The Endurance of Nationalism: Ancient Roots and Modern Dilemmas (review)

Aviel Roshwald's The Endurance of Nationalism provides a unique addition to the ethno symbolist approach to nationalism theory, which considers how myths, memories, traditions and other symbolic practices form national identity. Building on the work of ethno symbolist scholars like Anthony Smith and Adrian Hastings, Roshwald challenges the popularly held notion that nationalism is a uniquely modern phenomenon. Some ethno symbolists have even suggested that "nations" existed in antiquity, but most stop short of arguing for pre-modern forms of "nationalism." Roshwald's central hypothesis is that nationalism has "appeared in various forms, among diverse societies, throughout much of the history of literate civilizations" and that pre-modern versions of nationalism considerably informed their modern equivalents (10). He diverges from theorists like Benedict Anderson, Linda Colley and Ernst Gellner, who claim that nationalism emerged as a consequence of political and economic modernization and the development of print capitalism. For Roshwald, nationalism not only antedates 1789, but its ancient foundations have vitally shaped the modern world's geopolitical landscape. Ancient articulations of nationalism provide the fount and blueprint for the idea's modern manifestations. By suggesting that modern nationalisms have roots in antiquity, Roshwald refines established conceptual approaches to the subject.

Roshwald tells his story through a set of linked historical case studies. The first chapter challenges modernist notions of nationalism by arguing that nationalism existed in both ancient Hebrew and Athenian societies. These pre-modern nationalisms resemble the modern variations in that both share national creation stories, multi-dimensional constructs of historical time, historical narratives of violation, a sense of chosenness and mission, ideas of national self-determination, and a concrete sense of territoriality. Both Ancient Hebrews and Athenians created societies where "traditional kinship structures were marginalized and/or replaced by public associations that employed the imagery and rituals of kinship to link individuals and their families" with the nation (24). Roshwald concludes that the same "conceptual and terminological" frameworks used to understand modern nationalisms also apply to these pre-modern forms (30).

In chapter two, Roshwald counters the popular notion that nationalism's most fundamentally modern aspect is its adherence to a linear construct of time. He proposes that modern nationalist thought combines pre-modern cyclical (meta-historical) and modern linear concepts of time. Roshwald argues that constructs of historical time based on both of these conceptions again have pre-modern roots grounded in Judeo-Christian religious tradition. The modern "linear sense of history is itself derived from the Judeo-Christian historicization of the path to salvation" (51). He also identifies as a hallmark of several ancient societies the drawing on similar circumstances in the distant past. These supernaturally inspired pre-modern temporal modes did not simply vanish in modernity. Rather, they were incorporated into the seemingly unilinear progressive march forward. This pre-modern meta-historical element of modern nationalism is especially important because it provides a fundamental value orientation that binds individuals within a nation together in common action. Cyclical civic rituals and commemorations of past historical archetypes and events allow the nation "to establish connections between chronologically far flung events by creating mythical structures designed to bridge the yawning gaps in time" (55).

Next, Roshwald outlines four core components of nationalism central to its endurance: violation, volition, chosenness and mission. He convincingly argues that the selective memory of victimization at the hands of a defined "other" creates, strengthens and sustains many nationalist movements. They demand that historical blood sacrifice or martyrdom for the nation be both remembered and regularly celebrated as sacrifice in the name of a just and enduring cause. Roshwald vividly details how the narrative of Jewish nationalism has been heavily colored by regular episodes of historical victimization on their path to redemption at the hands of oppressors from the Egyptians to the Nazis. For Jewish nationalism, the Temple Mount serves as a transcendent symbol of national violation. Its meaning has shifted, but members of the national community understand its core value...