Joey Power, Political Culture and Nationalism in Malawi: Building Kwacha. Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2010, X + 332pp. £55.00 (hbk)

Book Reviews

Dominic Malcolm, Globalizing Cricket: Englishness, Empire and Identity. London:Bloomsbury, 2013, viii + 198pp. £47.61 (hbk).

In this work of historical sociology based on a wide reading in the secondary literatureMalcom uses the figurational sociology of Norbert Elias to explore the interdependencebetween broad societal change and individual behaviour.

His first chapter parallels the eighteenth century codification of the rules of cricketwith the parliamentarisation of English politics. Both processes centre upon Londonare led by aristocratic elites and aim to restrict violence. Writers represent (‘invent’)both achievements as ‘English’: manly yet peaceable, competitive yet restrained,hierarchical yet socially inclusive, traditional yet adapting to urban growth andindustrialisation.

Chapter 2 examines the Victorian ‘nationalisation’ of the game. Rules are elabo-rated to reduce physical dangers associated with increases in speed and skill levels (e.g.in the mode of bowling) that in turn are linked to professionalisation. Yet creepingprofessionalism and increased urban middle and working class participation do notoverthrow images of cricket as rural, amateur and deferential.

Chapter 3 considers the imperial diffusion of cricket, though empire exhibits sogreat a variety of forms that generalisation is impossible. Chs. 4 and 6 examine thealleged ‘failure’ of cricket to take off in the USA and Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Infact cricket was a popular game in the USA until at least the Civil War and remainspopular in the Celtic nations.

That popularity makes straightforward the demolition of ‘explanations’ in terms ofnational character or climate. Malcolm also rejects a ‘sports space’ argument, e.g. thatthe USA had room only for baseball or cricket, as reading back from the eventualnumber of popular games. Malcolm’s own analysis for the USA takes three sociologi-cal landscapes – in New York, Philadelphia and Newark – and explains the successfulchallenge of baseball in New York in terms of status competition between an Anglo-American cricketing elite and non-Anglo-American elites. Where English origin elitesare less exclusive or English migrant non-elite groups are involved, diffusion is morelikely. In the Celtic cases Malcom focuses on why, for reasons related to differentconnections with England, cricket has not been portrayed as the ‘national’ game orre-labelled as ‘British’.

Chs. 5 and 7 explore ‘success’ in Caribbean colonies and Caribbean and SouthAsian diasporas in England. Diffusion proceeds from higher to lower groups. Thesesubordinate groups – whether identified in class and/or ethnic terms – are regarded asnon-English. Consequently their ‘un-English’ ways of playing cricket reinforces tra-ditional associations between Englishness and a particular ethos of cricket. Thistheme of ‘English’ and ‘other’ is pursued in the last chapters. Malcolm finally con-siders recent displays of exuberance, gamesmanship, cult of personality by bothEnglish players and spectators that undermine traditional images and norms, such asmaking a hero of Andrew Flintoff and a virtual mascot of the ‘Barmy Army’ – agroup of supporters who ironically present themselves as raucous, drunk and

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ENASJ OURNAL OF THE ASSOCIATION

FOR THE STUDY OF ETHNICITYAND NATIONALISM

NATIONS ANDNATIONALISM

Nations and Nationalism 20 (1), 2014, 172–190.DOI: 10.1111/nana.12055

© The author(s) 2013. Nations and Nationalism © ASEN/John Wiley & Sons Ltd 2013

abusive. Malcolm suggests this is a form of ‘benign Englishness’ as opposed to a‘malign’ Englishness that variously condemns ‘hooliganism’, bans musical instru-ments from grounds, casts doubt upon the commitment of non-white players selectedfor England or questions the loyalty of citizens who support a national team otherthan England.

I do wonder how dominant or static has been the traditional imagery, long beforetaking a malign defensive form. The account is necessarily selective, focusing uponmedia representations of high-profile professional cricket. The amateur game is morevaried and one would think each practice evolves distinctive habits and norms. Whymost do not explicitly challenge traditional discourse is a complex question. Some,linked to nationalist projects as in the West Indies and Australia, do mount such achallenge. I wonder also if this does not already modify if not undermine the traditionalassociations. Arguably this happened with the crystallisation of a coherent discourseduring the bodyline series of 1932–33 in which class, colonial identity and nationalmyths (e.g. relating to Gallipoli) figured. Did not elements of that discourse infiltrateEngland, such as the questioning of class deference and the cult of the amateur,exemplified by making Leonard Hutton (non-elite, professional, Yorkshireman)England captain shortly after the war?

The book raises many other questions. How do different economic structures andconjunctures affect the game and its dominant norms? Did heroic English figures beforeFlintoff, such as W.G. Grace, Dennis Compton and Ian Botham not call into questionelements of the traditional ethos? Isn’t codification of rules as much to do with theestablishment of national and international competitions in which strangers have toagree in advance on playing the ‘same’ game as it is do with restricting violence? Butthat one can raise such questions is testimony to the stimulating and significant argu-ments of this ambitious study and the sense that Malcolm’s particular form of socio-logical analysis can provide answers.

JOHN BREUILLYLondon School of Economics

Caspar Hirschi, The Origins of Nationalism. An Alternative History from Ancient Rometo Early Modern Germany. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012, xiv + 241pp.£– 16.99 (pbk), £– 60.00 (hbk).

In this disarmingly short book, Caspar Hirschi puts forward an ambitious project onthe origins of nationalism. The project aspires to be revisionist, and it is bound tobecome one of the points of reference in the Protean debate on the character ofnationalism. The author’s main target are modernist theories of nationalism, which hesubjects to an insightful critique, pointing to the limits of constructivism as anapproach of historical understanding and to the ‘myopia’ that very often leads mod-ernists to overstate their case as it happens for instance in some arguments concerningthe ‘invention of tradition’. The author’s historical criticism of modernism is convinc-ing, although he too occasionally overstates his case. This applies to his criticism ofErnest Gellner’s theory of nationalism, whose central thesis on the connection ofnationalism with industrialisation may rightly be considered historically misconceivedbut whose broader contribution to a critical understanding of nationalism should notbe underestimated.

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The author’s main thesis is relatively straightforward although presented in arather complex way. According to him nationalism is not a product of modernity butof the re-elaboration by Renaissance humanism of certain ancient themes of classicalRoman political thought. It would have been more precise if instead of nationalismthe term ‘nationalist thought’ was used in this connection and elsewhere in the book,since what the author is talking about are elite intellectual phenomena and not a massmovement. The mainspring of these ideas is found in Cicero’s construction of themodel of the ideal patriot. In Cicero’s political thought patriotism is the active expres-sion of the civic virtue of the citizen as devotion to the fatherland. The author iscareful not to call these civic sentiments that mark the political culture of the classicalRoman respublica nationalism but treats them as the distant conceptual and moralsource of future conceptualisations elaborated in early modern Europe. To take us tothe point which, in his judgment, signals the dawn of nationalist thinking, the authorguides us on a long journey through the history of Medieval and Renaissance Europe.Drawing on his extensive expertise in the subject, he delineates his argument by dis-cussing a number of subjects that proved to be of critical importance for the emer-gence of national discourse and national awareness in the late Medieval and earlymodern periods. Thus the reader is offered interesting and illuminating discussions of‘nationes’ in medieval universities, the politicisation of ‘nationes’ at the Council ofConstance in the years 1414 to 1418, and their antagonism over their respectivehonour, precedence and prestige. Other factors that contributed to the articulation ofthe concept of the nation as a political and cultural entity of primary significance forthe identity of emerging modern European societies included legal scholarship andreflection on language. In fact the author’s discussion of ‘tongue as political space’ isparticularly suggestive and illuminating.

