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/483/ Reading Club: Why Invent Traditions?
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On the mass-production of loyalty.
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We are exceptionally making this episode of the Reading Club freely available. See the full syllabus here: 2024/25 Reading Club. If you'd like to join, subscribe at patreon.com/bungacast/membership.
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The second reading in this block on Inter/Nationalism in the 21st Century is The Invention of Tradition (eds. Eric Hobsbawm & Terrence Ranger, 1983), specifically Hobsbawm's chapter "Mass-Producing Traditions: Europe 1870-1914".
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How much did ordinary people buy into invented national traditions?
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Why did industrialisation allow for mass-producing traditions?
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Does the sense of belonging fostered then still exist today?
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If nation-states don't require active participation any more, what does this mean for the mass-production of loyalty?
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Are things like social media campaigns, national holidays for diversity, or even global events like the Olympics the new “mass-produced” traditions?