Secular Nationhood? The Importance of Language in the Life of Nations
Previous version published in Nations and Nationalism 12, no. 4 (Oct 2006): 597-612.
19 Pages Posted: 18 Nov 2013 Last revised: 9 May 2022
Date Written: October 1, 2013
Abstract
Because of their failure to distinguish enough between interpretation and creation, scholars of nationhood have tended to neglect the role of creativity in both the genesis and persistence of national communities. Giving creativity its due leads us to question the standard conception of nations, and of the states that recognize them, as secular. This, in turn, suggests that we need to interpret the significance that language has for nationalists in a new way. After showing how, the paper concludes with an argument about what this new interpretation should mean for language politics.
Keywords: Nations, Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Language Policy and Politics of Identity, Language, Patriotism, Pluralism, Republicanism, Romanticism, Zionism, Interpretation, Imagination, Creativity studies, Creativity, France, Quebec, Laicite, Religion, Laicity, and Secularisation, Neutrality, and Nationalism
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