"For perennialists, too, the nation is immemorial. National forms may change and particular nations may dissolve, but the identity of a nation is unchanging. Yet the nation is not part of any natural order, so one can choose one's nation, and later generations can build something new on their ancient ethnic foundations. The task of nationalism is to rediscover and appropriate a submerged past in order the better to build on it."
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Academics from EnglandPeople from LondonUniversity of Oxford alumniSociologists from EnglandAnthropologists from England
Original Language: English
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As cited by Eric G.E. Zuelow "Anthony D. Smith, Nationalism and the Reconstruction of Nations" on nationalismproject.org. 1999-2007.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anthony_D._Smith
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Anthony D. Smith
Anthony David Stephen Smith (23 September 1939 – 19 July 2016) was a British historical sociologist who, at the time of his death, was Professor Emeritus of Nationalism and Ethnicity at the London School of Economics. He is considered one of the founders of the interdisciplinary field of nationalism studies.
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