Independence and Nationalism in the Americas

Deciphering the modern Janus: societal multiplicity and nation-formation

“…However, it suffers from three major problems. First, Anderson's argument for the Latin American origins of nationalism has been empirically challenged even by scholars of and from that region (Miller 2006: 205;Doyle and Van Young 2013;Sanjinés 2013: 154;Lomnitz 2001). 7 Second, and relatedly, there is a sizable literature on the European origins of modern sovereignty (e.g.…”

“…Yet, rather than confronting the puzzle head-on, Tilly and many other historical sociologists simply bypassed it by preferring 'state' over 'nation' (Waldron 1985: 416). This avoidance is reproduced in the field of International Relations (IR) where the two terms are often conflated or more commonly the 'nation' is subsumed under the 'state' (Morgenthau 1948: 73, 118;Doyle 1997: 252-258;Doyle 1997;Keohane 1984;Keohane & Nye 1977). More heterodox and critical IR approaches -constructivism, Marxism, poststructuralism, postcolonialism and gender theories -have all tended to reproduce IR orthodoxy's disengagement from the nation.…”

Benedict Anderson'sImagined Communities: a symposium

“…Van Young argues strongly against any significant national(ist) sentiment or even imagination at popular level until after independence. In an essay co‐authored with Doyle, an historian of North America, the argument is developed that the oppositional movements against both Spanish and British rule were not nationalist in any meaningful sense (Doyle and Van Young , Lomnitz , Van Young ). They also take issue with the mechanisms Anderson invoked – namely print capitalism and the ‘administrative pilgrimages’ that supposedly excluded elite creoles from the metropolitan centre while tying them into colonial administrative units…”