Imagining Communities

Historical Reflections on the Process of Community Formation

By: Gemma Blok (Editor), Vincent Kuitenbrouwer (Editor), Claire Weeda (Editor)

Write A Review

eText | 1 October 2025 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Format
ePUB

eText

$100.09

or 4 interest-free payments of $25.02 with

Instant online reading in your Booktopia eTextbook Library *

Why choose an eTextbook?

Instant Access *

Purchase and read your book immediately

Read Aloud

Listen and follow along as Bookshelf reads to you

Study Tools

Built-in study tools like highlights and more

* eTextbooks are not downloadable to your eReader or an app and can be accessed via web browsers only. You must be connected to the internet and have no technical issues with your device or browser that could prevent the eTextbook from operating.

In his groundbreaking Imagined Communities, first published in 1983, Benedict Anderson argued that members of a community experience a deep, horizontal camaraderie. Despite being strangers, members feel connected in a web of imagined experiences., Yet while Anderson's insights have been hugely influential, they remain abstract: it is difficult to imagine imagined communities. How do they evolve and how is membership constructed cognitively, socially and culturally? How do individuals and communities contribute to group formation through the act of imagining? And what is the glue that holds communities together?, Imagining Communities examines actual processes of experiencing the imagined community, exploring its emotive force in a number of case studies. Communal bonding is analysed, offering concrete insights on where and by whom the nation (or social group) is imagined and the role of individuals therein. Offering eleven empirical case studies, ranging from the premodern to the modern age, this volume looks at and beyond the nation and includes regional as well as transnational communities as well.