Literary criticism was far from being the only field of study that was created to promote the goals of nationalism. There was also archeology, created to “prove” that nations were eternal in origin. And anthropology was given the task of “demonstrating” that the people of a nation were biologically related to each other and superior to those of other nations.
11 responses to “Nationalism and Scholarship”
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My Master’s thesis is going to be on medicine and ideas of mental health (or as they were called then, mental hygiene) as a nationalist project, so I hope this discourse becomes more popular and accepted. It makes it easier for me to get funding that way. 🙂
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This sounds fascinating. What a great, promising topic.
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Thank you! I’ve already seen a lot of terrific research on medicine and nationalism during the colonial and imperial eras, but nothing past the 19th century, which sends the wrong impression about it not being a contemporary issue. Time to bust that myth.
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“anthropology was given the task of “demonstrating” that the people of a nation were biologically related to each other and superior to those of other nations.”
Yes – the old “Blut und Boden”
Have you read the article by Sarah A. Topel in the latest edition of Harper’s magazine entitled, “The struggle for national identity in wartime Ukraine”?
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No, I had no knowledge about the article. For the first time ever, I bought Bazaar instead of Harper’s, and here’s what I missed.
I’m on my way to the bookstore to get the issue.
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Since the following is also connected to “Nationalism and Scholarship” – I saw that it’s in Illinois and decided to link – what is your opinion?
Academic body censures university for retracting job over anti-Israel tweets
American Association of University Professors votes to shun U. of IllinoisChaMPAIGN, Ill.— A leading academic group voted Saturday to censure the University of Illinois’ flagship campus over its decision not to hire a professor following his anti-Israel Twitter messages, a vote the university’s chancellor said will have repercussions and is being taken seriously.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/academic-body-censures-university-for-retracting-job-over-anti-israel-tweets/LikeLike
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I wrote about it last year: https://clarissasblog.com/2014/08/25/is-steven-salaita-an-anti-semite/
Of course, I think that U of I deserves to be spit on by everybody with a brain for this ridiculousness.
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By the way, it was mentioned in this paper, even twice, that it was not the university that monitored professor’s tweets for some nefarious reasons, these were “the donors” who attracted attention of the university…
I wonder if there is any way to ensure “academic freedom” any more. If there is not enough public money in the system – the “donors” and the “clients” (aka students) may dictate what professors are allowed or not allowed to say. (The list of the issues is not limited to anything Israel-related, imagine someone dictating what profs are allowed to tell about the climate change, or the side effects of some foods or medicines…) But even if there were enough public money in the system – the public would feel entitled to dictate what “public servants” say… And if said servants are not patriotic enough, or not religious enough, or, equally probably – not respectful enough of all the modern/progressive sensibilities (see #distractinglysexy debacle) – all hell still may break loose.
In case my position is not clear – both profs in question are asses, but it is not university’s job to censor them, the university is supposed to facilitate discussion even if and especially if this offends someone’s sensibilities.LikeLike
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“But even if there were enough public money in the system – the public would feel entitled to dictate what “public servants” say… ”
- I agree, this is not about money. People have watched too much television and have convinced themselves that they need to have opinions on things they are not even remotely qualified to understand. The more infantilized the general public gets, the harder it is to get it through the thick skulls of the representatives of said public that they are making idiots out of themselves.
I have not heard of #distractinglysexy debacle and I’m afraid to look.
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Random illustration for the nationalism concept, could not resist:
http://oostfries.livejournal.com/15104.html
“Proto-Russian Toadoslav, the first creature ever to come ashore, at the coast of the Sevastopol Bay in Crimea, 370 million years BC, showing all creatures the way from sea to land… 🙂LikeLike
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It is only normal that we should be witnessing all these discussions about the Kievan Rus and which Slav tribe lived where first, but, God, does it bore me or what. This is one aspect of nation-building that I find excruciatingly annoying.
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
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