Nations, Identities, Cultures

This volume investigates the concepts of nation, identity, and culture as they have evolved within the contexts of exile and the ethnicisation of the political. The contributors explore various theoretical issues involved in reconfiguring these concepts since the nineteenth century, as well as the manifestations of these issues in specific regions of the world. Examining the degree to which twentieth-century representations of colonisation, revolution, and modernity are nineteenth-century constructs, "Nations, Identities, Cultures" locates contemporary political thought in an ethos of exile, nostalgic for bygone places and cultures of the nineteenth century. The contributors interrogate the significance of changes in the way the political is conceptualised and the impact of shifting representations of political society on our understanding of nation, identity, and culture. Approaches to these issues range from broad perspectives on global culture, civil society, liberalism, and dialectical identity to specific case studies on the politics of Quebec, the Russian muzhik, Israel's borders, the ancient Greek origins of European culture, Kongo nationalism, the women of Lebanon, and the Danish/Swedish border. This collection will appeal to readers engaged in postcolonial and cultural studies and to those interested in theoretical political questions from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.