Reimagining the nation-state : the contested terrains of nation-building / Jim Mac Laughlin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mac Laughlin, Jim.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Irish question.

National characteristics, Irish--History--19th century.

National characteristics, Irish.

Nationalism--Ireland--History--19th century.

Nationalism.

Ireland--Politics and government--19th century.

Ireland.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (304 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

London : Pluto Press, 2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book assesses competing modes of nation-building and nationalism through a critical reappraisal of the works of key theorists such as Benedict Anderson and Eric Hobsbawm. Exploring the processes of nation building from a variety of ethnic and social class contexts, it focuses on the contested terrains within which nationalist ideologies are often rooted. Mac Laughlin offers a theoretical and empirical analysis of nation building, taking as a case study the historical connections between Ireland and Great Britain in the clash between 'big nation' historic British nationalism on the one hand, and minority Irish nationalism on the other. Locating the origins of the historic nation in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Mac Laughlin emphasises the difficulties, and specifities, of minority nationalisms in the nineteenth century. In so doing he calls for a place-centred approach which recognises the symbolic and socio-economic significance of territory to the different scales of nation-building. Exploring the evolution of Irish Nationalism, Reimaging the Nation State also shows how minority nations can challenge the hegemony of dominant states and threaten the territorial integrity of historic nations.

Contents:

Introduction

The naturalisation of nation-building in the nineteenth century

English nation-building and seventeenth century Ireland

"Political arithmetic" and the early origins of the "troublesome Irish"

Theorising the nation in Ireland

Nationalising people, places, and historical records in nineteenth century Ireland

Social and ethnic collectivities in nation-building ireland

Pressing home the nation

Political pamphlets and provincial newspapers in unionist Ulster

Mapping the imagined community of the nation in Ireland.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781849640268

1849640262

9780585426693

0585426694

OCLC:

559657039