The main argument of the book is that the origins of nationalism can be traced in allthese cultural developments observable in late medieval Europe. In turn early forms ofelite nationalism, it is further suggested with considerable force, are already to be foundin the Renaissance. To substantiate this thesis the author looks at Renaissance Italyand the antagonism between Italian and French intellectuals over the respective worthof their languages and literary traditions. The main focus, however, is on Germany andon the contribution of German humanism in the articulation of a strong sense ofnationhood and national honour of the German nation. The main thrust – and schol-arly contribution – of the book comes in the discussion of these subjects. Hirschiconsiders with deep knowledge and subtlety three important subjects that proveddecisive in the articulation of nationalist thought in early modern Germany: humanism,the adoption of nationality as a principle of election of the emperor of the Holy RomanEmpire of the German nation and the impact of the Reformation. The textual testi-monials from German humanists discussed by the author provide ample evidence insupport of his thesis. On this basis it seems reasonable to concur with his suggestionthat the evidence of humanist ‘nationalism’ makes German nationalism in the age ofRomanticism appear of limited originality (pp. 116–118).

The argument concerning the connection between humanism and nationalism as thecornerstone of the thesis of the book invites some questions. First the treatment of Italianhumanist thought should have been more broadly based in order to establish on a firmerfoundation the book’s central conceptual claim. It is indeed true that civic humanismbecame the main conduit of the transmission of Ciceronian ideas of republicanism andcivic virtue into the political thought of early modernity. But was this a form ofnationalism? Is it legitimate to call Coluccio Salutati and Leonardo Bruni nationalists?

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Could they be seen as Italian nationalists or just as Florentine patriots? And would itmake historical sense to put the nationalist label on them? Mutatis mutandis this doubtalso applies to the German humanists discussed by the author and poses the fundamentalmethodological question as to how far we can extend the usage of the terms nationalismand nationalist without risking anachronistic applications and judgments. Furthermoreone cannot but notice a paradoxical silence: why is Machiavelli absent from thisargument? His appeals for the unity of Italy and her liberation from the ‘barbarians’,which conclude two of his major works, call for interpretation in light of the argument onthe connection between humanism and nationalism. Consideration of these issues mighthave clarified the conceptual claims of the book.

Secondly the book’s central claims could be established on a firmer and less paro-chial foundation through a consideration of the intellectual experience of the Easternhalf of Europe, especially of the evidence pertaining to the evolution of politicalthought in late Byzantium. At about the same time as the Council of Constance, theByzantine neo-Platonist George Gemistos Pletho was elaborating novel ideas concern-ing the salvation of the crumbling Eastern Roman Empire, whereby he was visualisingits transformation into an ethnic Hellenic polity. Consequently he could be reasonablyconsidered an exponent of some version of early Greek ‘nationalism’ or‘protonationalism’, as it has been called, within an East European humanist tradition.Pletho was not alone in this but he belonged to an entire Greek-speaking traditiondating back to the thirteenth century, which could have provided important parallels tothe evidence from German humanism discussed in the book. Equally significant was thecontinuing appeal of Roman ideas in late Byzantine culture, which suggests that theEastern Roman empire possessed an equal claim to the legacy of Roman legitimacy andtherefore an equal claim on the attention of modern scholarship concerned with themultiple forms of the inheritance of Rome.

The above observations are put forward as pointers to the fertility of the approachemployed by Caspar Hirschi in making his revisionist claim on the origins of nationalistthought. Occasionally one cannot escape the impression that he tends to claim some-what too much for the novelty of his thesis. The case for the medieval origins ofnational definition has been made in an impressive scholarly study a number of yearsago by Colette Baune in examining the ‘genesis of the French nation’. The connectionbetween humanism and nationalism in turn has been repeatedly drawn in studies ofMachiavelli. Yet Hirschi’s work has important merits that should be taken very seri-ously into account by scholars of nationalism. First it shows in a most convincing wayhow much can be gained by a serious intellectual history approach to the study ofnationalism. It is precisely this seriousness in the analysis and interpretation of ideasthat is often lacking in the writings of sociologists or international relations specialists(to say nothing of anthropologists) when writing on nationalism. Secondly it remindsall of us in this field of research of the significance of German scholarship on thesubject, which those writing in English tend all too often to ignore. Hirschi’s work is areminder of a broader world of scholarship that can be ignored only at the peril ofknowledge and understanding. Finally its revisionism vis-à-vis modernist constructiv-ism, although debatable in many respects, is an important invitation to self-reflectionand self-criticism that might involve serious reappraisals, for which we should begrateful.

PASCHALIS M. KITROMILIDESUniversity of Athens

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Constantin Iordachi and Dorin Dobrincu (eds.), Transforming Peasants, Property andPower. The Collectivization of Agriculture in Romania, 1949–1962. Budapest: CentralEuropean University Press, 2009, 530pp. £45.00 (hbk).

This volume edited by Constantin Iordachi and Dorin Dobrincu focuses on the collec-tivisation policies in Romania goes beyond a purely descriptive overview of the Social-ist Romanian Collectivization process. The interdisciplinary research presented in thispublication (English version of a Romanian research, published by Polirom editions in2005) traces a basic aspect of Communist regime instauration in Romania and illus-trates the consequences on the property relations in the transition period, after the fallof Causescu’s dictatorship. Mechanisms imposed on the peasantry and against thepeasant resistance to collectivisation are examined by several well-coordinated contri-butions, as a result of more than a decade of research. The volume turns out to be theproduct of a complex teamwork: initiated by Gail Kligman and Katherine Verdery, thepublished material has been collected thanks to the work researchers of several disci-plines (history, sociology, anthropology etc.), from Romania and from the Anglo-Saxon environment. Through primary sources, either archival files or oral testimonies,the volume shows the role of the Socialist collectivisation in the daily life of theRomanian populations.

Evaluating the perspective of social and cultural consequences and duration (morethan a decade), forced collectivisation, in countries with a dominant agriculturaleconomy, was more important in the formation of East-European Socialist societiesthan the forced transformation in industry.

