Based on Benedict Anderson's essay (in Beyond Borders), a nation is a group of individuals who imagine themselves to exist in a fraternal relationship with one another, and who imagine themselves as sovereign and timeless. The emphasis on imagining in this definition is important. Many of the members who claim shared nationality may not ever meet or see each other, yet they imagine a shared existence and interdependence. They also imagine that as a group they are self-governed and independent and that their nation has become an inevitable and natural entity. We generally think of nations as nation-states: physical spaces with physical borders that encompass the nation. Yet the concept of nationality helps us to think about the de-territorialized way in which many people experience and imagine their belonging to a nation.  Groups of people with no territorial sovereignty often assert their nationhood as well.

In Beyond Borders:  See Benedict Anderson, "The Concept of 'Nation': A Definition"; Karima Kamal's "An Egyptian Girl in America"; and Lewis Lapham's "Who and What is American?"

In Beyond Borders Online:  See Web Research Activities, "The Web and a Sense of Place and Community," and "Democracy, Difference, and Globalization."

<< Back to Key Words