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Anthony D. Smith | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1939-09-23)23 September 1939 London, England |
| Died | 19 July 2016(2016-07-19) (aged 76) London, England |
| Education | Oxford University(BA) London School of Economics(MSc, DPhil) |
| Occupation | Sociologist |
| Employer | London School of Economics |
| Title | Professor Emeritus |
Anthony David Stephen Smith (23 September 1939 – 19 July 2016[1]) was a Britishhistorical sociologist who, at the time of his death, wasProfessor Emeritus of Nationalism and Ethnicity at theLondon School of Economics.[2] He is considered one of the founders of theinterdisciplinary field ofnationalism studies.
Anthony D. Smith was born inLondon, into a Jewish family. His father was a British businessman, and his mother, Harriet, came fromWiesbaden. His family had roots in Poland for centuries, but during theHolocaust, 80 of their relatives lost their lives. These tragic events had a profound impact on Smith and shaped his interest in Jewish history and the existence of nations since ancient times.[3]
Smith started his education in boarding schools and later studied classics atOxford University. After completing his undergraduate studies, he attended theCollege of Europe in Bruges, Belgium. He then pursued a master's degree in sociology at theLondon School of Economics (LSE), where he focused on nationalism. After completing his master's degree, he began a PhD under the supervision of the sociologistErnest Gellner. His doctoral thesis, titledTheories of Nationalism, was later published as his first book. After earning his PhD, Smith began his academic career at theUniversity of York before moving to theUniversity of Reading. In 1980, he joined the Department of Sociology at LSE, where he became a professor in 1988. In 1996, he transitioned to the European Institute, and after its reorganization in 2002, he moved to the Government department. Smith retired in 2004. During his time at LSE, Smith published influential works on nationalism studies. He also developed academic programs for undergraduate, master's, and doctoral students, focusing on nationalism theories and comparative studies. Additionally, he co-founded theAssociation for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism (ASEN) with his PhD students, creating a platform for research in this field.[3]
Smith's best-known contributions to the field are the distinction between 'civic' and 'ethnic' types ofnations andnationalism, and the idea that all nations have dominant 'ethnic cores'. While Smith agrees with other authors thatnationalism is amodern phenomenon, he insists thatnations have premodern origins.
He is a former student of the philosopher andanthropologistErnest Gellner, but he did not share his view of nationalism in the long run. He created an approach of nationalism he calledethnosymbolism. The Warwick Debate of October 24, 1995, held atWarwick University, exemplified the positions of Smith and Gellner, and clarified the definitions they used.[4][5][6]
Smith argues that nationalism draws on the pre-existing history of the "group", an attempt to fashion this history into a sense of common identity and shared history. That is not to say that this history should be academically valid or cogent, but Smith asserts that many nationalisms are based on historically flawed interpretations of past events and tend to mythologise small, inaccurate parts of their history. Moreover, Smith reasons that nationalistic interpretations of the past are frequently fabricated to justify modern political and ethnic positions.[citation needed]
Nationalism, according to Smith, does not require that members of a "nation" should all be alike, but only that they should feel an intense bond ofsolidarity to the nation and other members of their nation. A sense of nationalism can inhabit and be produced from whateverdominant ideology exists in a given locale. Nationalism builds on pre-existingkinship, religious, and belief systems. Smith describes theethnic groups that form the background of modern nations as "ethnie".[7]
When speaking ofnation-states Smith notes, "We may term a state a ‘nation-state’ only if and when a single ethnic and cultural population inhabits the boundaries of a state, and the boundaries of that state are coextensive with the boundaries of that ethnic and cultural population".[8]
Smith defines nationalism as "an ideological movement for attaining and maintaining autonomy, unity and identity on behalf of a population deemed by some of its members to constitute an actual or potential 'nation'".[9]
A nation, meanwhile, is "a named population sharing a historic territory, common myths and historical memories, a mass public culture, a common economy and common legal rights and duties for its members". Ethnies are, in turn, defined as "named units of population with common ancestry myths and historical memories, elements of shared culture, some link with a historic territory and some measure of solidarity, at least among their elites".[10] The boundaries of an ethnie can be quite recognisable even when not all of its characteristics appear at the same time. It is, in other words, not a question of a smallest common denominator.[citation needed]
Smith states that even when nations are the product of modernity, it is possible to find ethnic elements that survive in modern nations.Ethnic groups are different from nations. Nations are the result of a triple revolution that begins with the development of capitalism and leads to a bureaucratic and cultural centralisation along with a loss of power by the Church. Smith, however, maintains that there are also many cases of ancient nations and so cannot be considered a modernist. He is often regarded as the 'founding father' of ethno-symbolism. Smith's ethno-symbolist approach has been critically examined by several modernist scholars.[11][12][13]
In 1987 Parliament proposed to subject the hitherto semi-autonomous British universities to much tighter state control. Concerned at the threat which this posed to individualacademic freedom and to the independence of research and publication, Smith founded theCouncil for Academic Autonomy,[14] and continued as its long-term Secretary. This scored an early success, arising from its petition to Parliament and its lobbying and representation in theHouse of Lords, in an amendment to theEducation Reform Act 1988 guaranteeing freedom of expression and publication to academic staff in the older universities.[15] The Council continued its interactions with Government[16] and its organisation of symposia on academic independence into the early years of the millennium.[17] See alsoFergus Millar andConrad Russell, 5th Earl Russell.
