Etno-simbolism.

O abordare alternativ etno-simbolic dezvluie diferitele forme ale naiunii

n istorie, i caut s completeze ntrebarea istoric, cnd este naiunea?, cu problema
sociologic mai recurent cnd este o naiune? . Aceast din urm ntrebare ne invit s
delimitm diferite puncte de plecare i modele de formare a naiunilor n termeni de construcie
de tip ideal, n timp ce un accent pe rolul miturilor etnice, amintiri, simboluri i tradiii ne ajut
s exploreze procesele i rutele prin care naiunile sunt formate n diferite epoci i continente1.
Cu toate c naiunea, ca o comunitate de istorie i cultur, care cuprinde un teritoriu
comun, economie, un sistem de educaie n mas i drepturi legale comune, este un fenomen
relativ modern, originile sale pot fi trasate de la comunitile etnice pre-moderne. Such named
ethnies with their myths of common descent, common memories, culture and solidarity, and
associations with a homeland, are found in both the ancient and the medieval periods in many
areas of the world. Two kinds of ethnie are important for the origins and routes of the formation
of nations. Territorial, civic nations tend to develop from aristocratic lateral ethnies through a
process of bureaucratic incorporation of outlying regions and lower classes into the ethnic
culture of the upper classes, as occurred in France, England and Spain. The more numerous
ethnic nations, on the other hand, have emerged from demotic vertical ethnies through
processes of cultural mobilization that turn an often religiously defined and passive community
into an active, politicized nation. Here the intellectuals and professionals replace the state as
agents of popular mobilization, creating new maps and moralities through the uses of
landscape and golden ages of a rediscovered and reconstructed communal past, as in Ireland,
Finland and Switzerland. It is from these often ancient ties and sentiments that modern nations
draw much of their power and durability today2.
Finally, ethno-symbolic approaches to nationalism (Anthony Smith, John Hutchinson) accentuate
the significance of pre-modem ethnic symbols and cultural resources for the construction of
national identity. Elites may have been able to produce nationalism, but their efforts were
constrained by the cultural environment in which they operated and lived, since both them and
the people were already bound together by cultural and ethnic mechanisms of social cohesion,
including religions, customs, and traditions.
Ethno-symbolism shifts the focus of the analysis of nationalism from economic, political, or
socio-biological factors, to the importance of ideas, myths, memories, symbols, and traditions.40
1 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/714000928?src=recsys
2 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01419870.1989.9993639?src=recsys