The book is articulated in three parts, plus annexes and maps. The first partprovides general aspects of the agriculture’s collectivisation in Romania and its con-sequences for land property in the Romanian legal system. Robert Levy approachesthe central and local policy in the first period (1949–53), when Eastern Europe fellunder Stalin’s influence for forced Sovietisation. Marius Oprea deepens the periodfrom 1953 to 1962, identifying different stages: a first period of ‘stagnation’ (1953–55); a second period of ‘relaxation’ in the campaign mobilisation and also of inten-sification in the political repression (following the Hungarian revolution: 1956–57); alast one beginning with the successful experiment implemented in Galati (1958–62).The juridical and propaganda’s elements are described by Linda Miller, who exam-ined the legal status exchanges regarding the lands (from the individual to the col-lective and ‘Socialist’ property).

The second part is dedicated to case studies concerning the relations between Bucha-rest and the country’s periphery in the collectivisation process. Constantin Iordachishows the case study of Constanta, ‘the First Collectivized Region’ due to its positioncloser to the Soviet border. Case studies with interesting references to the local popu-lation composed by different ethnicities are from the following regions: Banat,Maramures, Transylvania. Smaranda Vultur exposes the total collectivisation processin a village called Tomnatic, Triebswetter in German, near Arad (with GermanSwabian and Hungarian minorities). Gail Kligman examines the Ieud case (Baia Mareneighbouring), with only partial collectivisation results. Virgil Tarau analyses the suc-cessful collectivisation policies in the Cluj region, particularly in the following casestudies: the village of Magina (district of Aiud, Romanian and Orthodox majority,originally small property owners) and Rimetea (district of Turda, Hungarian andUnitarian majority, with a local economy not only agricultural profiled). This interest-ing comparative approach successfully shows the local results of the collectivisation

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policies, in spite of different ethnic composition of the various villages. The case ofSándor Oláh is about the Hungarian-dominated district of Odorhei (Székelyudvarhelyin Hungarian) and the agricultural policies strongly enabled by the Hungarian localélites. Michael Stewart and Razvan Stan describe the unsuccessful policies, failedbecause of the strong resistance to the collectivisation processes in the shepherdingvillage of Poiana, close to Sibiu. The last contribution of this part is written by DorinDobrincu, about the late (and eventually complete) collectivisation in the Darabanivillage (Suceava region), inhabited by Romanians and Jews communities.

Part three approaches the transformations of social relations during the collectivi-sation period, in different regions of Romania. Several authors analyse the peasantrytransformation and the life in the collective farm: Katherine Verdery in the Hunedoararegion; Daniel Latea in the Craiova region; Julianna Bodo in the Hungarian Autono-mous Region; Calin Goina in the Arad region; Liviu Chelcea in the Bucharest region;Catalin Augustin Stoica in the Galati region. Complex and detailed conclusions areprovided by Constantin Iordachi and Katherine Verdery on the collectivisation policiesin Eastern Europe (imposed by the Soviet model) and their consequences in Romania,articulated by a comparative and interdisciplinary methodology.

Theoretically, the collectivisation processes interested the ownership and its concep-tual perspective and effect (as State institution, cultural system and social relationssetting). Practically, the research has also to cover, as main themes, the transformationsof property and persons, the making-process of the party-State, comparing and inte-grating archival documents and oral witnesses. Generally, the main historiography onthis subject results dominated by a hierarchical view: industrialisation (and urbanisa-tion) as a first tool of the sovietisation processes, agricultural collectivisation as asecondary step. In this book focused on an agricultural country (as Romania, with 3⁄4

of population employed in this field), this hierarchy is inverted: agricultural develop-ments under collectivisation are the most important processes in the Eastern Europeancountries under the Soviet hegemony.

The book is a scientific study, oriented to a wider non-scholarly readership in thesubject. Well assembled, wisely coordinated, this kind of research may establish amilestone in the study of agricultural collectivisation processes.

ANDREA CARTENYSapienza University of Rome

Zafer Toprak, Darwin’den Dersim‘e Cumhuriyet ve Antropoloji. (English Republic andAnthropology from Darwin to Dersim) Istanbul: Dogan Kitap, 2012, 615pp. TL32.00(pbk).

In his comprehensive study, distinguished Turkish historian Toprak sheds light on ‘theintellectual Atatürk’ and on the ‘Scientific’ and ‘Cultural Revolution’ he conducted inthe 1930s (11). Republic and Anthropology from Darwin to Dersim is one of the manybooks that aims at demystifying, demythologising and putting Atatürk in its righthistorical place who, as the leader of the Turkish War of Independence (1919–22) andthe founding father of the Turkish Republic, has always been not only an object ofscientific and public interest but also subject to ahistorical idealisations and publicworship. Toprak emphasises political and scientific debates and developments in

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Europe that were a source of inspiration for Atatürk. Since this book is a collection ofarticles written at various times and published in journals, it is not surprising that itlacks of a clear structure as it is common for monographs and entails redundancies aswell as iterations that are sometimes confusing and time-consuming. Nonetheless, itswide range of topics including anthropology, Darwinism, Turkish History and SunLanguage Thesis, linguistics, esotery, archaeology and social engineering that attractedAtatürk’s interest makes this book worth of a careful reading.

Why Atatürk was interested in such topics and encouraged social scientists toconduct craniometrical surveys in Turkey in which the skulls of 64.000 people weremeasured? Atatürk aimed at creating a culturally and linguistically homogeneoussociety with a Turkish identity, at Westernisation and secularisation. Especially afterthe Sheikh Said rebellion (1925), cultural differences were perceived as a risk for theunity of the republic. This explains also why sociology, once being the mainstreamsocial science after the Second Constitutional Era (1908–11), lost ground in the late1920s. In contrast to sociology and cultural anthropology, which would emphasisecultural and ethnic differences and therefore contradict the process of nation building,physic anthropology was more compatible with Turkish nationalism. Craniometricalsurveys carried out in the 1930s produced the ‘insight’ that seventy-five per cent of theAnatolian habitants were brachycephalic and only five per cent of them were Mongol-oid (119). This result implied a common descent of all Anatolian habitants and backedthe Turkish History Thesis that emphasised the ancient migration from Central Asia toAnatolia and suggested that these migrants were the descendants of Anatolian Turks.This view is highly speculative but it nevertheless implies that Turks, Kurds or evenArmenians have the same origin and that Turks, compared to Armenians and Greeks,have a longer presence in Anatolia. Turkish physical anthropology based on the‘brachycephalic’ thesis and therefore contradicted the ‘Nazi’ anthropology which wasmagnifying the dolichocephalic Aryan race, and it aimed at legitimising the Turkishpresent in Anatolia which was questioned by some chauvinistic circles in Europe (13).However, it was also aiming at assimilating the Kurdish population into a core Turkishculture and identity. Therefore, it seems surprising when Toprak only emphasises the‘defensive’ and ‘inclusive’ characters and loses sight of exclusionary outcomes of the‘anthropological race problem’ (15).

