What is the nation and where does it take the beginning? Generally, the term ‘nation’ means the union of people living within the territory of the specific country, and such definition is historically correct; however, how does it relate to nationalism and national identity and how do they develop? This paper discusses the understanding of nation through the works of Anderson and Bell and reflects on the clarity of their explanations.
According to Anderson, the nation is “an imagined political community” (Anderson 6). He highlights that the nation is imagined as its members hardly know most part of their fellows and do not have a close relationship; however, they are united with the ideas of nationalism and national identity that “invent nations where they do not exist” (Anderson 6). At the same time, Bell states that the nation appears because of the collective memory of people, whether it is historical or mythical, and their common past (Bell 65). Consequently, one can say that the nation originates because of the participation in common historical events and common memories that have been passed on from generation to generation. For instance, Americans cherish the memories of the American Revolutionary War, the establishment of the United States of America and proclamation of America values; these historical events contributed to the formation of the American nation and national identity to the greater extent. Also, the formation of the nation happens between people who share the common language. As Anderson writes, the development of the modern nation happened under the influence of the print capitalism and technologies that had an impact on the diversity of languages and provided the opportunity to communicate with others (Anderson 46).
Thus, the nation is an imagined community formed because of nationalism and national identity that, in turn, are shaped because of the common memories about historical and political events and the common language. The general ideas of Bell and Anderson are rather clear and comply with my understanding of the nation, but while reading about their peculiarities, the issue becomes a bit more confusing for me, for instance, in the case of the deep discussion of the appearing of the collective memories.
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