Faces of Nationalism

"The main subject of modern philosophy is nationalism, not industrialization; the nation, not the steam engine and the computer. German philosophy (including Marxism) was concerned with Germany in an age of painful formation; English empiricism was concerned with Anglo-Britons in an age of free trade and primitive industrial hegemony." "American pragmatism was concerned with the expansion of US democracy after the Western frontier; French existentialism represented the impasse of 1789 Republicanism after its defeats in the twentieth century." childhood illness, absurdity, irrationality, crude primitiveness... Beyond, the dark side of the modern age. Considering all the similar definitions associated with nationalism today, it seems like we are talking about an archaic curse that is destined to expire. So, what might the metaphor of the two-faced Roman god "Janus" that Nairn uses in reference to nationalism tell us? What did those who felt exhausted under the "progressivism" of modernism and the destructive reign of industrialization see when they turned their "faces" to the past? What desires did nationalism function by responding to? In the words of Anthony Barnett, Tom Nairn, "a stubborn thinker with his provocative style and sarcastic tone beyond being a writer", asks disturbing questions about nationalism that do not rely on clichés in his work called Faces of Nationalism; He is not content with this; with his uniquely polemical language, he discusses and explores a wide range of topics, from the problems of Ireland and Palestine to the examples of Cambodia and Rwanda, from Scotland and South Africa to the experiences of Czechoslovakia, which dissolved in 1993, and digs into history with the meticulousness of an archaeologist. Nairn proposes a journey that questions the limitations and tedious myopia of traditional perspectives by relying on historical experiences of nationalism, which he sees as one of the vital components of modernity.
(From the Promotional Bulletin)



Number of Pages: 392

Year of Printing: 2015


Language: Turkish
Publisher: Iletisim Publishing

Number of Pages: 392

First Printing Year: 2015

Language Turkish