Blog 6 Nationalism and Imperialism by Matt Antezana

In chapter 6 "Official Nationalism and Imperialism" Anderson writes about King Wachirawut of Siam (Thialand) quest to model himself on the "self-naturalizing dynasts of Europe," and held strong anti-Chinese sentiments towards the Chinese his father had "imported" into Thailand (Anderson, 100-101). Even though the United Kingdom controlled 90 percent of Thailand's trade at that point in time, it was the Chinese that garnered Wachirawut's ire. Anderson writes how following his coronation in 1910 Wachirawut, Chinese merchants and workers went on strike but were put down by the police. According to Anderson the Chinese represented "republicanism" which was seen as a threat to the dynastic principle (Anderson, 102). Wachirawut even used racist terms to refer to the Chinese that were traditionally used by the English even though he himself had Chinese blood in him. Anderson claims that this is an example of official nationalism - "an anticipatory strategy adopted by dominant groups which are threatened with marginalization or exclusion from an emerging nationally-imagined community" (Anderson, 101).

In this same section Anderson mentions that Wachirawut also employed all the policy levers of official nationalism which are "compulsory state-controlled primary education, state-organized propaganda, official rewriting of history, militarism, endless affirmations of the identity of dynasty and nation" (Anderson, 101). It can be argued that the US themselves were/still are guilty of an anticipatory strategy and of utilizing the policy levers. The current trend in US demographics is that minorities (especially hispanics) are composing a larger ever growing portion of the population and that soon the white majority will become the white minority. Up until college I myself was not aware of how many states omitted certain parts of American history pertaining to the US involvement in Latin America in the late 19th century as a part of the so called "Manifest Destiny" in order to avoid any negative connotations for the US. This allows states like Texas to manipulate the way history is portrayed in their textbooks and even control parts of the media. Of course military was a major aspect of the whole US involvement in Latin America and other territories like the Philippines. This is evident in the movie "Amigo" where the US soldiers are supposedly protecting the natives but in reality they want to control the territory for its value as a trade/market post, the US soldiers are clearly the minority exerting their influence.