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Overview
A controversial collection from the author of the celebrated Imagined Communities.While Benedict Anderson is best known for his classic book on nationalism, Imagined Communities, many of his most telling and incisive interventions have been made in his essays. Those collected in this new book span a range of subjects: from Aquino's Philippines, where the horses on the haciendas ate better than the stable-hands, to political assassination in contemporary Thailand, where government posts have become so lucrative that to gain them candidates will kill their rivals. In these writing, the subtle imbrication of politics, national imaginings, bureaucracy, modernization and its agents (particularly print culture) is brought out in all its complexity and richness. "The spectre of comparisons" was a phrase used by the celebrated Filipino nationalist and novelist Jose Rizal (1861-96), whose work and fate in the national imagination are discussed in these pages. In his finely wrought observations on Southeast Asian societies, Anderson raises deep questions concerning this spectre, about how, for instance, Manila is changed when it can no longer be seen through a comparison with European capitals, and how, more broadly, nationalism is produce by the process of increasing global connection.The Spectre of Comparisons is an indispensable resource for those interested in South-East Asia. But it also contains important theoretical and historical considerations about nationalism, national literature and memory, modernization, and the prospects for the Left in what Anderson dubs 'The New World Disorder'.
Synopsis
A controversial collection from the author of the celebrated Imagined Communities.While Benedict Anderson is best known for his classic book on nationalism, Imagined Communities, many of his most telling and incisive interventions have been made in his essays. Those collected in this new book span a range of subjects: from Aquino's Philippines, where the horses on the haciendas ate better than the stable-hands, to political assassination in contemporary Thailand, where government posts have become so lucrative that to gain them candidates will kill their rivals. In these writing, the subtle imbrication of politics, national imaginings, bureaucracy, modernization and its agents (particularly print culture) is brought out in all its complexity and richness. "The spectre of comparisons" was a phrase used by the celebrated Filipino nationalist and novelist Jose Rizal (1861-96), whose work and fate in the national imagination are discussed in these pages. In his finely wrought observations on Southeast Asian societies, Anderson raises deep questions concerning this spectre, about how, for instance, Manila is changed when it can no longer be seen through a comparison with European capitals, and how, more broadly, nationalism is produce by the process of increasing global connection.
The Spectre of Comparisons is an indispensable resource for those interested in South-East Asia. But it also contains important theoretical and historical considerations about nationalism, national literature and memory, modernization, and the prospects for the Left in what Anderson dubs 'The New World Disorder'.
Michael Vatikiotis
A Balkan tragedy in Asia: Is it possible? In his new study of nationalism, Cornell University scholar Benedict Anderson offers a disquieting paradox that could be applied to the region. Borderless trade and the free movement of capital are the essence of globalization. But this influential thinker argues that they can also be a force for disintegration. "Is capitalism, in its eternal restlessness," he asks, "producing new forms of nationalism?" —Far Eastern Economic Review
Editorials
Michael Vatikiotis
A Balkan tragedy in Asia: Is it possible? In his new study of nationalism, Cornell University scholar Benedict Anderson offers a disquieting paradox that could be applied to the region. Borderless trade and the free movement of capital are the essence of globalization. But this influential thinker argues that they can also be a force for disintegration. "Is capitalism, in its eternal restlessness," he asks, "producing new forms of nationalism?" —Far Eastern Economic ReviewLibrary Journal
To open this collection of essays, Anderson (international studies, Cornell) refines the theory of nationalism he developed in his acclaimed Imagined Communities (1983). Anderson deftly identifies the forces that forge a nation--an "imagined community" frequently incongruent with the state--from a group of people sharing some degree of common heritage. Subsequent essays examine the nationalism peculiar to each Southeast Asian country and draw comparisons among countries. Anderson also highlights the forces inhibiting the coalescence of a regional consciousness and the formation of a regional political bloc. Chief among these, he contends, are the proximity of China and the prevalence of authoritarian regimes. Finally, a provocative closing essay seeks to rehabilitate the reputation of nationalism, which has suffered in the post-Cold War years. A useful addition to the burgeoning literature on nationalism, this book illuminates the passions that have formed--and sometimes deformed--the modern world. Strongly recommended for academic libraries.--James Holmes, Fletcher Sch. of Law & Diplomacy, Tufts Univ., Medford, MAMichael Vatikiotis
A Balkan tragedy in Asia: Is it possible? In his new study of nationalism, Cornell University scholar Benedict Anderson offers a disquieting paradox that could be applied to the region. Borderless trade and the free movement of capital are the essence of globalization. But this influential thinker argues that they can also be a force for disintegration. "Is capitalism, in its eternal restlessness," he asks, "producing new forms of nationalism?"— Far Eastern Economic Review