Imagined Communities: Reflections On The Origin And Spread Of Nationalism

In Chapter Seven, Anderson examines the final wave of nations that have gained independence since the end of World War II. Most of these states are the product of “colonial nationalism,” which swept through the remaining vestiges of the European empires in Africa and Asia during and after the war. Drawing upon the legacy of nation-building models that preceded them in Europe and the Americas, these postcolonial nations exhibit a complex nationalism deriving from their colonial origins. Many of these states retained the language of the colonial power as their official language. They combined popular nationalist sentiment with the ideological machinery of official nationalism that they inherited from imperial rule. Leaders in these states selected from, and adapted to their own purposes, a range of nationalist institutions, republican ideals, systems of government and education, elections, celebrations, and the manipulation of mass media for ideological purposes pioneered during the 150-year history of nationalism. Anderson traces the differing outcomes of colonial nationalism by comparing 20th-century nationalist movements in Dutch Indonesia with those in French West Africa and French Indochina. He concludes the chapter with a brief account of Swiss nationalism, which demonstrates that national identity can thrive in a country divided into three main language communities.