However, Toprak’s focus may be legitimate since efforts of constructing historicaland linguistic theories about the origin of Turks, although highly problematic froma Universalist perspective, had also progressive results. The Turkish History Thesisgave way for a new historical approach that was evolutionist, secular and relying onanthropological and archaeological findings and liberated the pre- and proto-historyfrom the sacred (204). At the heart of the Turkish Language Revolution (1932),aiming at simplification and purification of Turkish language from Arabic andPersian words and at raising the literacy among Turks, was the Sun LanguageTheory, a nationalist pseudoscientific linguistic hypothesis developed in the 1930s. Itproposed that all human languages are descendants of one proto-Turkic primordiallanguage and, due to close phonemic resemblances to Turkish, all other languagescan essentially be traced back to Turkic roots. Atatürk supported this ‘theory’ (470).Toprak concludes his book with a chapter about social engineering in Dersim, aregion in Eastern Turkey populated by Alevi and Zaza people. According to Toprak,the main aim of the applied repressive measures in Dersim was shifting the loyalty ofthe people from their tribe leader to the state and to establish order. AlthoughToprak does not present a fully novel interpretation and may seem in his judgement

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affirmative, his focus is devoid of revolutionary romanticism and idealisation ofDersim that are still common in Turkey.

Toprak’s book constitutes a valuable addition to the literature on Atatürk andTurkish modernity. He offers not only novel interpretations, but also rehabilitatessome classical standpoints that have been subject to criticism. More problematic is thathe does not engage systematically with the relevant literature and divergent interpre-tations. The study will not remain the last word in a long enduring debate about themodern Turkish history, but its insights, discussed materials, interpretations and per-spectives deserve careful attention.

YASAR AYDINUniversität Hamburg

Sikita Banerjee, Muscular Nationalism: Gender, Violence and Empire in India andIreland, 1914–2004. New York: New York University Press, 2012, 209pp. £34.00 (hbk).

As colonial entities, Ireland and India shared surprising similarities. Inhabitants ofboth countries were subject to broadly analogous imperialistic moralising tendencies;to forms of scrutiny that sought to physiologically differentiate colonisers from thecolonised; and, of central importance to this study, comparable forms of politicalresistance underpinned by powerful gendered considerations. The nineteenth- andtwentieth-century Imperial eye cast Bengalis as weak and Celts as ape-like. In response,Irish and Indian nationalists strove to demonstrate their physical strength and prowess.In her comparative study, Banerjee defines this bodily orientated resistance as ‘muscu-lar nationalism’, a gendered-infused concept that allowed those opposed to imperialrule to display their masculine strength, their capacity to fight and their ability tomanage their own country.

The British gaze was hardly complementary, as Banerjee outlines in her fascinatingopening chapter where the reader learns of Indian men being routinely portrayed aseffeminate and Irish men derogatively likened to brutish, irrational apes. In many ways,these colonial discourses affirmed colonial logic as they added justification to anImperial presence in regions where it was not necessarily wanted. Ireland, however,fitted uneasily onto the imperial landscape, so Banerjee argues. The Irish, after all, werenot too physically or racially dissimilar from their colonising counterparts. Further-more, Ireland contributed significantly to the British military system; Irish soldiersbeing just as racially prejudiced, if not more so, to the Indians whom they encounteredwhile partaking in military service.

Nonetheless, both India and Ireland witnessed reactions against British tendenciesto denigrate the physique of the colonised expressed through assertive displays ofphysicality and masculinity. In late nineteenth-century Ireland, Patrick Pearse, throughhis exaltation of Gaelic sports, supported visions of a muscular warrior educated inIrish history and culture and prepared to sacrifice his life for an Irish republic. Broadlycontemporaneously, Nagrenda Prasad Sarbaadhikari, the father of Bengali football,saw physical training as a means of producing warrior monks. Having demonstratedtheir masculine strength, opponents to colonial rule had further validated their opinionthat British presence was unnecessary.

The key areas of interest in Muscular Nationalism are the complex role of women inthe formation of these political forms, and the intersection of their displays of resistance

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with muscular nationalism. If men were meant to fighting and protecting the nation,then how were their female counterparts expected to be behaving? In Banerjee’s view,women served as a safeguard to national communities. They were to be chaste, virtuousand domestically focused. In the early twentieth century, politicised forms of femininitydeeply disrupted these preferred images. Banerjee demonstrates this in her insightfulcomparison of members of Irish republican women’s paramilitary movement Cumannna mBan to their female Indian militant equivalents. Early twentieth-century Irishfigures including Countess Markievicz and Margaret Skinnnider are likened to theirIndian contemporaries Saraladebi Chaudharani and Preetilata Wededar, individuals,Banerjee suggests, who traversed and destabilised the boundaries between chastewoman and martial man by encouraging political unrest.

The second half of Muscular Nationalism moves chronologically forward to late-twentieth century contexts. In Banerjee’s view, the basic principles of muscular nation-alism endured and resurfaced in postcolonial Northern Irish and Indian contexts. Forinstance, the female staging of dirty protests in Northern Irish prisons in the late 1970sand early 1980s were commonly viewed as a disruption of female behavioural norms.These women, Banerjee argues, found themselves exposed to social suspicion whilecampaigning for autonomy from British governance. The smearing of urine, excrementand menstrual blood across prison walls was constructed as a perversion of the chaste,pure mother figure. In India, Naxalite women were subject to similar levels of suspicionon the basis of dominant ideas about appropriate gendered behaviour. Banerjee con-cludes by exploring concepts of femininity in the Roop Kanwar Immolation and the2004 Irish Citizenship Referendum.

Muscular Nationalism is an ambitious, insightful work that offers comparativeinsight into the construction of gendered roles in Irish and Indian campaigns againstEmpire since the mid-nineteenth century. Banerjee’s arguments are confidently pre-sented. Undeterred by exploring a remarkably extensive timeframe and assessing twodiscrete geographical regions, Banerjee has produced a powerful monograph thatcomplicates how we understand past incidences of militancy, as well as the nuancedinteractions between colonial and postcolonial India and Ireland. One wonders, attimes, if her arguments would have been bolstered by analysing less familiar historicalactors. Certainly, Irish readers would tend to be more than familiar with the ideas ofindividuals such as Patrick Pearse and Countess Markievicz. Nonetheless, as a theo-retical framework, the concept of ‘muscular nationalism’ is original, as is the manner bywhich Bannerjee concentrates on the interactions between contrasting gendered roles,as opposed to exploring masculinity or femininity alone.

IAN MILLERUniversity College Dublin

Joey Power, Political Culture and Nationalism in Malawi: Building Kwacha. Rochester:University of Rochester Press, 2010, X + 332pp. £55.00 (hbk).

