Symbolic Charisma and the Creation of Nations: The Case of the Sámi

By Lars Elenius

Volume 10, Issue 3, pages 467-482

Abstract

The cultural charisma of the Sámi people has served to inscribe them in the nation myths of the Scandinavian states. This charisma was also built into the self-image of the Nordic countries when they established as a political organisation in the 1950s. While this charisma was to some extent created by leaders of the majority population, its symbolic value has also been used by the Sámi movement as a tool for political mobilisation. The global resistance by indigenous people towards colonialism resulted in a shift of the Sámi people’s strategy from national to global action, and in the redefinition from a ‘nature people’ within the nation-state to an ‘indigenous people’ in a global legalistic discourse. At the same time, Sámi politicians strive to unite the different Sámi groups through a common homeland, Sápmi, which crosses the nation-state borders. The political territory of Sápmi can culturally be regarded as an imagined nation in the same way as a nation-state, even if it is scattered across four countries. The creation of a Sámi nation also faces the same kind of inter-ethnic problems as the nation-state.

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Interview with Professor Gi-Wook Shin

By John Kojiro Yasuda

Volume 8, Issue 1, pages 165-174

SEN’s John Kojiro Yasuda sat down with Gi-Wook Shin to discuss his recent book, Ethnic Nationalism in Korea: Genealogy, Politics, and Legacy (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2006), which explores the origins of that particular form of nationalism and how it is affecting current political and social issues, such as the possibility of North and South Korean reunification. In the interview, Shin discusses the traditional civic/ethnic dichotomy in nationalism studies, North Korea’s nationalist brand of socialism, civic elements of Korean nationalism, and what he has dubbed the ‘prize and price’ of nationalism.

Read the full interview here.

The Combined and Uneven Development of Afghan Nationalism

By Anand Gopal

Volume 16, Issue 3, pages 478-492

Abstract

The U.S. campaign in Afghanistan has been based, in part, on a pair of contradictory notions: First, that the Taliban are a supra-ethnic, transnational group severed from the social and cultural heritage of Afghanistan; and second, that the Taliban represent a form of Pashtun nationalism. This article uses archival data and field research to show that both views are incorrect. The Taliban are historically rooted in Pashtun communities and yet are not a force of Pashtun nationalism. Rather, they comprise a network of exclusion, bound together in rhetoric by a particular conception of political Islam and Afghan sovereignty. This is an ‘Islamist nationalism’ in word, but crucially, not in deed: While the Taliban aspire to act as a nationalist force representing all Afghans, under conditions of institutional poverty and the lack of modernization, the Taliban are bound in practice by networks of trust and personal contact. This is an example of the ‘combined and uneven development’ of Afghan nationalism.

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The Importance of Culture in Civic Nations: Culture and the Republic in France

By Vincent Martigny

Volume 8, Issue 3, pages 543-559

Abstract

This article discusses Hans Kohn’s argument that civic nations pay little attention to cultural claims in their definition and practice of citizenship, by looking at the political system in France and its relation to culture. Contrary to Kohn’s analysis, culture has played – and still plays – a fundamental role in the definition and modus vivendi of the civic republic in France, through a form of cultural nationalism implemented by the state. It is also argued that the opposition between civic and ethno-cultural nations can be misguided. Indeed the French civic nation can be conceived of as ‘cultural’ while rejecting ethnicity in its definition of citizenship. This calls for the redefinition of Kohn’s dichotomy and mismatch between culture and ethnicity.

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The Dual National Identity of the Korean Minority in China: The Politics of Nation and Race and the Imagination of Ethnicity

By Jin Woong Kang

Volume 8, Issue 1, pages 101-119

Abstract

This article explores the historical changes in the national identity of the Korean minority in China from the period of Japanese colonial invasion through to the present. Existing studies have taken an ethno-cultural approach to the Korean minority’s dual identity, but they have ignored the importance of political identity-formation which creates, re-creates, and transforms national identity. The Korean minority’s national identity has been determined by political and economic factors rather than ethnic and cultural backgrounds. In this regard, the Korean minority’s double-minded self-understanding of its own nationhood has shifted from an ethnicity-centred dual identity to a nationality-centred dual identity. This article notes that the Korean minority’s national identity has been created and re-created by political identity-formation, and its imagination of ethnicity has been transformed through this political process.

Read the full article here.