pipes, Russia un-ider
(London: Allen and
cradleocfisiilisatioti
theold regitime,
chs I, 2; David Lang, Armteniia,
(London/Basingstoke:Macmillan,
Unwin, 1980), ch. 6;Jean-PierreLehmann, Tlheroots(ofliiodertiJapati
Jiourtial(f S(ciology32, I991,
1982), ch. i; Steven Grosby,'Religion and nationalityin antiquity',European
ch. 2.
pp. 229-65; Llobera, Tlie God (f mi-ioderniity,
454
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and territory
Culture,
community
lar ethnoscape.Nationalistregimeshave subsequentlymade use of a masspublic education systemto inculcatethe sense thatthe homeland has been 'ours'
for generations,even where it was ruled by foreigners,
througha pictureof
poetic landscapesfilledwith the resonancesof greateventsand exploitsin the
ethnic past.This is the picturethat nationalistregimesare particularlyconcerned to purvey:a homelandof all the citizens,with naturalfrontiers,
ancient
sites,unique monuments(bothnaturaland man-made)and a multitudeofpopular ethnicassociations.20
Switzerlandaffordsan interesting
of shared
example of the territorialization
memories.The novel attitudeto mountainsin general,and theAlps in particular,thatmade itsappearancein the eighteenthcenturyhelped to redefinethe
territoryof the Swiss Eidgenossenschaft
as a specialhomelandof libertyin contrastto surroundingterritories
and peoples.Conversely,
the politicalclaimsand
aspirationsof the Helvetic Republic were givenhistoricaldepthand communal potency by fillingout and hardeningits territorywith ethnic memories
associated with and dependent upon particularSwiss sites and featuresof
nature.The meadow of the Oath of the Rutli, the narrowcleftof Kiissnacht,
the stormsof theVierwaldstatter
See, the passesand valleysaroundMorgarten,
Nafels and Sempach became inseparablenot onlyfromthe economic,political
and militarydevelopmentof the Swiss Eidgenossenschaft,
but,equallyimportant,
fromthe developmentof the collectivememoriesof the Swiss cantons,their
mythsand legends,customsand traditions,
symbolsand values.These, as much
as the economic opportunitiesafforded
by the openingof the St GotthardPass
or the commercialpolicies of the ruling oligarchiesof Zurich, Berne and
Lucerne,made Switzerlandthe distinctive
societyand politythatit ultimately
became. It was in no smallmeasuredue to the extraordinary
geopoliticaland
social impact of a distinctiveethnicgeographyand terrain,which shaped the
collectivementalityand sharedmemoriesof Swiss peasantsand burghers,that
the spiritof Swiss libertyand independenceflourished.
The politicization of ethno-national communities
Swiss cultureand politicswere also shaped by the growthof a sense of Swiss
individualityas a people devotedto the spiritof libertythroughself-helpand
This became particularly
markedin the late eighteenth
courageous resistance.
century,but had clear harbingersin the early heroic or golden age of the
William Tell came to symbolize this free spirit,which in
Eidgenossenschaft.
was fused with the Swiss
Johann Ludwig am Buhl's SchweizerFreiheitsgesang
The verysimplicityof the Swiss shepherdmarkedhim out as
dream of liberty.
20
2I
See AnthonyD. Smith,'Statesand homelands:the social and geopolitical implicationsof national territoand nationalidentity
(Oxford:
David Hooson, ed., Geography
ry',Milletiniumii
s0, 1981, pp. 187-202;
Blackwell, 1994).
JonathanSteinberg,WhySsvitzerlanid?
(Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress,1976), ch. 2; Ulrich Im
(Zurich:VerlagNeue Ziircher Zeitung, I99I).
Hof, MythosSchiveiz:Natiotn-Identitiidt--Geschichte
45 5
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D. Smith
Antlhony
a man of independence; if only the Swiss would unite, claimed Johannes
Muller,theywould be invincible.Muller went on to draw a parallelwith the
prototypeof chosen peoples:'It is strangehow the Bible seems to fitno other
people betterthan you.What was originallya communityof freeshepherds
grew into a Confederationof as manycantonsas therewere tribesin Biblical
times.'22
Given the multilingualand religiouslydividednatureof Swiss society,movementsto purifythe culturewere perhapsmore muted here than elsewhere.
