UCL ResNet Conference 2024: Historical Roots, Modern Realities - Nationalism Across the Americas

The history of nationalism in the Americas is a complex and multifaceted one. From the revolutionary anti-imperial imaginaries of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries to the recent rise of the ‘new nationalism’ of Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro, and Javier Milei, ideas of nationhood have indelibly shaped the political, social, and cultural lives of those living within the Americas. Nationalism has been marked by both inclusive and exclusionary tendencies, promoting national integration and cultural and intellectual production while simultaneously defining ‘insiders’ from ‘outsiders’ and fuelling conflict and ethnic, racial, religious, and gendered violence.

Historical Roots, Modern Realities is dedicated to exploring nationalism throughout the Americas and the Caribbean, in all its many forms, through trans- and inter-hemispheric perspectives. National ideologies neither exist nor develop in isolation. They are instead moulded by international dynamics of empire, globalisation, trade, migration, environment, religion, and culture, among others. Exploring nationalism beyond geopolitical borders highlights how nationalism is both defined by and in opposition to such transnational dynamics, encouraging a more expansive understanding of nationalism’s many international effects. We welcome papers that investigate the formation and effects of nationalism in unexpected places, times, and contexts. Inspired by Benedict Anderson’s classical argument regarding nationalism’s American origins, we are also interested in how nationalism within the Americas diffused across the Atlantic, Pacific, and beyond, shaping how the nations of the Americas exist within the world and in relation to each other.

For queries and submissions please email nationalismacrosstheamericas@gmail.com