Nationalism, Patriotism, Ancient and Modern

The age of the concept of the nation has been the subject of much debate within the field of nationalism. Different schools have emerged during the course of the debate and each has argued either for the antiquity or modernity of the concept of the nation. Perennliasts and Primordialists have argued for the antiquity of the nation. Modernists have argued for the exclusivity of the nation to the modern, that is to say the post-nineteenth century, world. Ethnosymbolists have argued for the modernity of nations but evolving from strong ethnical units from the earlier periods of history. In 2012, Dr Caspar Hirschi published a work that reviewed the different positions in the field of nationalism, and put forward an argument for the nation and nationalism being a product of the collapse of the Roman Empire. Furthermore, Hirschi has criticised the often one-dimensional nature of most previous nationalism studies, either being solely theoretical in nature with no historical backing, or too much focused on an historical analysis without a theoretical framework to support their arguments. Instead, Hirschi has advocated for a more interdisciplinary approach by combining both theoretical arguments with historical analysis.

Nationalism, Patriotism, Ancient and Modern aims to build upon this interdisciplinary approach to the field of nationalism. Furthermore, it wishes to re-explore the relationship between nationalism and ancient civilisations. Although scholars of nationalism have dismissed the existence of ‘nations’ in antiquity, a vast wealth of literary, epigraphic, and material culture evidence exists that indicates the presence of evolving forms of collective identity and communal organisation that corresponds to what we would today term nationhood and nationalism. Consequently, this conference wishes to bring together scholars from a wide range of disciplines to explore the relationships, influences, similarities, and differences between ancient civilisations from around the globe and the ‘modern’ concepts of nationhood, nationalism, and patriotism.