John Hutchinson (Academic)
Encyclopedia
John Hutchinson is Reader
in Nationalism
in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics
. Born in Warrenpoint, Co Down, he graduated with a MA in Modern History from Edinburgh University in 1970 and his PhD in Sociology
in 1985 from the London School of Economics
, where he was supervised by Professor Anthony Smith
. Before joining the LSE in 1999, he taught in the interdisciplinary School of Humanities Griffith University
, Brisbane, from 1974–79 and 1986–1999, where he became Associate Professor.
He is currently Vice-President of the Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism
and Deputy Editor of Nations and Nationalism
. In addition, he sits on the advisory boards of the Institute for the Advancement of the Social Sciences, Boston University
, and of the Study Platform on Interlocking Nationalisms, University of Amsterdam.
John Hutchinson is a leading scholar of the ethnosymbolist school (established by Anthony Smith) that highlights the role of embedded historical memories in the formation of modern nations. His first monograph, The Dynamics of Cultural Nationalism was nominated in 1988 for the Political Studies Association Prize and is widely cited by scholars as a pioneering contribution to the field of Irish history and cultural nationalism. Hutchinson rejected earlier scholarship that tended to conflate nationalism and state-seeking movements. He argued that cultural nationalists should be differentiated from political nationalists, in having as their goal the defence of the nation as a community and its historical distinctiveness rather than on the achievement of a state. He explains how cultural nationalists act as moral innovators, emerging at times of crisis, to form movements that offer new maps of identity based on historical myths, that in turn may inspire programmes of socio-political regeneration. Hutchinson argues such movements operate sometimes as complementary to and sometimes as communitarian alternatives to political nationalism, when statist strategies are defunct. He emphasises the dynamic the role of historians and artists, showing how they interact with religious reformists and a discontented modernising intelligentsia to form national identities.
His second book, Modern Nationalism (Fontana 1994) applies this cultural approach to the analysis of contemporary politics, notably, the relationship of nationalism to the collapse of communism, the religious revival and contentions in multicultural polities. More recently, his Nations as Zones of Conflict (Sage 2005) has sought to combine the focus of ethnosymbolists on the historical embeddedness of nations with the stress of postmodernists on the multiplicity of identities by exploring nations as heterogeneous entities, characterised by persisting conflicts that derive from historic divisions (e.g. civil wars). Hutchinson argues that the role of contestation in nation-formation has been neglected. Such conflicts serve to ‘fill out’ national identities and they give rise to alternative cultural and political visions that offer options to populations at times of crisis. This study has provoked praise and controversy. Eric Kaufmann claims ‘Hutchinson dramatically expands the boundaries of the ethnosymbolist argument to engage not only 'modernist' but postmodernist critiques of the nation.’ Although critical of what he sees as Hutchinson’s idealist approach, Andreas Wimmer states: ‘(Hutchinson’s) analysis of the layered character of nationalist myths, the internal heterogeneity and conflictual nature of nationalist discourse, as well as the episodic nature of nationalist mobilization represents a considerable step forward towards a more differentiated view of the nature of nationalism.’
With Anthony Smith Hutchinson has co-edited Nationalism (Oxford 1994) and Ethnicity (Oxford 1996) that have become standard teaching texts for courses on nationalism in the English-speaking world, and his works have been translated into several languages, including Turkish, Norwegian and Chinese.
Reader (academic rank)
The title of Reader in the United Kingdom and some universities in the Commonwealth nations like Australia and New Zealand denotes an appointment for a senior academic with a distinguished international reputation in research or scholarship...
in Nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
. Born in Warrenpoint, Co Down, he graduated with a MA in Modern History from Edinburgh University in 1970 and his PhD in Sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
in 1985 from the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
, where he was supervised by Professor Anthony Smith
Anthony D. Smith
Anthony D. Smith is Professor Emeritus of Nationalism and Ethnicity at the London School of Economics, and is considered one of the founders of the interdisciplinary field of nationalism studies...
. Before joining the LSE in 1999, he taught in the interdisciplinary School of Humanities Griffith University
Griffith University
Griffith University is a public, coeducational, research university located in the southeastern region of the Australian state of Queensland. The university has five satellite campuses located in the Gold Coast, Logan City and in the Brisbane suburbs of Mount Gravatt, Nathan and South Bank. Current...
, Brisbane, from 1974–79 and 1986–1999, where he became Associate Professor.
He is currently Vice-President of the Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism
Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism
The Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism is an international, interdisciplinary association for academics, researchers, students, journalists and others directly concerned with advancing the study of ethnicity and nationalism...
and Deputy Editor of Nations and Nationalism
Nations and Nationalism
Nations and Nationalism is an interdisciplinary academic journal covering nationalism and related issues. It is published quarterly on behalf of the Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism by Wiley-Blackwell. The journal is edited by Anthony D. Smith.- Aim :The first issue of Nations...
. In addition, he sits on the advisory boards of the Institute for the Advancement of the Social Sciences, Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
, and of the Study Platform on Interlocking Nationalisms, University of Amsterdam.
