Nation
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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In "What is a Nation?" Ernest Renan states what has become one of the most famous and enduring ideas of nationalism. "Forgetfulness, and I would even say historical error, are essential in the creation of a nation." "What’s heaven? Heaven is where the police are British, the chefs are French, the mechanics are German, the lovers are Italian and the bankers are Swiss. So then, what’s hell? Hell is where the police are German, the chefs are British, the mechanics are French, the lovers are Swiss and the bankers are Italian." [...] |
Illustration:Liberty Leading the People (1831, detail) by Eugène Delacroix.
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A nation is a group of people sharing aspects of language, culture and/or ethnicity. It historically constitutes a stable community of people, formed on the basis of a common language, territory, economic life, and psychological make-up manifested in a common culture.
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National stereotyps
What is a Nation?
The What is a Nation? essay by French historian Ernst Renan (1823–1892) is known for the statement that nations are based as much on what the people jointly forget, as what they remember. It is frequently quoted or anthologized in works of history or political science pertaining to nationalism.
See also
See also
- Citizenship
- City network
- Country
- Government
- Identity (social science)
- Imagined Communities
- Invented tradition
- Lists of people by nationality
- Meta-ethnicity
- Multinational state
- National emblem
- National god
- National memory
- National myth
- Nationalism
- Nationality
- Polity
- Qaum
- Race (human categorization)
- Separatism
- Society
- Sovereign state
- Stateless nation
- Tribe
- United Nations
