Nation-Work: A Praxeology of Making and Maintaining Nations

Main author: Surak, Kristin
Format: Journal Article           
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id eprints-17998
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
topic HM Sociology
description This article bridges the literatures on nationalist projects and everyday nationhood by elucidating a repertoire of actions shared by both. Analysis of such “nation-work” contributes to the cognitive turn in ethnicity and nationalism research by showing how ethnonational categorization operates. The author distinguishes three types of categorization processes at play: (1) we-they distinctions are made across ethnonational groups, (2) these ethnonational distinctions are further specified by linking them with non-ethnonational categories such as gender and class, and (3) differentiations are made within the same ethnonational category by distinguishing exemplary from less exemplary members of the category. Through historical and ethnographic analyses of the tea ceremony in Japan, the author shows how distinctions drawn across national boundaries help select the characteristics of national membership. Yet while nationalism may project an image of a homogeneous “we,” internal heterogeneity is crucial for refining the experience and performance of membership in the nation.
format Journal Article
author Surak, Kristin
author_facet Surak, Kristin
authorStr Surak, Kristin
author_letter Surak, Kristin
title Nation-Work: A Praxeology of Making and Maintaining Nations
publisher Cambridge University Press
publishDate 2012
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/17998/