teacher notes for grade 11 history pupils under topic 4 of nationalism

1. South Africa, Middle East, Africa
grade 11
topic 4

2. Background and Focus
• “The origins of nationalism lie in Europe”
• “Nationalism needs to be studied as a
phenomenon that changed form in
WWII.”
• “The focus should be on understanding
where nationalism comes from.”
• (DBE, History CAPS p22)

3. What is a Nation?

4. What existed before nations?
Chiefdoms, dynasties, religious
communities

5. A Common Language / literacy
• 15th Century: invention of The Printing Press
- Newspapers , pamphlets, books , spread of
IDEAS not controlled by the church.
- Standardised language forms emerged.
• 16th Century: Reformation (Lutheranism)
- Use of vernacular language (not all Latin)
• 18th century: Mass Education
- Growth in literacy

6. Growth of the Middle Class
• 16th – 17th century new urban based merchant
class emerged in Europe. (Middle Class)
• Middle classes wanted power to control the
terms of their trade and business.
• Needed to unite with the masses (peasants,
serfs) to overthrow the existing political
structures i.e the Kings and Queens.
• The middle class encouraged a sense of
common grievance, a shared identity, the idea
that they all belonging to something.

7. Industrial Revolution
• Urbanisation destroyed the old bonds
(feudalism, village identity)
• New identities forged in towns and cities (the
‘citizen’ / sans culottes / working class)
• Railways made ‘national’ travel and
communication possible.
• Industrialisation created new national wealth
and was instrumental in European
colonisation (Late 19th C ‘Scramble for Africa’)

8. The creation of the ‘Nation’ state in
late 18th Century.
1776: The American Revolution 1789: French Revolution

9. Napoleon and Beyond
• 1795-1815 Napoleon built a great empire and
extended French rule across Europe.
• He also established a state bureaucracy.
BUT challenged by nationalist, patriotic armies.
1815: Napoleon defeated at Waterloo and
empire collapsed.
19th century: the map of Europe was re-drawn,
new nation-states emerged
- Unification of Germany (1870) and Italy (1861).

10. Elements of a Nation
• A shared History
• A shared culture and traditions
• A shared language
• A shared religion
• A shared geographical, sovereign nation-state
• NB: Clearly not all ‘Nations’ share these
characteristics so nations have to be created in
our imaginations.

11. ‘Imagined’ Communities
 “Imagined communities”
are a concept coined by
Benedict Anderson. He
believes that a nation is a
community socially
constructed, imagined by
the people who perceive
themselves as part of that
group.
 This is in opposition to the
idea that the elements of a
nation are long-standing and
natural.

12. Why does Anderson say that nations
are ‘imagined’ communities?
• “because the members of even the
smallest nation will never know most
of their fellow-members, meet them,
or even hear of them, yet in the
mind of each lives the image of their
communion”

13. Definition of Nation
“An imagined political community that is
both limited and sovereign”
• Imagined because members cannot all know
each other
• Community because a nation is conceived of
as a horizontal comradeship of equals
• Limited because no nation encompasses all of
mankind, nor even aspires to
• Sovereign because nations came into being
during Enlightenment and strive for freedom

14. An imaged community?

15. A common language
• “What the eye is to the lover… language is to
the patriot. Through that language,
encountered at mother’s knee and parted
with only at the grave, pasts are restored,
fellowships are imagined and futures are
dreamed’ (B. Anderson)
• Poems, songs, national anthems
• How do you create a sense of nation when
there are so many languages?

16. An Imagined Community?

18. Nationalism

19. Ideal nationalism
A sovereign political state
guaranteeing full rights to all
citizens.
A shared constitution.
Responsibility for our fellow
citizens.
Respect for cultural and linguistic
diversity.
Respect for the sacred memories
of others.

20. Contexts in which ‘National’
Identities are ‘Created’
Grade 11 Case Studies
Afrikaner Nationalism – South Africa
African Nationalism – South Africa
African Nationalism – Ghana
Jewish Nationalism – Middle East
Palestinian Nationalism – Middle East