Studies on National Movements, Volume 2
The second volume of Studies on National Movements has been published. Highlight of this volume is a series of eight articles analysing Welsh and Catalan nationalism. There is also a review article on cultural nationalism and a debate on the pre-modernity of nations and nationalism.
The contributions on Catalan and Welsh nationalism originate from a double seminar at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona) and Swansea University in 2013-2014. Subject of these meetings was the shared fight of the Welsh and Catalan national movements against their relative invisibility: notions of ‘Britishness’ and ‘Hispanidad/Hispanismo’ were at least for over a century pervasive, overshadowing alternative identities.
After an introduction by Syd Morgan and Enric Ucelay-Da Cal, the articles explore several aspects of the central theme. The origins of national identity, the road to self-consciousness and geography and identity are among the perspectives assuring a valuable contribution to comparative history. Moreover, this volume of SNM is at the same time a fundamentally interdisciplinary project, with articles written by historians, political and literary scientists alike.
Other contributions in this volume of SNM are equally interesting. The first contribution of State of Nationalism, a bibliographical project supported by NISE and the University of East London, is a review article of cultural nationalism, the type of nationalism focusing on the cultivation of a nation. Another novelty in SNM is the ‘Roundtables & Interviews’ section, offering a debate between Caspar Hirschi and Joep Leerssen (with a contribution by Stephen Grosby) on The origins of nationalism, Hirschi’s 2012 study that caused quite a stir among nationalism scholars.
Free access to all SNM contributions can be found on the journal’s website.