Publisher's Synopsis
"Reimagining the Nation" captures a wide spectrum of current thought on the construction of nationhood and national identity. A common thread running through is the notion that the nation is never imagined on its own. Only alongside other constructs which demarcate self and other, or delineate a boundary between inside and outside, does the nation acquire powerful force in the modern world.;When focusing on the nation, how do notions of sexuality or ecology enter into the picture? How are the border lines of the modern nation written into the concept of Balkanization or into the political theories of democracy and international relations, and who pays the price for those inscriptions? Finally, in the nation's coming of age, how does it acquire its transcendent position, imbuing the individual with a willingness to sacrifice his or her life for it? These are the central questions of "Reimagining the Nation" which explores new ways of thinking about the concept of the nation and suggests possible ways of resisting its totalizing effects.
