{"id":15888,"date":"2018-01-17T17:55:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-18T01:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=15888"},"modified":"2018-01-17T17:55:45","modified_gmt":"2018-01-18T01:55:46","slug":"implications-of-andersons-oxymoron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/implications-of-andersons-oxymoron\/","title":{"rendered":"Implications of Anderson’s Oxymoron"},"content":{"rendered":"

Race, faith, friends, housing development, city, state etc. represent what most of us consider to be community of one description or another. None of those require much imagination as everyone belongs to a multiplicity of these types of community. Yet, Benedict Anderson\u2019s use of the term\"\" \u2018Imagined Communities\u2019 suggests something more. Deeper? Maybe. Confusing? Somewhat. Counterintuitive? Sure. Possibly even an oxymoron. \u201cThe words bring to mind the true strangeness, but also the centrality, of the human will to be connected with others \u2018of one\u2019s kind\u2019 whom one will never meet, and never know.\u201d[1]<\/a> How is one to define \u2018of one\u2019s kind\u2019 when considering something \u2018imagined\u2019? And, if one is able to comprehend the concept, what are its implications for understanding our contemporary world, in geo-political terms, but also in those imagined communities that do not have tangible borders?<\/p>\n

What seems to be counterintuitive about his work is founded on his two main premises; that nations are not an ancient and historical construct but a very modern one and that everyone seems to belong<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

to a nation in one way or another to such a degree that they are willing to endure immense sacrifice, even death, in order to sustain it.[2]<\/a> We see the results of modern nationalism within our own country as the rhetoric continues vilifying our open southern border and working to insulate ourselves by building a wall to keep out those not like \u2018us\u2019, who do not belong here. This is somehow meant to protect our national interest. Anderson sees this type of protection as part of the new construct of nationhood, defined by hard borders and territories instead of revolving around a center with rather porous border territories.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

This concept of nation or nationalism might also be recognized within other communities, even if \"\"they do not identify themselves as a nation per se. The need to draw specific lines of belonging are evident within religious communities; ie. Shiah or Sunni, Christian or Jew, Methodist or Nazarene etc. An attempt is even made to create supposed clear definitions within faith traditions; ie. Presbyterian church USA or Presbyterian church of America etc. The walls may not be physical, but the boundaries are meant to be clearly defined so that all may know who is in and who is out of this community. What holds these all together, even though an individual may know only a handful of people with whom they allegedly share community, is the confidence they have that those like them share in a \u201csteady, anonymous, simultaneous activity\u201d[4]<\/a> making up the core of their sense of connectivity. Both in regard to an actual nation as well as in other forms of imagined communities, a promise of immortality is offered as individuals sense a transcendent connection with those anonymous members of their community who they do not know, as well as those with whom they sense connection historically and in the future.[5]<\/a> This is no small gift bestowed upon individuals by this concept of \u2018nationalism\u2019. But, in reality this connectivity is \u2018imagined\u2019 or \u2018contrived\u2019 and the \u201cfiction seeps quietly and continuously into reality, creating that remarkable confidence of community in anonymity.\u201d[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

What requires explanation and greater understanding is \u201cthe attachment that peoples feel for these inventions of their imaginations.\u201d[7]<\/a> Why is it that individuals maintain such strong allegiances to nations and other imagined communities to the point they are willing to sacrifice themselves, their daughters and sons, and a multitude of other humans either physically in war or figuratively through vitriol and throwing ideological barbs? Think of the camps (read \u2018nations\u2019) that have developed\"\" within Christianity regarding issues such as interpretation of scripture, baptism, Eucharistic practices, women in leadership, sexual orientation ad nauseam. The porous nature of the faith evident in the first few decades following pentecost, as the Gospel spread from Jerusalem to the Roman empire, from the Jews to the Greeks, from the Godfearers to the Gentiles and beyond, where there was no need for universal agreement but it was understood that there was a unity within the faith, even with different traditions. That gave way to schisms over leadership, revolts over language, splits regarding \u2018proper\u2019 practices, and fractions based on interpretational bias. Little wonder then that the contemporary Church is largely unattractive to this generation. It looks identical to that which they see in the world supposedly not transformed by the Gospel of love expressed by Jesus of Nazareth.<\/p>\n

Much of Anderson\u2019s argument is based on the idea of literary capitalism. That the printing press paved the way for these imagined communities of shared knowledge and ideology for the better part of five centuries.[8]<\/a>. It is curious to consider what effect the removal of most print media will have on<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

this sense of collective nationalism. How will it transform the sense of connection to the past and the future? What impact will it have on other imagined communities bound more by ideology than borders? As we consider leading the global Church in the coming years it will be necessary for us to consider the implications of Anderson\u2019s work as well as the effect of the changing connection to the printed word. If one is to believe Anderson, that this phenomena of nationalism is a modern concept, it is possible that we are witnesses to its end. What will be its replacement if this is the case? How will or should the Church respond? It may seek to become more rigid, defining its \u2018borders\u2019 even more clearly. Yet, possibly the best response the opposite, becoming more porous in order to transform the world with the Gospel as in the early church.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Clark, T.J. “LRB \u00b7 T.J. Clark \u00b7 In a Pomegranate Chandelier: Benedict Anderson.” London Review of Books. September 20, 2006. Accessed January 16, 2018. https:\/\/www.lrb.co.uk\/v28\/n18\/tj-clark\/in-a-pomegranate-chandelier.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Dasgupta, Rohit K. “Remembering Benedict Anderson and His Influence on South Asian Studies.”\u00a0Theory, Culture & Society<\/em>\u00a033, no. 7-8 (2016): 334-38. doi:10.1177\/0263276416662131.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Anderson, Benedict R. O’G.\u00a0Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism<\/em>. London: Verso, 2016. P. 19.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a>\u00a0Ibid. P. 26.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Clark, T.J. “LRB \u00b7 T.J. Clark \u00b7 In a Pomegranate Chandelier: Benedict Anderson.” London Review of Books. September 20, 2006. Accessed January 16, 2018. https:\/\/www.lrb.co.uk\/v28\/n18\/tj-clark\/in-a-pomegranate-chandelier.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Anderson, Benedict R. O’G.\u00a0Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism<\/em>. London: Verso, 2016. P. 36.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a>\u00a0Ibid. P. 141.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Clark, T.J. “LRB \u00b7 T.J. Clark \u00b7 In a Pomegranate Chandelier: Benedict Anderson.” London Review of Books. September 20, 2006. Accessed January 16, 2018. https:\/\/www.lrb.co.uk\/v28\/n18\/tj-clark\/in-a-pomegranate-chandelier.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Race, faith, friends, housing development, city, state etc. represent what most of us consider to be community of one description or another. None of those require much imagination as everyone belongs to a multiplicity of these types of community. Yet, Benedict Anderson\u2019s use of the term \u2018Imagined Communities\u2019 suggests something more. Deeper? Maybe. Confusing? Somewhat. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[775,584],"class_list":["post-15888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-benedict-anderson","tag-nationalism","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15888"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15902,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15888\/revisions\/15902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}