Jessie Ede Blog #1

     Though a literal envisioning of a nation requires physical borders as seen on a map, it is my inclination to argue that the people make a nation more than an actual space does. The physical space matters, of course, but only as a means for humans to contextualize others and create some sort of coherent set of rules about how the world works. Anderson, quoting Gellner, points out, "Nationalism is not the awakening of nations to self-consciousness: it invents nations where they do not exist." (6; emphasis original). Though this prompt does not specifically focus on nationalism, the point stands that the idea of belonging to a nation is not inherent in our understanding but rather it is a human invention.
     The most pithy reasoning for the argument that people make a nation is stated by Anderson on page 3 when he notes that "'Old' nations are challenged by 'sub'-nationalisms" within their own physical borders. Nations are how we assign understanding to humans we have never met, whether we believe they are a part of our own nation or not. This, of course, is more difficult in practice. As seen in the film Passing Through, a person who moves from one nation to another may not feel as though they really belong to either. An extension of Nathan's struggle portrayed in his film is that perhaps even if someone feels they "belong" to a nation that is not theirs by birth, the original members of that nation may not agree. Language acquisition is one way this determinant of nation status is determined by people, as seen in the establishment of (or refusal to establish) an official language. The immigration debate in America specifically often brings up the English/Spanish "rivalry" due to the influx of immigrants from Central and South America. A language does not, in my view, make a nation but it does help people assign nations to themselves or others.
     To be perfectly honest, I do not know what makes a nation. I think the function of a nation is somewhat clearer, though. Nations serve, at a base level, as a way to contextualize other people (including ourselves) and establish some sort of community with our neighbors and strangers we interact with - we might not know them, but they are also Americans (or whatever nationality you identify as) and thus a person we may be able to understand on a fundamental level due to a shared cultural experience and identity. I think people need labels and frames of reference for things, which is why our construction of society has extended to the creation of the concept of a "nation" - whatever that may be. You know you belong to a nation if you share the language, the customs, and the cultural practices and experiences of the other inhabitants of those borders. Dual citizenship complicates this admittedly simplified explanation and I hope to hear from others with more complicated national relationships than the one I have.