![]() ![]() Nationalisms are limited in the sense that they attempt to define themselves against other nations. The way these "imagined communities" or nations are conceived of contains two further characteristics: they are imagined as limited and sovereign. Anderson explains that "in fact, all communities larger than primordial villages of face-to-face contact are imagined." Nevertheless, they perceive themselves as part of a larger group who share a common set of features such as language, religion or origin. Nations are "imagined," because people of a specific nation may never come to meet every single member of their nation in person, nor even hear of them. ![]() Anderson accordingly defines 'nation' as an "imagined political community." Anderson argues that "nationality, nation-ness, as well as nationalism, are cultural artifacts." He suggests that the term 'nation' or 'nationalism' ought be thought of in terms of kinship or religion rather than ideological 'isms' such as fascism or liberalism. ![]() In doing so, he emphasized the key role of cultural aspects in forming an understanding of nations, and the way people conceive of themselves as a coherent community. In his seminal work Imagined Communities, Benedict Anderson investigated the constituting features of nationalisms. ![]()
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