Nationalism Archives - Nicholas Woode-Smith

Fragmented Nationalism in Shanghai

by Nicholas Woode-SmithHistory 4 March 2018No Comments

From the period of 1842 to 1943, Shanghai possessed a worrying lack of sovereignty due to the fragmentation of its political power.[1] Bickers (2012) argued that this led to a myriad of nationalist activities.[2] At this time, foreign imperial powers held power over portions of Shanghai.[3] This resulted in a multitude of often contradictory laws …

Public Holidays and Constructed Tradition

by Nicholas Woode-SmithHistory 3 March 2018No Comments

Nationality and culture are typically taken for granted. In actual fact, many of our traditions and aspects of our national identity were intentionally invented. Hobsbawm (1992) argued that many customs and traditions were intentionally created in order to create national unity.[1] Anderson (1982) argued that nations were merely an “imagined political community.”[2] It took Hobsbawm’s …