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Primordialism is the argument which contends that nations are ancient, natural phenomena.

Primordialism can be traced philosophically to the ideas of German Romanticism
German Romanticism

For the general context, see Romanticism.In the philosophy, art, and culture of German language-speaking countries, German Romanticism was the dominant movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries....
, particularly in the works of Johann Gottlieb Fichte
Johann Gottlieb Fichte

Johann Gottlieb Fichte was a German People philosopher. He was one of the founding figures of the philosophical movement known as German idealism, a movement that developed from the theoretical and ethical writings of Immanuel Kant....
 and Johann Gottfried Herder
Johann Gottfried Herder

Johann Gottfried von Herder was a Germany philosophy, Theology, poet, and literary critic. He is associated with the periods of Age of Enlightenment, Sturm und Drang, and Weimar Classicism....
. For Herder, the nation was synonymous with language group. In Herder's thinking, language was synonymous with thought, and as each language was learnt in community
Community

In biological terms, a community is a group of interacting organisms sharing an environment .In human communities, intention, belief, Natural resource, preferences, Need assessment, risks, and a number of other conditions may be present and common, affecting the Identity of the participants and their degree of cohesiveness....
, then each community must think differently.






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Primordialism is the argument which contends that nations are ancient, natural phenomena.

Primordialism can be traced philosophically to the ideas of German Romanticism
German Romanticism

For the general context, see Romanticism.In the philosophy, art, and culture of German language-speaking countries, German Romanticism was the dominant movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries....
, particularly in the works of Johann Gottlieb Fichte
Johann Gottlieb Fichte

Johann Gottlieb Fichte was a German People philosopher. He was one of the founding figures of the philosophical movement known as German idealism, a movement that developed from the theoretical and ethical writings of Immanuel Kant....
 and Johann Gottfried Herder
Johann Gottfried Herder

Johann Gottfried von Herder was a Germany philosophy, Theology, poet, and literary critic. He is associated with the periods of Age of Enlightenment, Sturm und Drang, and Weimar Classicism....
. For Herder, the nation was synonymous with language group. In Herder's thinking, language was synonymous with thought, and as each language was learnt in community
Community

In biological terms, a community is a group of interacting organisms sharing an environment .In human communities, intention, belief, Natural resource, preferences, Need assessment, risks, and a number of other conditions may be present and common, affecting the Identity of the participants and their degree of cohesiveness....
, then each community must think differently. This also suggests that the community would hold a fixed nature over time.

Primordialism encountered enormous criticism after the Second World War, with many scholars of nationalism coming to treat the nation as a community constructed by the technologies and politics of modernity
Modernity

Modernity is a term that refers to the modern era. It is distinct from modernism, and, in different contexts, refers to cultural and intellectual movements of the period c....
. Though largely rejected by most theorists of nationalism, some of its ideas have found parallels in ethnosymbolism.

See also


  • Ethnic conflict
  • Nationalism
    Nationalism

    Nationalism refers to an ideology, a feeling, a form of culture, or a social movement that focuses on the nation. While there is significant debate over the historical origins of nations, nearly all Expert accept that nationalism, at least as an ideology and social movement, is a Modernity phenomenon originating in Europe....
  • Origin
    Origin

    Origin is a word meaning "beginning." In this sense, it may refer to:*Origin , the beginning, starting-point, cause, or ultimate source, from which a thing is derived;...
  • Jus sanguinis
    Jus sanguinis

    Jus sanguinis is a social policy by which nationality or citizenship is not determined by place of birth, but by having an ancestor who is a national or citizen of the state....
  • Sapir–Whorf hypothesis
    Sapir–Whorf hypothesis

    In linguistics, the Sapir?Whorf hypothesis postulates a systematic relationship between the Grammatical category of the language a person speaks and how that person both understands the world and behaves in it....
  • Social constructionism
    Social constructionism

    Social constructionism and social constructivism are Sociological theory of knowledge that consider how social phenomena develop in social contexts....


Further reading


  • Barth, Fredrik
    Fredrik Barth

    Thomas Fredrik Weybye Barth is a Norway social anthropology who has published several ethnography books with a clear formalistic view. He is professor in the Department of Anthropology at Boston University, and has previously held professorships at the University of Oslo, the University of Bergen , Emory University and Harvard University....
     1969: Ethnic Groups and Boundaries
  • Smith, Anthony D.
    Anthony D. Smith

    Anthony D. Smith is Professor Emeritus of Nationalism and Ethnicity at the London School of Economics, and is considered one of the founders of the interdisciplinary field of study of nationalism studies....
     1998. Nationalism and modernism: a critical survey of recent theories of nations and nationalism, London; New York: Routledge.
  • Özkirimli, Umut 2000. Theories of Nationalism, London: Macmillan Press.
  • Espiritu, Yen Le: Asian-American Panethnicity: Bridging Institutions and Identities.
  • Appadurai, Arjun 1996: Modernity at Large