Nationalism, African Cinema, and Frames of Scrutiny

Abstract

The impasse within the theoretical formulation of "nation" and "nationalism" can be found in various definitions, anthologies, and individual volumes (see Hutchinson and Smith; Bhabha; Balkrishnan; Beiner). Ernest Renan, for instance, defines the nation as "a soul, a spiritual principle [. . .] a large-scale solidarity [. . . ] a daily plebiscite" (19). Walker Connor thinks the "terminological chaos" abides because "the essence of a nation is intangible" (89, 92). These polemical approaches have also informed understandings of nationalism as "first and foremost a state of mind, an act of consciousness (Kohn 11), "a theory of political legitimacy" (Gellner 1), "often condemned as a bad form of patriotism--like jingoism or chauvinism--or as a sentiment contrasted with it" (Gilbert 5), "a scavenger" (Keane 192), "the Modern Janus" (Nairn), "a contradictory discourse" (Radhakrishnan 82), "a relatively open site of political and ideological contestation [. . .] always an articulatory formation--one in which popular aspirations are both partially constructed and given voice by elite representations" (Lazarus 188).