MMW 14 Chapter Reading: Renan -- What is a Nation_

• School: UCSD
• Department: Making of the Modern World
• Course: MMW 14
• Professor: Edmond Chang

Document Summary

Nations are a new concept -- there were no nations in antiquity. Boundaries and names were arbitrarily drawn and chosen. Places were pretty much just named after the people that conquered them. The founding of another roman empire is now impossible due to the current state of political affairs. People are far too divided and staunch in their divisions to allow that to happen. Nations now are very touchy and hostile, people don"t like being confused or grouped with a people they do not identify as. There was a forgetting of the true ethnic heritages of the people in places that claim to be nations. They forgot that they assimilated into the roman empire and culture in germany and that they were made up of many different invading tribes in france. By forgetting this, they can claim to be one people .