The Idea of Nationalism

In Benedict Anderson's article "Western Nationalism and Eastern Nationalism", the idea of the east-west dichotomy is examined through the scope of Nationalism, as the title indicates. A little ways into the article, Anderson mentions the central article in his book Imagined Communites, wherein he states "nationalism of all varieties cannot be understood without reflecting on the older political forms out of which they emerged..."(pg 33). This idea struck me with great force; the idea that something so simplistic holds such importance while looking at nationalism, is so readily overlooked. Upon reading that line, one thinks, well of course you have to look at the history of a nation to discover where their beliefs originate, however, this is a hugely important and immense task. Thinking on it further, one gets overwhelmed with the vastness of the task at hand, thousands of peoples identities based upon the ideas of a person or persons who existed outside the scope of their modern world. This idea is hugely important, and yet, masses of people inherit their nationality without fully understanding why.

Looking at cultures all over the world, it is clear that peoples have to change and adapt to survive, this includes changing ideas and often identities. Looking at a family over decades and seeing the changes in nationality depending on circumstance is quite interesting. For example, in Taiwan, seeing the trend of Chinese mainlanders attempting to become Taiwanese . Here we see this change in nationalism and identity due to a geographical and political circumstances. Previously, mainlanders held great stock in being Chinese, however, with the rise of Taiwanese nationalism this idea has changed, and more and more people now want to be associated with being Taiwanese.  

Looking at a nations history to discover why certain ideas are held so fully in nationalism is such a simple idea, however, it gives a vast quantity of information that one can use to also see where a nation is heading, and how it is evolving into the nationalism that it's people hold deep inside of them.