Construindo o conceito de identidade nacional

Abstract

Everywhere, throughout history, individuals have experienced a feeling of belonging to a particular historical and geographical community. However, for a long time, they often related such o feeling to the boundaries of their villages, feuds or regions, without knowing forms of solidarity other than the local, spiritual or individual ones. In the 18th century, philosophes such as Voltaire and Montesquieu considered themse1ves cosmopolitans, willing to become citizens of the world. This fact leads us to believe that, in the Ancien Régime, lhe nationalistic awareness was not na issue, even in the Enlightened Europe. Nevertheless, it is from the spread of Enlightenment and the progress of the bourgeoisie that the idea of nation emerges. Nowadays, this notion is, once again, introduced to the contemporary world, much more urgently than one or two centuries ago. Studying this issue means to attempt to account for a most disturbing and intriguing issues of our time.