"For the modernist, in contrast, the past is largely irrelevant. The nation is a modern phenomenon, the product of nationalist ideologies, which themselves are the expression of modern, industrial society. The nationalist is free to use ethnic heritages, but nation-building can proceed without the aid of an ethnic past. Hence, nations are phenomena of a particular stage of history, and embedded in purely modern conditions."
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Academics from EnglandPeople from LondonUniversity of Oxford alumniSociologists from EnglandAnthropologists from England
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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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