This book is an excellent, comprehensive account of the ways in which nations and nationhood have evolved over time. Successful in hardback, it is now available in paperback for a student audience.

This book is an excellent, comprehensive account of the ways in which nations and nationhood have evolved over time. Successful in hardback, it is now available in paperback for a student audience.

A groundbreaking study of the foundations of nationalism, exposing its antiquity, strong links with ethnicity and roots in human nature.

Ethnosymbolism offers a distinct and innovative approach to the study of nations and nationalism. It focuses on the role of ethnic myths, historical memories, symbols and traditions in the creation and maintenance of the collective identity of modern nations. This book explores the different aspects of the ethnosymbolic approach to the study of ethnicity, nationality and nationalism.Nationalism and Ethnosymbolism first introduces the main theoretical considerations that have arisen in nationalism studies in the past two decades. It then presents a collection of case studies covering music and poetry, ethnosymbolism in antiquity, and a wide variety of nations and regions. Areas discussed include Eastern Europe and Russia, the Middle East, the Far East and India, Africa, and the Americas.Overall the book offers a defence of the methodology of ethnosymbolism and a demonstration of its explanatory power.

This volume presents the results of the Leiden project on the identity formation of the Syrian Orthodox Christians, which developed from a religious association into an ethnic community. A number of specialists react to the findings and discuss the cases of the East Syrians, Armenians, Copts, and Ethiopians.