Though the Enlightenmentin Switzerlandalso saw a returnto the mythsof
was open and outward-looking.
the Swiss heroicage,the spiritof regeneration
Nevertheless,at various momentstherewere attemptsto highlightthe special
particularly
in
natureand virtuesof an Alpine cultureand of Schwyzerdeutsch,
the face of the Nazi threat.Thisdesireto preservea vernacularcultureand distinctiveway of lifeintactcould also promoteexclusionarytrendswith regard
to foreignersand immigrantworkers,though many refugeeswere admitted,
in the FirstWorldWar.Swiss armed neutrality
owes somethingto
particularly
thisdesireto preservean indigenousculture,as did the agitationagainstforeign
workersin the 1970s. If now thereis a growingrelaxationin attitudesto foreigners,despitethe rejectionof membershipof theEuropean Union, it is surely due to a partialwaningboth of the older sense of uniquenessand election,
and of theneed to keep thatindigenouscultureand way oflifepure and uncorruptedby outsideinfluences.23
The Swiss experiencesuggestssomethingof the ambivalenceand ambiguity
It highlightsthe dualism
of the culturalpoliticizationof ethno-nationalism.
which we findin so manyotherexamplesof a civic and politicalcommunity
historically
based on ethnicties and mythologies.For,despitethe accession of
French,Italianand Romansch-speakingcantons,the ethniccore of the Swiss
federal state remains the German-speakingcantons of Berne and central
Switzerland,in whose territories
the major episodes of earlyprotestand conflicttook place aroundwhich the heroic Swiss mythsand symbolsof foundation and developmentarose. Hence the modern civic national identityof
Switzerlandis interpenetrated
with the traditionsand memoriesof an older,
narrowerbut stillvivid ethnicnation.24
The strength
and solidarityof an ethniccultureand a wider lifestyle
is often
matchedby an exclusive,sometimesfanatical,
attachmentto thatculturewhich
leaves litde room forculturalborrowingsand outsideinfluences.It may also,as
22 Cited in Hans Kohn, Natiotnalismii
atndliberty:
theSsvissexam)ple (New York: Macmillan, 1957), pp. 24-5,
28-33.
23
24
Steinberg,WhlySwitzerlanid?;
Dieter Fahrni,Atnoutlinie
history
(Zurich: Pro Helvetia,Arts
(f Ssvitzerlat,d
Council of Switzerland,1983); Georg Kreis,Der Mythlos
des Schtveizerischen
ioiui1291: Zur Elitsteliutig
Natiotnaffeiertags
(Basel: FriedrichReinhardtVerlag,i9i9).
T. Rennie Warburton,'Nationalism and language in Switzerlandand Canada', in AnthonyD. Smith,ed.,
(London: Macmillan; New York: St Martin'sPress,1976); ImnHof, Mythlos
Natiotialistmiovemienits
Schlveiz;
cf.Michael Ignatieff,Blood anidbelonigiig:
journeysitnto
thetiewv
(London: Chatto and Windus,
tnationalistm1
'993).
456
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and territory
community
Culture,
we saw,breed a sharpreactionto thoseinfluencesand to theirforeignpurveyors.Quite apartfromethniccompetitionin a tightlabourmarketor oversocial
of commitmentby membersof the nationto a trathe sheerstrength
facilities,
and spilloverinto overt
ditionalway of lifemaylead to communalresentment
ethnicconflict.Thisis fertilegroundformovementsof culturalpurificationand
national regeneration;the populistmovementsat the turn of the centuryin
France (Maurras'Action Fran,aise),in Romania (Codreanu's Legion of the
ArchangelMichael) and in India (Tilak and Aurobindo'sappeal to the Aryan
past) are good examplesof thistrendand itspoliticalconsequences.25
Other peoples, too, have sought to purifytheircultures,adapt a sense of
ancient uniqueness and territorialize their shared memories. Among
Norwegians and Finns,for example,the romanticspiritof authenticculture
memoriescombinedwith a new sense of ethnicuniqueness
and territorialized
which drew on ancient myths-Viking and ancient Finnish-embodied in
epics and sagas like the Kalevala.These in turnspurredmovementsof vernacincludingthe revivalof Norse and Finnishin oppoular culturalpurification,
sitionto Danish and Swedish,the languagesof formerlydominantstates.26
was fuelledby the
Outside Europe,too,the new politicsof ethno-nationalism
of chosennessand
universalization
tripleprocessesof vernacularpurification,
of memory.In India, among Sikhs and Muslims as well as
territorialization
Hindus, the revivalof ancientethnicmemoriesand mythsassociatedwithpartogetherwiththe nationalistideal of collectiveinditicularsitesand territories,
viduality,has broughtthese communitiesto a new stateof consciousnessand
The resulthas been fierceconflictwhere,as in the Punjab or
self-assertion.
