Grounds of Comparison: Around the Work of Benedict Anderson PDF
Preview Grounds of Comparison: Around the Work of Benedict Anderson
P1:IOI PB366-FM PB366-Cheah-v1.cls July8,2003 18:57 CharCount=0 Grounds of Comparison i P1:IOI PB366-FM PB366-Cheah-v1.cls July8,2003 18:57 CharCount=0 ii P1:IOI PB366-FM PB366-Cheah-v1.cls July8,2003 18:57 CharCount=0 Grounds of Comparison Around the Work of Benedict Anderson PhengCheahandJonathanCuller Editedby ROUTLEDGE NEWYORKANDLONDON iii P1:IOI PB366-FM PB366-Cheah-v1.cls July8,2003 18:57 CharCount=0 Publishedin2003by Routledge 29West35thStreet NewYork,NY10001 www.routledge-ny.com PublishedinGreatBritainby Routledge 11NewFetterLane LondonEC4P4EE www.routledge.co.uk RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup. Copyright(cid:2)C 2003byTaylor&FrancisBooks,Inc. PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmericaonacidfreepaper. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedorutilizedinany formorbyanyelectronic,mechanicalorothermeans,nowknownorhereafterinvented, includingphotocopyingandrecordingorinanyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem, withoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublishers. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Groundsofcomparison:aroundtheworkofBenedictAnderson/editedbyPhengCheah andJonathanCuller. p. cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN0-415-94335-3(HB:alk.paper)—ISBN0-415-94336-1(PB:alk.paper) 1.Anderson,BenedictR.O’G.(BenedictRichardO’Gorman),1936– 2.Nationalism. 3.Nationalisminliterature. 4.Politicsandliterature. I.Cheah,Pheng. II.Culler, JonathanD. JC311.G76 2003 329.54(cid:3)01—dc21 2003013604 iv P1:IOI PB366-FM PB366-Cheah-v1.cls July8,2003 18:57 CharCount=0 Contents Preface vii 1. GroundsofComparison 1 PhengCheah 2. OnImaginedCommunities 21 ErnestoLaclau 3. AndersonandtheNovel 29 JonathanCuller 4. Bogeyman:BenedictAnderson’s“Derivative”Discourse 53 AndrewParker 5. Imagi-Nation:TheImaginedCommunityandthe AestheticsofMourning 75 MarcRedfield 6. Be-LongingandBi-LingualStates 107 DorisSommer 7. Authority,Solidarity,andthePoliticalEconomyof Identity:TheCaseoftheUnitedStates 145 DavidA.Hollinger 8. Anderson’sUtopia 161 ParthaChatterjee v P1:IOI PB366-FM PB366-Cheah-v1.cls July8,2003 18:57 CharCount=0 vi . Contents 9. GhostlyComparisons:Anderson’sTelescope 171 H.D.Harootunian 10. DesireandSovereignThinking 191 LydiaH.Liu 11. Responses 225 BenedictAnderson Contributors 247 Index 249 P1:IOI PB366-FM PB366-Cheah-v1.cls July8,2003 18:57 CharCount=0 Preface Amongthemanybookswrittenintheunprecedentedgrowthofacademic theorizingonnationalismduringthepasttwodecades,BenedictAnderson’s ImaginedCommunities:ReflectionsontheOriginandSpreadofNationalism isprobablythemostwidelycited.Oddlyenough,however,Anderson’sideas are rarely discussed in thorough detail and most of his generalist readers remainunawareofhisoriginsinandcontributiontoSoutheastAsianstud- ies.ThisbookisdevotedtoacriticalexplorationofAnderson’ssubstantive theoretical contributions and their methodological implications for com- parativestudies(suchascomparativeliteratureandthecomparativestudy ofcultures).Therecentpublicationofhisnewbook,TheSpectreofCompar- isons:Nationalism,SoutheastAsiaandtheWorld(Verso,1998),offersatimely occasionforsuchanexplorationbecauseitforegroundstheSoutheastAsian rootsofhistheoreticalreflections.TheSpectreofComparisonsattemptsto bridgeareastudiesandtheorybyviewingcontemporaryeventsintheworld suchastheriseofidentitypoliticsandlong-distancenationalismfromthe cartographicalvantagepointofSoutheastAsia.Atthesametime,italsofo- cusestheattentionoftheoutsideworldonSoutheastAsiabyforegrounding