Everyday Nationalism in Global-Historical Contexts: Illustrated with the Taiwanese Case

An-Di Wang, University of Virginia

Since the turn of the century, nationalism studies have turned the focus from the origins and diffusion of nationalism to the everyday reproduction of nations. However, this analytical shift fails to explain the current resurgence of nationalism, such as protectionist rhetoric, territorial disputes, and war threats. In an age of globalization – in which the system of nation-states seems to become a settled reality – why do we continue to witness nationalistic moments across the world? Drawing on global historical sociology and relational sociology, I propose to incorporate a global-historical perspective back into nationalism studies. From this perspective, to account for the current nationalistic moments, it warrants attention to the long-term global processes that influence the ways we organize collectivities in the modern world. Specifically, I identify three global-historical mechanisms that shape the nationalistic moments of our time. First, nationalism has become a global norm. Nationalistic principles not only legitimize the creation of nation-states but also govern the relationship among the political entities in the world. Second, geopolitics not only created national boundaries in the past, but also continues to influence the nature of those boundaries. The residuals of geopolitical conflicts shape the expressions of popular nationalisms today. Third, since nations are created within geopolitical contexts, many contemporary nationalisms exhibit interconnected relationships, where the “us-them” boundaries are drawn. Such relationships, derived from historical and often violent roots, have become a source of nationalistic conflicts. I then demonstrate my points with the case of Taiwan. Specifically, I will illustrate why it is imperative to think global-historically to account for the nationalistic phenomena in Taiwan, or in East Asia more generally. This article contributes to everyday nationalism literature by incorporating a global-historical lens, and to our understanding of why nationalism continues to be a dominant source of legitimacy in the modern age.

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 Presented in Session 214. Émigré Regimes, Diaspora Mobilization, and Underground Resistance