Ayodhya,ethnic title-deedsand ethnoscapesoverlap to form rival historical
in Sri Lanka,the spreadof
of the ethno-religiouspast.Similarly,
interpretations
nationalistideologies has helped to bring the ancient communitiesof Tamils
and Sinhalese into protractedconflictover rival claims to historicalprein theisland.Withthe adventof the modernstate,there
eminenceand territory
of ideals of
has been a driveforculturalhomogeneityand the universalization
chosennessin rivalcommunities,and a growingattachmentof sharedmemories to demarcatedhomelands and ethnic landscapes.Little wonder that an
exclusivereligiousnationalismhas emergedto challengethe older secularversions of the rulingelites.27
2$
HistoryI: I, I966, pp. 101-26;
(f Cottemiporary
See Eugene Weber,'The nmenof the archangel',Journal
inAsia anidAfrica(London: Weidenfeldand
Elie Kedourie, ed., Nationialismii
Nolte, Tlireefacesjffascistii;
Nicolson,197I), introduction.
26
27
Europe(Edinburgh:JohnDonald, I980);
studiesit niorthlern
Rosalind Mitchison,The rootsofniationalism:
trans.WF Kirby(London: Athlone Press;New Hampshire:
Michael Branch,ed., Kaletala: thelanid flieroes,
(Harmondsworth:Penguin,i99i), ch. 4.
Dover, I985); and see AnthonyD. Smith,Nationialidentity
See K. M. da Silva,A lhistory
qfSri Lanka (London: Hurst;Berkeley/LosAngeles: Universityof California
anidpoliticalculturein Sri
( state:tviolenice,
ititolerance
(f people,mytlhs
Press,I98I); Bruce Kapferer,Legenids
Latika atndAustralia(Washington,DC/London: SmithsonianInstitutionPress,I988); Conor Cruise
anidniationalismii
(Cambridge,MA: Harvard UniversityPress,I988);
oi)i religion
O'Brien, God-lanid:reflections
Michael Roberts,'Nationalism,the past and the present:the case of Sri Lanka', EtlhticanidRacial Studies
Cold War?.
The newv
i6: I, I993, pp. 133-66;Juergensmeyer,
457
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Anthony
D. Smith
Conclusion
We can now see why the politicsof ethnicityand nationalismis shot through
withparadox,and how thisspringsineluctablyfromthe deepersourcesof these
phenomena and the processeswhich theyhave undergone.
The sourcesof the endemicinstability
of ethnicand nationalpoliticscan be
foundin the ambivalenceoveralien cultures.On the one hand,the commumityseeksto competewithitsneighboursby borrowingtechniquesand ideas; on
the other hand, it clings to its receivedtraditionsand lifestylesand seeks to
purifyits cultureof alien elements.This ambivalencelies at the heart of the
debates about nationalidentityin so manynationalstatestoday.Similarly,
the
of ethnicand nationalistpolitics,so oftencommentedupon,
unpredictability
resultsfromthe politicalconsequences of nationalism,
with its constantiteration of the uniquenessof peoples,and itsuniversalization
of the ancientidea of
chosenness.The passion that we so oftenwitnessaccompanyingethnic and
nationalistactivitiesand demonstrations
can likewisebe tracedback, both to
the sense of electiongeneratedby nationalismand to the strongattachmentto
of sharedmemories
specifichomelandswhich the growingterritorialization
around sacredsitesproduces.
On the otherside of the picture,justthesesame processesare integralto the
and to the basistheyprovide
solidarityof nations,to theirrole in state-making
for popular participation.Social solidarityrequiresa sense of culturalunity
based on a mythof common ethnicdescentand sharedvernacularcodes; hence
the continualurge to purifyindigenousculturesin orderto enhance communal solidarity.
State-makingrequires,among manyotherthings,a securebase in
an ethniccore fromwhich elitescan be drawn;in the modern world,certainthe individualityof the nation
ly,if not earlier,thisis providedby highlighting
and theirreplaceability
of itsculturalvalues.It is the mythof the unique nation
thatlegitimatesthe stateand unitesits (oftendiverse)population.Finally,the
inclusionof the'people' as a regularand decisiveparticipantin the politicallife
of the nationderivesboth fromitssense of chosennessand fromitsattachment
to a particularterritory,
by bindingitspopularmemoriesto a homelandand its
forpoliticalparticipation.
sacredsitesand byprovidinga bounded constituency
It is my contentionthattheselong-termprocessesare stillat work acrossthe
globe,and thatwe maytherefore
expect thatthe worldwhich theyhave creata
of
ethnic
and
world
conflict
nationalcompetition,will continueto proed,
vide the environmentand much of the substanceof nationaland international politicswell into the next century.
The problembeforeus is how to control
the violent consequences while fosteringthe peacefuland creativeaspectsof
ethnicand nationalpolitics.Failureto recognizethe continuingpower of these
to containtheirvolatileafterlong-termprocesseswill onlyimpede our efforts
effectsand controlthe conflictstheyso oftengenerate.
458
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