At a time of heightened tension and instability in Malawi’s politics, this book appearsto provide a retrospective account of the deep logic of Malawi’s political culture as itemerged in the colonial and immediate postcolonial periods. Drawing on rich archivalsources and oral testimonies, Power provides a well-researched and detailed account of

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Malawi’s politics, and how institutions and actors functioned within this politicalculture. At the heart of Power’s analysis is the notion of ‘political culture’ that captures‘the way power relationships are negotiated in a particular setting’ (p. 6). The book isorganised into ten chapters that broadly fall into three categories. The first part andopening section of the book deals with the inception of colonial rule in 1915, and howthe Chilembwe Uprising served as a watershed in the manner in which it connects thelate precolonial period to proper colonial rule, ‘indirect rule’ or ‘decentralized despot-ism’ as Mamdani would have it (Mamdani, Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africaand the Legacy of Late Colonialism, 1996: 37–179). Covering a range of issues from thenature of colonial politics, indirect rule system, colonial trusteeship, advent of politicalorganisations, to the direct and open confrontations between the politics of ethnicityagainst one of race, the second part delves into the period from the Chilembwe Uprising(1915) to the imposition of federation (1953). The third basically captures post-1953events and up to the attainment of political independence in July 1964. Here, Powercaptures a whole range of issues that she refers to as ‘Banda-Boosting’ (p. 7), therefore,setting the stage for the perpetuation of a political culture that was to last for the betterpart of three decades.

Power’s approach latches onto new opportunities that emerged for research andresearchers in the wake of Banda’s exit to provide a scathing exposure of a politicalculture that penetrated all levels of society in the late colonial, early postcolonialperiods and even till contemporary times in Malawi, and with the attendant manipu-lation of history, pageantry and violence, symbol and savagery, persecution and rewardthat accompanied it. Power is, however, resolutely sceptical of prior historical narra-tives, and implicit in her work is a deep sense of historical reconstruction, and anunusual attempt to address the void in the country’s history, fill the missing pages of thenation’s history and bring to bear a sense of balance in what has hitherto been a‘half-backed’ story. To a large extent, the author accomplished the goals of this study.In a pioneering analysis, Power deploys a rich blend of ethnographic and archivalmaterials, primary and rare sources, oral interviews and rumours, as well as conjecturalreferences to give the study an original and rich insight into the core of Malawianpolitics.

Nevertheless, given the richness of the data collected for this study and the fact thatthe car accident is the singular most important event on which the metaphor of politicalviolence hangs on, one would have expected Power to put to rest rumours concerningthe death of Dunduzu Chisiza, the most intellectually astute Malawian politician killedin a car crash on the Blantyre-Zomba road in September 1962 (chapter nine). Worststill, are references to, and idioms of witchcraft that permeates Power’s analysis ofMalawi’s political culture. This, in a sense, amounts to a ‘local/culturalist’ reading ofAfrican politics and society in a manner that gives primacy to ritual murders andwitchcraft, and renders African societies as theatres of the absurd or one characterisedby ‘abracadabra’.

By way of suggestion, Power’s analysis of Malawian political culture may have hadmore explanatory and descriptive salience if it was properly grounded in the broadercontext of the British colonial enterprise. In so doing, attention would have been drawnto fact that the impact of colonialism was not just limited to the imposition of colonialstructures of indirect rule, but that colonialism also provided the terrain for hegemoniccontestations between the ‘colonizing elite’ and the ‘colonized elite’; secondly, it wouldhave also become clear that the historical association of the colonial and postcolonialstate with the Malawian people led to a string of ‘divide and rule’ policies that proved

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to be devastating to the cause of national unity in the years to come; and finally, itwould have demonstrated that the experiences of colonialism in Africa contributed tothe emergence of a unique historical configuration in modern postcolonial Africa, orwhat Ekeh refers to as the ‘unique nature of African politics’ (Ekeh, Colonialism andthe Two Publics in Africa: A Theoretical Statement, 1975: 93). This, however, does nottake away anything from Power’s work, which is well researched and of exceptionalquality. Judging from its pricing and packaging, the book is well suited for universitylibraries, but as an attempt to ‘complete’ what is generally regarded as an ‘incomplete’Malawian history, this book should be recommended and made available to everyMalawian.

GODWIN ONUOHAHuman Sciences Research Council

Joseba Agirreazkuenaga, The Making of the Basque Question: Experiencing Self-Government, 1793–1877. Reno: Center for Basque Studies, University of Nevada, 2011,312pp. $19.00 (pbk).

Is it possible to merge two quite distinct approaches like ethnosymbolism and institu-tionalism? The former draws on the persistence of ancestral myths of ethnic originsconveyed through the recurrent use of symbols, narratives and discourses, while thelatter socio-political approach focuses on the power of institutions in moulding popularperceptions, including political identities. The two seem to be hardly compatible. Yet,Joseba Agirreazkuenaga’s book on the origins of the ‘Basque question’ compellinglysucceeds in establishing a relationship between the two. He underlines the long-termeffect of political and juridical institutions on the perception of a sense of Basquenationhood, not only among the elites, but also among most of the workers, thepeasants and ordinary people. He shows how the General Assemblies, or local parlia-mentary institutions, of Araba, Bizkaia and Guipuzkoa (as well as the fueros of theKingdom of Navarre) shaped a political discourse centred on myths of primordialindependence firmly grounded on a robust and intellectually articulated legalistic tra-dition. The origins of Basque nationalism are normally ascribed to the activity andorganisation of Sabino de Arana y Goiri (1865–1903). Although this is true, Aranahimself was inspired both by the prevailing European Zeitgeist and by a previoustradition of cultural writings on the ‘Basque question’.

Methodologically, the author starts from the rare advantage of knowing Euskara,the Basque language, which allows him direct access to archival fonts in that languagespanning a few centuries. This first-rate mastery allows him to delve deeply intountapped archival and literary resources and extrapolate illuminating liaisons andconnections of the persistence of Basque identity before the age of nationalism.

Chapter 1 prepares the ground with an excursus into the configuration ofprenationalist discourses on the ‘Basque cultural community’, while Chapter 2focuses on Spain’s and France’s models of state formation and consolidation, invok-ing a comparative theoretical approach to the process of national state-constructionin Europe (40). Basing his argument on a series of books published around 1818 (likeJuan Antonio Zamacola, Pedro Jose Astarloa and, later, Augustin Chaho), Chapter3 discusses how the idea of a Basque nation began to emerge before its rediscovery

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and reinterpretation by the nationalists. The following chapters discuss the function-ing and evolution of Representative Assemblies, notably the Basque political confer-ences (1775–1936), which the author argues were central in articulating and shapinga sense of Basque nationhood. Returning to the decisive influence of centralistinstitution-making, Chapter 7 tackles the long-term effects of Spain’s and France’sliberal constitutions, with their legacy of cultural homogenisation and eradication ofcultural and linguistic differences. Chapter 8 focuses on an important discontinuitypoint, the First Carlist War (1833–1839), which created opposite common memoriesof resistance and oppression, while Chapter 9 discusses the continuities, in spiteof an apparent discontinuity, of local institutions, through 1839 and at theend of the First Carlist War, threatening the continuity of the fueros and the legalityfor self-government. This is a particularly important point as it sets the basis for along-lasting nationalist discourse that still perseveres to the present day aroundnotions like a ‘Basque political constitution’ or a ‘Basque nationality’, a term thatwas widely used at least since 1843. Chs. 10 and 11 develop the argument of Basqueconstitutionalism exploring further its linkage with the concept of Basque ‘national-ity’. Chapter 12 explores the festivals and sport events that helped to articulateBasque nationhood at a political level, always considering the importance of lan-guage in defining the Basque nation before the emergence of nationalism around1892. What makes this chapter and much of the book original is the authors’ rareknowledge of relatively unexploited primary sources, like the bertsolariak, oral poets,verse improvisers and singers-narrators in the Basque language who conveyed storiesdeeply tied to the perception of local identities as well as to broader politicaldevelopments.

