Notes On Nationalism As Problem By Partha Chatterjee

Notes on “Nationalism as Problem” by Partha Chatterjee: The article discusses the rise of Nationalism. Nationalism is a relatively new concept that replaced the “’’cultural systems” of religious community and dynastic realm” (164). As Benedict Anderson argues in his book Imagined Communities, the Nation is the product of print, capitalism, and language. Print-languages helped unify the numerous dialects spoken by people and “gave a new fixity to language” and created “unified fields of exchange and communications” (164). This gave rise to a national consciousness that was not present before. The article argues that three modes of Nationalism emerged. The first one is Creole Nationalism, which sounds more like patriotism because of all the distinctions between the Creole groups. The second model is the linguistic nationalism of Europe where language brings the nation together. And finally, the third model is the “official nationalism” such as Russia where culture is imposed on the people from the state, which the author calls a project of “Russification.” What I found the most interesting about this article is how it discussed the emergence of national consciousness and its rapid spread as a result of being supported by the state and modern education.