Nation Power and Difference : Assignment

ASSIGNMENT 1: NATION POWER AND DIFFERENCE
NATION POWER AND DIFFERENCE
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ASSIGNMENT 1: NATION POWER AND DIFFERENCE
Question 1:What does it mean to think about nations as “Imagined communities”? (Anderson,
Bennett, Williams)
The idea or the concept of ‘imagined communities’ was coined by Benedict Anderson. The advocate
of this idea suggests that the nation is held together as a single community. It means that any nation
can be considered as a socially constructed community that is imagined by the people who consider
themselves as part of a single group. The sharing of ideas among the people is something that makes
them a single community. It is important to mention that the idea of imagined communities could
also exist beyond the nations (Anderson, 2006). Media can also refer to an imagined community that
is based on the sharing of similar beliefs and attitudes. The imagined communities could also be
created based on the lines of similar vernacular, language, etc. The media can also create the
imagined communities on the lines of similar images. The concept of imagined communities are
often discussed with the concepts of nationalism. Anderson defined that nation is a political
imagined community where the citizens have something common that constitutes society. It is
important that the citizens of the country should also contribute towards the development of society
(Jessop, 2013). It would ensure that the nation could act as a single entity. It is also important that all
the citizens in the society should have a single view of the society.
Question 2: It is possible to think about the concept of nation without understanding and critiquing
dominant discourses of race/class/gender/sexuality? (Griffin, Ken, hooks)
It would be correct to say that the concept of nation is a powerful concept that spans across various
discourses like class, gender, race, sexuality, etc. The nation is a collective thing that is made up of