Chapter 13 brings these findings together by analysing the speeches in the Spanishparliament over the need to ‘homogenize’ Spain, emulating thus the Franco-Germanmodel then prevalent in Europe. These discussions culminated in the 1876 law abol-ishing the fueros: The abolition led to a blowback effect in the Basque provinces withseveral organisations emerging around a common discourses of self-defence againststate aggression and centralisation. These narratives, speeches and written literatureformed the nucleus of what then emerged as Basque nationalism through the BasqueNationalist Party, founded by Arana in 1893–95.

The book concludes with a robust epilogue in which concepts like ‘resilience’ and‘historical legality’ are associated with broader historical developments through alongue durée perspective that takes into account the homogenising efforts of the stateas well as the new challenges posed by globalisation. This makes the book a key readingfor all students of Basque nationalism, particularly those interested in the prenationalperiod before Arana. It is also an important work for the study of nationalism in itsearly stages and stateless nations in general, and in this respect the book has no rivalsin the English language.

A possible limit with this approach is that it may overlook the pervasive effects ofSpain’s process of nationalisation, at least in the cultural field. The once fashionablethesis of Spain’s ‘weak nationalization’ has been dismissed by recent historiography, asa new generation of scholars has challenged these assumptions demonstrating that, notonly Spain’s nation-building has been far-reaching and pervasive, but that it ‘suc-ceeded’ in destroying many aspects of peripheral culture. However, the book providesa set of valid arguments for both sides of the story as it points to the destructive impactof state centralisation, as well as to the ultimate incapacity of the Spanish state toachieve its homogenising vision.

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Agirreazkuenaga bridges masterfully ethnosymbolism and institutionalism, shed-ding light not just on Basque nationalism, but on nationalism in general. In fact,although the book largely focuses on the persistence of ancient Basque institutions, italso considers the legacy of ethnic myths through discourses of group identity articu-lated around the continuing importance of political institutions. The Basque specialistwill find Agirreazkuenaga’s deep knowledge of the prenationalist discourse and culturehighly useful, while nationalism scholars can learn a wealth of information relating tothe importance of institutions in shaping myths of ethnic descent.

DANIELE CONVERSIIkerbasque Foundation and UPV/EHU

Zheng Wang, Never Forget National Humiliation: Historical Memory in Chinese Poli-tics and Foreign Relations. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012, 293pp. £21.38(hbk).

Why did the Chinese government escalate some international crises, such as the 1999US bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, and not others, like the 1998 attackson ethnic Chinese in Indonesia? Why did Chinese youth go from standing in front oftanks in 1989 to becoming the country’s staunchest patriots defending the 2008Olympic flame in capital cities around the world? Zheng Wang’s book, Never ForgetNational Humiliation, looks at a particular dimension of China’s socio-political culture-historical memory, to solve a number of puzzles about the country’s international anddomestic politics that the mainstream, realist tradition of International Relationstheory has a hard time explaining. Combining insights from the liberal and construc-tivist traditions, Wang examines Chinese foreign and domestic policies since JiangZemin’s ‘patriotic turn’ in the 1990s. Employing historical memory as the mainexplanatory variable, Wang’s analysis identifies the causal relationship betweenChina’s official historical narrative, the country’s collective identity construction andits foreign policy.

The stated aim of the book is to delineate with precision the extent to whichideational factors bring about conflict behaviours. Wang’s original theoretical frame-work directly links identity to political outcomes, locating three causal pathways inwhich ideational factors influence policy behaviour: as road maps, as focal points andas institutions. Although this framework heavily draws on insights that most construc-tivist and Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) approaches have already incorporated,namely how cognitive constraints and biases can affect foreign policy-makers, Wangdistinguishes himself by giving pride of place to memory. Examining the impact ofhistorical memory and identity on cognition allows him to make sense of some other-wise puzzling instances of Chinese foreign behaviour like the ones mentioned above.

Wang’s analysis of how China chooses to remember its past has great relevance forthe present. It sheds light on topical questions about the political implications ofnational historiography, and the role that history education plays in a country’s domes-tic and foreign relations. Wang offers a map of the meanderings of Chinese historicalmemory, illustrating the Chinese Communist Party’s ideological evolution from com-munism to nationalism over the course of the last three decades. This transformation isset against a broader background of the change in China’s self-image during its mille-nary history.

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The book details China’s Patriotic Education Campaign since the early 1990s andthrough to its latest developments in the twenty-first century, focusing on the contentand objectives of the history curriculum. Wang sees historical memory both as a triggerof the country’s nationalistic education and as its product, placing it at the heart ofChina’s search for identity as a nation-state. His approach to the study of nationalismhas both advantages and disadvantages. On the positive side, Wang accounts forseveral of the dimensions of Chinese nationalism and avoids the classic top-downbottom-up dichotomy, by describing it not only instrumentally as a state-led ideologyor political technique but also as a sentiment pervading civil society and originatingfrom shared memories. Regrettably, the discussion occasionally suffers from a rathermuddled understanding of the main terms used in nationalism studies. This severelyundermines Wang’s attempt to redefine Chinese nationalism in the last chapter. None-theless, overall the discussion remains pertinent, empirically accurate and illuminating.

The book benefits from research in primary sources ranging from educational textsand official documents to cultural and popular material, introducing new material tothe English-speaking academic debate. Cases are cogently argued and empiricallysubstantiated. An instance of this is the discussion of the change in the description ofwell-known historical figures reflecting an official change in historical perspectives:General Zuo Zongtang of the Qing dynasty went from being a peasant-suppressingdevil in the old textbooks to being a foreign-defeating hero in the new ones.

Never Forget National Humiliation appeals to a broad readership, ranging fromscholars and students of international relations, nationalism and history, to policy-makers and anyone interested in the internal workings of China’s worldview. Acces-sible to non-specialists thanks to its clarity, Wang’s book does at the same time providea rigorous contribution to the theoretical debate about the role of national identity inshaping political outcomes.

Finally, the book takes on an advocacy position in the controversial debate oftextbook writing in East Asia. Describing China’s ‘deep culture’ of national humilia-tion as articulated in a narrative of chosen myths and traumas, Wang’s book exploresthe genesis of a self-victimising historical narrative. Far from endorsing it, the bookpromotes changes in the intellectual discourse on history so that the power of collectivememory can foster reconciliation and understanding between China and other coun-tries, especially Japan and the US, rather than conflict. This element of idealism rests onWang’s solid background in conflict resolution, which lends credence to the book’sproposed ways to deflate the nationalistic animosities currently destabilising China, itsregion and the world.

