The Discourse on "Post-Nationalism": A Reflection on the Contradictions of the 1990's
Keywords:
post-nationalism, Foucault, Third World, globality, displaced peoplesAbstract
Post-nationalism may be a presentiment depending on the geography one is situated in or produces knowledge about. Regardless of geography, however, it is possible to discern post-nationalism as a discourse which proffers new sets of ideas to a post-bi-polar world and to the culture of a putatively borderless, "global" economy. My purpose in this essay is to highlight some of the contradictions lurking behind this discourse and the historic forces that produce it. In positing that postnationalism's sphere of action is essentially that of a discourse and not that of an ideology, I am relying on Foucault who exhorts that discourse "has to take account of its own presentness in order to find its own place, to pronounce its meaning, and to specify the mode of action which it is capable of exercising within this present." Post-nationalism today exercises its action and meaning as the emergent discourse against a historically dominant and hegemonic nationalism.
This article examines post-nationalism as a discourse emerging from geopolitical transformations following the Cold War. It argues that while post-nationalism is theorized in Western contexts as a transition toward globality and cosmopolitanism, it simultaneously marginalizes nationalism and ethnic struggles in non-Western regions. Drawing on Foucault’s concept of discourse, the article highlights internal contradictions within this framework: although post-nationalism gains prominence in the West, it overlooks the resurgence of nationalism in societies reconstructing their identities after political upheaval. The study critiques how post-nationalism relegates national identity to a “Third World” phenomenon while selectively valorizing ethnicity in Western contexts. It also explores how technological developments facilitate transnational flows while intensifying inequalities, complicating the notion of the nation as an imagined construct.
(The abstract and keywords were prepared retrospectively for indexing purposes using AI-assisted tools and editorial review, based on the original article. They did not appear in the original publication.)
Category: American Studies & Pedagogy
Keywords: Americanism, Fordism, Consumerism, Nationalism, Cosmopolitanism, Ethnic Warfare, Instrumental Reason, Citizenship, Masses, Classes, Ideology
Themes: The Evolution of American Identity, The Relationship Between Industry and Citizenship, The Consequences of Nationalism on Colonization
Concepts: Bourdieu's Habitus, Foucault's Power/Knowledge, Hegel's Universal/Particular
References
Balibar, Etienne. Masses, Classes, Ideas. New York: Routledge, 1994.
Bercovitch, Sacvan. The Rites of Assent: Transformations in the Symbolic Construction of America. New York: Routledge, 1993.
Chatterjee, Partha. The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1993.
-----.The Other Heading. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1992.
Foucault, Michel. Foucault's New Domains. Ed. Mike Gane. New York: Routledge, 1993.
Hobsbawm, Eric. Nations and Nationalism since 1870. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1990.
Jameson, Fredric. Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Durham: Duke UP, 1991.
-----. The Ideologies of Theory: Essays 1971-1986 Volume 2: Syntax of History. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1988.
Kohn, Hans. American Nationalism. New York: Macmillan, 1957.
Matthiessen, F.O. The James Family. New York: Knopf, 1947.
Wollen, Peter. Raiding the Icebox. London: Verso, 1993.
