Week 4: John Harris and Benedict Anderson

John Harris writes regularly on the subject of late 80's/early 90's britpop, and appears regularly as a speaker on Newsnight Review. Benedict Anderson is a prominent writer who came up with the idea of the imagined community, which is when people feel a nationalistic bond with their fellow countrymen, despite never meeting 99.999% of them.

These two readings' views have an interesting connection to each other. Harris writes about the image a country has, using the Cool Cymru movement as an example. This tried to make it cool to be Welsh, with prominent people of Welsh nationality in the worlds of music and sport to show that there was more to Wales than sheep, leeks, daffodils, rugby and period dress.

Anderson speaks in terms of how a country is defined, by itself and others. Some countries might have a strong sense of pride in themselves and their people. Others might view other countries or nationalities as a threat. While poking good natured fun at the French or Americans, for example, may be enjoyable, a larger threat would be to big up your own country, alienating your enemies and possibly some of your less patriotic citizens. Patriotism can easily turn into xenophobia, after all.

One element that is not touched upon in these arguments is where citizenship fits into the equation. Being a citizen of a country brings you closer to your fellow countrymen. To put it in another way, the imagined community has a basis in reality, and is now a little less imagined. An immigrant will not be a citizen of a country as soon as they move there, thus they feel alienated as if they were an outsider. This goes double if there are prejudices or negative stereotypes to deal with as well, such as a Muslim moving to America from Iraq for example, and people being uncomfortable around them at first, or wondering if they are a terrorist. Delanty argues that citizenship has become a political matter, so there is the potential of legal issues getting in the way of the formation of a fully integrated, real community. Should such a thing happen, perhaps the concept of an imagined community would die. After all, how can someone imagine themselves as being like others in the country if the law has separated them from others?

Bonus Material:
Good natured fun at the expense of the French.     

Everything the terrorists hate about America summed up in song. All together now... USA! USA! USA! [Warning: Not Safe For Work- Strong language.]     

Sources

• Harris, J. (2007) Cool Cymru, Rugby Union and an Imagined Community, International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy,
• Anderson, B. (2006) Imagined Communities (London: Verso). 
• Delanty, G. (2009) Community (London: Routledge)