the fact that the culture, economics, and politics of “Southeast Asia,” for instancethecurrentfinancialcrisis,arepartof,influencedby,andinturn haveanimpactonthelargerworld.Hence,Andersonalsobroachesthrough exampletheissuesoftheenduringimportanceofcomparisonforthepro- duction of knowledge and the appropriate methodological approach to a comparative study of cultures: what did Hitler’s Third Reich look like intheeyesofIndonesia’sSukarno?WhatdoesPerulooklikewhenviewed vii P1:IOI PB366-FM PB366-Cheah-v1.cls July8,2003 18:57 CharCount=0 viii . Preface alongside the Philippines, also a former Spanish colony? More generally, howcan“universal”theoreticalgeneralizationsaboutthenation-formand itsfuture,thenationalistnovelanditsfuture,thefateoftribalminorities, etc. be legitimately pieced together from such locally rooted comparative glanceswithoutleadingtorelativism? Anderson implies that one can bridge the gap between universal ideals andconceptsandparticularexamples—or,whichisnotquitethesamething, theoreticalspeculationandempiricalevidence—bymeansofacomparative perspectivalism.Thissuggestiondeservestobefurtherdebatedbecauseit addressesurgentquestionsthatthreatentocrippletheproductionofknowl- edgeatthebeginningofanewmillenium.Ontheonehand,disciplinesin thehumanitiesthathavetraditionallygenerateduniversalisticclaimsabout human existence such as philosophy and the comparative study of world literaturehavebeenputintocrisisbythecritiqueofEurocentrism.Onthe otherhand,however,theworldofthelatetwentiethcenturyisaglobalized world where transnationalism has purportedly rendered obsolete the tra- ditionallyboundedareasofareastudies.Buthowcanweavoidatoneand thesametimeunquestioninguniversalismandcomplacentparticularism? Cancomparisonleadtotheformulationofgenuineuniversals,thatistosay, universalsthatarealwaysinprincipleopentotheinfinitetestingofevery particularexample?Conversely,ifcomparisonhasalwayspresupposedge- ographicalareasthatareaprioridistinct,howmustcomparativestudiesbe reconfigured? This book explores these broader issues about reinventing compari- son by ranging across Anderson’s work. This is the first book devoted to Anderson’s work with contributions from leading scholars from various disciplines(philosophy,comparativeliterature,Spanishliterature,history, political theory) and various areas of specialization (Europe, USA, Latin America, India, Japan). It originated as a special issue of Diacritics, aug- mented here by an additional essay and, most important, a response by BenedictAnderson.Takingupeachessayinturn,herevealsbothremarkable scholarlyandpersonalgenerosity,asheacknowledgesandacceptscriticism and reflects on where it might lead, after which he always has something extremely shrewd and telling to add in response. One comes away with a greaterappreciationthaneverofhismodestyabouthisextraordinarycon- tributionsandhiseagernesstocontinuediscussionofthemostimportant issuesofpoliticalandintellectualhistory. We are grateful to Johns Hopkins University Press and to Diacritics (Department of Romance Studies, Cornell University), for permission to reprint the essays from the special issue of the journal and to William P. Germano of Routledge, for his enthusiasm for this project and his P1:IOI PB366-FM PB366-Cheah-v1.cls July8,2003 18:57 CharCount=0 Preface . ix determination to pursue it. But above all we are grateful to Benedict Andersonhimselfforthewritingsthathaveinspiredthecontributorsanda veryrealaswellasimaginedcommunityofreadersaroundtheworld. JonathanCullerandPhengCheah IthacaandBerkeley,2003
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