ANNA COSTAUniversity of Hong Kong

Santiago De Pablo, José Luis De La Granja, Ludger Mees and Jesús Casquete (eds.)Diccionario Ilustrado de Símbolos del Nacionalismo Vasco (Illustrated Dictionary ofNationalist Basque Symbols) Madrid: Editorial Tecnos, 2012, 899pp. (with illustra-tions). €60.00 (pbk).

This doorstopper of a book, consisting of 900 pages including numerous reproductionsof photos, logos and posters, is a true academic milestone. The dictionary takes its lead

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from previous attempts by Pierre Nora in France and Hagen Schulze and ReinhartKoselleck in Germany. The editors also draw on other relevant social science discus-sions, such as the one on the meanings of political symbols and how they relate to thevarious manifestations of nationalism. The editors refer, amongst others, to the workof Geertz, Gellner, Smith, McCrone, Billig, and Hobsbawm and Ranger.

Symbols fulfil many functions. One crucial function is that they help to mediate ornegotiate between history and collective memory. The latter is a phenomenon that ismainly studied by social scientists. It involves the analysis of social constellations,which encourage such memories. Furthermore, social scientists attempt to understandthe subjective-collective meaning that actors give to past and present actions. In con-trast, history aims at a representation of the past that attempts to be truthful to thehistorical event and its context. The two tasks are not easily reconciled and the historianwho wants to do both has to tread very carefully.

The great achievement of the book under review is that it succeeds in combiningthese two difficult tasks. The editors obviously exercised tight control and worked onlywith a limited, carefully selected group of twelve authors to cover the fifty-three entries.The contributors are, with the exception of two political scientists, all historians, mostof them from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). Only two contribu-tors, one from the Sorbonne, Paris, and one from Santiago, Galicia, stem from outsidethe Basque Country and Navarra. What could be seen as limiting in terms of the lackof an outside perspective is made up by the comprehensive and international outlook ofthe contributors. Without exception they manage to combine their specific knowledgeof Basque history, its politics and cultural context with an awareness of internationaldiscussions and contexts − a combination that makes this book such a useful source,particularly for those who want to know more about a context many have heard about(particularly its terrorist component) but few non-Basque academics have exploredcomprehensively.

Despite its aim of being as comprehensive as possible, the book does not attempttotal coverage. The successful formula consists in having fewer entries. This editorialdecision allows more space for quality articles that are between ten and twenty-fivepages long. The selection of the accompanying illustrations is also aesthetically pleas-ing; they are always carefully picked to illustrate either the intellectual or, as it oftenhappens, the ideological context, or to give a good visual representation of a particularsymbol discussed. The editors could have pursued a different route by following athematic approach and by organising the entries, as it were, along different themes andtopics – such as ‘historical figures’, ‘cultural dimensions’, ‘historic locations’ and‘crucial dates’. Of course, the outcome would not have been a dictionary. Consideringthe final result that is before us, the editors must be congratulated for not havingfollowed such a direction. As it stands, the alphabetical format is more user-friendly.Entries can be read either in alphabetical order, as single entries or in context with otherthematically relevant articles – depending on the use one wants to make of this com-pilation. The two indices, one of names, the other one analytic, allow for all kinds ofdifferent usages and searches.

As to the individual entries, it is hard to select a particular one amongst the manyexcellent contributions. A good start, perhaps as good as any, is the sober-soundingentry ‘Avenue Marceau 11 (Paris)’. Despite its neutral title the reader of this articlewill not be disappointed; the entry illustrates in a nutshell how one particular insti-tution has come to symbolise the complex history and fate of twentieth centuryBasque nationalism. Here is the story in brief: In 1937, this neo-classical building had

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been rented by the Basque newspaper Euzko Deia, the then official voice of thedemocratically elected Basque Government. In the autumn of the same year anAmerican citizen of Basque-Philippine origin bought the property for almost 1 1⁄2

million francs (most of the money stemmed from a collection by Basque Americancitizens). In January 1939 it was anticipated that the victory of the Spanish nation-alists in the Civil War would not only lead to the official acknowledgement of theinsurgents by the French government, but also to a change of ownership in relationto all foreign property that had previously belonged to the Spanish Republic or toone of its regional and autonomous governments (as was the case with the Basquegovernment). Accordingly the house was transferred for a price of 1,600,000 francs toa group that had formed as a legal body under French law and that consisted of agroup of concerned British and French entrepreneurs who previously had providedsupplies during the siege of Bilbao. The newly formed society invited the Interna-tional League of Friends of the Basque Country, or LIAB (for its French acronym),a humanitarian organisation whose main purpose was to help Basque refugees inFrance, to make full use of the building. That undertaking came to an end withGerman occupation. Almost with immediate effect the Nazis handed the propertyover to their Francoist friends, which in turn handed it over to the foreign repre-sentative of the Falange and its paper El Hogar Español. All property such as thefurniture and documents was seized and the Basque flag, which used to fly from themain balcony, was replaced by the Nazi swastika and Falange flags. In 1943 thisexpropriation was made legal by transferring all property to the Spanish state. Thingschanged again when in 1944 a French platoon, which also included numerousBasques fighting with the Allies, retook possession of the building. To mark thevictory over Hitler-Germany and its Falange friends, the new occupiers displayedagain the ikurriña, the Basque flag, from its front facade.

However, although the LIAB and the Basque government in exile re-occupied thebuilding, its legal status remained unclear, despite various attempts to address thequestion of who held the property rights. The context was, of course, that the politicaltide had changed again. By the early 1950s the Franco regime and Spain had becomeuseful allies in the Cold War, which led to new demands by the now officially acknowl-edged Spanish government, such as the return of all international property. In June1951 the French government gave in to the pressure and forced the Basque Govern-ment in Exile and its main representative, José Antonio Aguirre, to leave the building.This was a heavy blow to both the Government in Exile and the humanitarian activitywith which it had been associated. For many, no. 11 Avenue Marceau had become asymbol of liberty, which continued to challenge the dubious legitimacy of the Francodictatorship. But not only had the Basques and their representation been betrayed bythe Western Allies, the handover also marked a significant shift in terms of rejecting theidea of a federalist Europe, which had found great support in Aguirre and the BasqueGovernment. (In fact, the PNV had been one of the founding members of the EuropeanChristian Democratic movement; indeed, Aguirre should be counted as one of thefounding fathers of modern post WWII Europe).

Over the last fifteen years and until the present, various attempts have been made toreclaim ownership of the building – foremost by the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV).However, none of the last three Spanish governments has shown any wish to hand backthe property to its original owners. Currently, the building is property of the SpanishGovernment and houses the Instituto Cervantes. At a time when every major buildingin a European city is proud of having a plaque outside that hints at its historic

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significance, there is none at no. 11 Avenue Marceau that would enlighten visitors andpassers-by about its peculiar symbolic value.

