“Nationalism—at a given time, in a specific space, and in the name of particular nationally defined and constituted peoples—constructs and professes a narrative of the nation and of its relation to a projected potential or already existing state. In doing this, nationalism lays claim to a privileged narrative perspective on the “nation” and thus justifies its own capacity to narrate—to organize and link the diverse elements of—the nation.” Mary Layoun, 'Wedded to the Land?'

What would it mean to propose that nationalism is a narrative? How do national narratives link the diverse elements of a society into what Benedict Anderson famously calls an ‘imagined community’ or what Charles Taylor calls a 'modern social imaginary'? How are we to understand the potentials and pitfalls of nationalism as a project? Beyond these questions, together we shall explore how theories of narrative and of narrativity can aid us in understanding what such projection might mean for the citizen-subject and the metaphor of the nation-as-subject.

Texts:

• Ricoeur, Paul. Course on Recognition.
• Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities.
• Bhabha, Homi. Nation and Narration.
• Mosse, George. Nationalism and Sexuality.
• Wald, Priscilla. Constituting Americans: Cultural Anxiety and Narrative Form.
• Seigel, James. Fetish Recognition Revolution.
• Rafael, Vincent. Promise of the Foreign.