Rituals and performances are a key theme in the study of nations and nationalism. With the aim of stimulating further research in this area, this book explores, debates and evaluates the role of rituals and performances in the emergence, persistence and transformation of nations, nationalisms and national identity.
The chapters comprising this book investigate a diverse array of contemporary and historical phenomena relating to the symbolic life of nations, from the Yasukuni Shrine in Japan to the Louvre in France, written by an interdisciplinary cast of world-renowned and up-and-coming scholars. Each of the contributors has been encouraged to think about how his or her particular approach and methods relates to the others. This has given rise to several recurring debates and themes running through the book over how researchers ought to approach rituals and performances and how they might best be studied.
The Cultural Politics of Nationalism and Nation-Building will appeal to students and scholars of ethnicity and nationalism, sociology, political science, anthropology, cultural studies, performance studies, art history and architecture.
Author(s): Rachel Tsang, Eric Taylor Woods
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2013
Language: English
Pages: xii+202
Tags: Cultural;Anthropology;Politics & Social Sciences;Politics & Government;Elections & Political Process;Ideologies & Doctrines;International & World Politics;Political Science;Public Affairs & Policy;Specific Topics;United States;Politics & Social Sciences
1 Eric Taylor Woods and Rachel Tsang: Ritual and performance in the study of nations and nationalism
Part I: Approaches
2 Anthony D. Smith: The rites of nations: elites, masses and the re-enactment of the ‘national past’
3 Jon E. Fox: National holiday commemorations: the view from below
4 Randall Collins: Time-bubbles of nationalism: dynamics of solidarity ritual in lived time
5 Jonathan Hearn: Competition as ritual and the legitimation of the liberal nation state
Part II: Applications
6 Carol Duncan: Ritual in the early Louvre Museum
7 Athena S. Leoussi: Inventing or reviving the Greek ideal? Forging the regeneration of the French nation in the art of Paul Cézanne after the Franco-Prussian War
8 John Breen: ‘The nation’s shrine’: conflict and commemoration at Yasukuni, modern Japan’s shrine to the war dead
9 Rachel D. Hutchins: Collective action and national identity: the rally to restore sanity
10 Christopher McDonald: Britons in Maoriland: narratives of identity during the 1901 royal visit to New Zealand