The history of no. 11 Avenue Morceau is indeed an allegory of what twentiethcentury modern history had in store for a small European nation without a state.The entry, like any other in this dictionary, invites the reader to explore thishistory further. He or she might want to know more about José Antonio Aguirre(1904–1960), who gave the PNV a modern Christian Democratic outlook thatled it away from some of the more dubious ideas of its fin de siècle founder, SabinoArana. Ludger Mees, one of the editors of the dictionary, describes the amazingcareer of this lawyer and former Athletic Bilbao player, from being mayor ofGetxo (now greater Bilbao) to becoming the first democratically elected lehendakariof the Basque Country, representing the only overwhelmingly Catholic region thatsupported the Spanish republic. Mees tries to make sense of the life of this charis-matic, but in the end tragic, leader. We partake in the odyssey that led Aguirre intoFrench exile and from there, via underground Berlin, to New York and finally backagain to Paris. Perhaps it is impossible to think of a more timely and symbolic cross-ing of paths and purposes than the crucial summer months of 1959, when Aguirreand his government in exile had not only been dropped by the former Allies, butalso had news of a statement from a new radical group called ETA (Euskadi ‘taAskatasuna, Basque Country and Freedom), which promised to pursue a moreradical path than the one the PNV had in mind. Reading about Aguirre and hisgovernment, the reader is invited to look further by consulting the biographies ofthose who accompanied Aguirre on his political journey, be it Manuel Irujo, thecharismatic Navarrese politician, or Telesforo Monzon, one of the historic leaderswho followed him into exile and who would later become one of those nationalistleaders who would break with the moderate PNV to join Herri Batasuna (People’sUnity), the radical political formation which maintained close links withETA.

Alternative readings might include the entries for some of those cultural institutionsand organisations, which are mostly of Aranist origin but which have, over the courseof the twentieth and twenty-first century, been modified to fit the new cultural andpolitical circumstances either at home (for protest and resistance purposes) or abroad(for solidarity purposes, and to rally the Basque diaspora). The entries for the Day ofthe Homeland (Aberri Eguna) or the Day of the Party (Alderdi Eguna) explore some ofthose cultural symbols and meanings. Those interested in questions of gender mightwant to consult the entry ‘Emakume’, which gives an excellent account of the Basquewomen’s organisation. Other entries explore the reasons for establishing a modernBasque school system (the ikastolak) and why the project of normalising the Basquelanguage, Euskara, is such an important undertaking for establishing a more civic-minded Basque society. We also find in this dictionary entries that help us to under-stand crucial symbolic events that stem from a more distant past, be it the Carlist Wars,the fueros, the crucial battles at Roncesvalles in 778 (in which Charlemagne suffered adefeat by what were supposed to have been Basque forces) or Amaiur in 1522 (Amaiuris a small town in the Baztan valley where Basque and Navarrese forces fought a lastheroic battle against Castile; it is also the name of a new left-wing nationalist coalition).Those readers who are interested in heraldry, flags and song can turn to the entries forArrano Beltza (the dark eagle) or the various hymns ranging from Agur Jaunak (Goodbye, Gentlemen) to Eusko Gudariak (Song of the Basque soldiers). Finally, thoseinterested in the larger context will not be disappointed by the entries for ‘Europe’,

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‘Ireland’ and ‘Spain’, or for ‘Galeuzca’, the attempt to rally the historic non-Castiliannations of Spain. (The word stands for Galicia, Euzkadi, Catalunya, a somewhat futilepolitical attempt to rally the cultural nationalist troops.)

What separates this dictionary from other publications that deal with Basquehistory and culture is the specific attention that is given to the meaning and functionof symbols. All of the symbols selected for this dictionary are carefully analysed andinterpreted, including their changing reception and context. If and when historicalproof is not available, or conflicting interpretations arise, the reader is usually told ofpossible alternative readings. One or two authors sometimes have a tendency to betoo critical towards the material at hand, and occasionally some passion shinesthrough, for example, when a paragraph or remark reads like a barely hidden anti-nationalist commentary. But these are rare exceptions; overall, a polemical style isavoided.

Some of the entries will stimulate more debate than others; for example Santiagode Pablo’s interpretation of the Lauburu or Núñez Seixas’ entry on ‘Ireland’. Whilethe former suggests some convergence between the swastika and the Basque symbolssuch as the Lauburu, the historical reasons given for this assumed link are weak (theswastika has clearly Indian roots and origins while the same cannot be said about theLauburu, which is Iberian in origin and unlikely to have been the result of somemigration or cultural contact). As to Seixas’ ‘Ireland’ entry, even the text itself showsthat the links between Ireland and the Basque Country were, at least politicallyspeaking, an extremely one-sided affair. I doubt whether, apart perhaps from PatrickPearse and a handful of Irish nationalists, anybody in the Irish Republic was reallyconcerned about the Basque Country and its culture and politics. The numbers, espe-cially those of militant Irish Catholic background who fought on the insurgents’ side,far exceeded the number of those who fought on the side of the Spanish Republic; inany case, very few of those who defended the Republic helped to defend Bilbao byfighting with the Basque gudariak. Today it is only the remnants of Batasuna and itssupporters and the northern branch of Sinn Féin and those interested in securingtheir political career by joining the international peace industry (for example, dis-carded corrupt Irish politicians like Bertie Ahern) who claim special connectionsbetween Ireland and the Basque Country. A closer look would have shown that it ismore appropriate to speak of cultural misunderstandings than of close social, politi-cal or cultural links.

Despite its comprehensiveness, there are also some omissions in the dictionary.Some symbols, such as food and modern music, are never explored in greater detail.For example, one of the most important songs, Mikel Laboa’s Txoria txori, is notmentioned once, despite having become a symbol and the unofficial hymn, sung atmany occasions. Religion is handled often in a subdued manner, almost to a point ofneglect. Maybe this is due to the successful secularisation of academic life in the BasqueCountry. However, Basque Catholicism and the various aspects of political religion(otherwise often referred to, just not in the religious context) deserve more than the twoentries that deal with the Jesuit founders. Finally, and this concerns perhaps more theintroduction than individual entries, a self-critical reflection about the true ‘national’academic discipline would have been helpful. In the Basque Country surely that labeldoes not apply to history but to social anthropology, represented by scholars such asAranzadi, Barandiaran, Caro Baroja and institutions like Eusko Ikaskuntza (theBasque Studies Institute). This omission is even stranger since most of these socialanthropologists have spent their entire life deciphering the meaning of symbols. But

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independent of such omissions, Símbolos is a truly groundbreaking collection. It isaesthetically appealing, too. The compilation can indeed serve as a prototype forsimilar projects, which intend to study the symbols and symbolism of other nations andnationalisms.

ANDREAS HESSUniversity College Dublin

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