Paul Brass and Criticism on the Conception of Ethnic Nationalism

Paul Brass defines nationalism as a product of modernism and does not see it as inevitable and compulsory. In other words, it does not advocate that all the communities are nations or they’ll be achieve it in the future. As so, Brass tries to answer a question which roots from there: why and how did the nations come out? In order to answer this question, he focuses his observations into historical experiences of countries in different continents such as Europe, Africa and America, while he gives detailed information especially on Asia. Brass claims that the nationalization process is managed by elites. The elites transform their societies and groups of people around their own interests while at the same time transforming these groups into ethnic communities and then nations. However, it does not say that the societies that once turned into a nation will no longer turn into a community. In this study, the sub-headings of this distinction (being a nation and an ethnic group) will be evaluated and crticized