Research
John Hutchinson is an interdisciplinary scholar whose work has contributed to theories of nationalism, the study of cultural nationalism, notably in Ireland, and more recently, warfare and nationalism.John Hutchinson is a leading scholar of the ethnosymbolist school (established by Anthony Smith) that highlights the role of embedded historical memories in the formation of modern nations. His first monograph, The Dynamics of Cultural Nationalism was nominated in 1988 for the Political Studies Association Prize and is widely cited by scholars as a pioneering contribution to the field of Irish history and cultural nationalism. Hutchinson rejected earlier scholarship that tended to conflate nationalism and state-seeking movements. He argued that cultural nationalists should be differentiated from political nationalists, in having as their goal the defence of the nation as a community and its historical distinctiveness rather than on the achievement of a state. He explains how cultural nationalists act as moral innovators, emerging at times of crisis, to form movements that offer new maps of identity based on historical myths, that in turn may inspire programmes of socio-political regeneration. Hutchinson argues such movements operate sometimes as complementary to and sometimes as communitarian alternatives to political nationalism, when statist strategies are defunct. He emphasises the dynamic the role of historians and artists, showing how they interact with religious reformists and a discontented modernising intelligentsia to form national identities.
His second book, Modern Nationalism (Fontana 1994) applies this cultural approach to the analysis of contemporary politics, notably, the relationship of nationalism to the collapse of communism, the religious revival and contentions in multicultural polities. More recently, his Nations as Zones of Conflict (Sage 2005) has sought to combine the focus of ethnosymbolists on the historical embeddedness of nations with the stress of postmodernists on the multiplicity of identities by exploring nations as heterogeneous entities, characterised by persisting conflicts that derive from historic divisions (e.g. civil wars). Hutchinson argues that the role of contestation in nation-formation has been neglected. Such conflicts serve to ‘fill out’ national identities and they give rise to alternative cultural and political visions that offer options to populations at times of crisis. This study has provoked praise and controversy. Eric Kaufmann claims ‘Hutchinson dramatically expands the boundaries of the ethnosymbolist argument to engage not only 'modernist' but postmodernist critiques of the nation.’ Although critical of what he sees as Hutchinson’s idealist approach, Andreas Wimmer states: ‘(Hutchinson’s) analysis of the layered character of nationalist myths, the internal heterogeneity and conflictual nature of nationalist discourse, as well as the episodic nature of nationalist mobilization represents a considerable step forward towards a more differentiated view of the nature of nationalism.’
With Anthony Smith Hutchinson has co-edited Nationalism (Oxford 1994) and Ethnicity (Oxford 1996) that have become standard teaching texts for courses on nationalism in the English-speaking world, and his works have been translated into several languages, including Turkish, Norwegian and Chinese.
Books
- The Dynamics of Cultural Nationalism: The Gaelic Revival and the Creation of the Irish Nation State, (1987)
- Modern Nationalism (Fontana 1994)
- Nations as Zones of Conflict (Sage 2005)
Recent Publications
- Hutchinson, John (2008) Anatomising Michael Mann. Journal of power, 1 (1). pp. 87–93. ISBN 1754-0305
- Hutchinson, John (2008) In defence of transhistorical ethnosymbolism: a reply to my critics. Nations and nationalism, 14 (1). pp. 18–27. ISSN 1354-5078
- Hutchinson, John (2007) Warfare, remembrance and national identity. In: Leoussi, A and Grosby, S, (eds.) Nationalism and ethnosymbolism : history, culture and ethnicity in the formation of nations. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, UK, pp. 42–54. ISBN 0748621121
- Hutchinson, John (2007) Introducing 'The making of English national identity'. Nations and nationalism, 13 (2). pp. 179–182. ISBN 1354-5078
- Hutchinson, John (2006) Hot and banal nationalism: the nationalization of 'the masses'. In: Delanty, G and Kumar, K, (eds.) The SAGE handbook of nations and nationalism. SAGE, London, UK, pp. 295–306. ISBN 1412901014
- Hutchinson, John (2005) Nations as zones of conflict. SAGE Publications, London, UK. ISBN 0761957278
- Hutchinson, John (2004) Myth against myth: the nation as ethnic overlay. Nations and nationalism, 10 (1-2). pp. 109–124. ISBN 1354-5078
- Hutchinson, John and Guibernau, Monserrat, (eds.) (2004) History and national destiny: ethnosymbolism and its critics. Blackwell, Oxford, UK. ISBN 1405123915
- Hutchinson, John (2003) Nationalism, globalism and the conflict of civilizations. In: Özkirimli, Umut, (ed.) Nationalism and its futures. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, UK, pp. 71–92. ISBN 1403917132
- Hutchinson, John and Guibernau, Montserrat, (eds.) (2001) Understanding nationalism. Polity Press, Oxford. ISBN 9780745624020
- Hutchinson, John (2003) The past, present and future of the nation-state. Georgetown journal of international affairs, Winter/ Spring (1). pp. 7–14. ISSN 1526-0054
- Modern Nationalism (1994)
- The Dynamics of Cultural Nationalism (1987)