Nations and nationalisms

public history, criteria and paradigms in a conceptual perspective

Abstract

This article seeks to propose definitions for the concepts of nation and nationalism based on the conceptual debate between authors who adhere to two different analytical paradigms: the modernist and the ethno-symbolist. We also seek to discuss how nationalism permeates public perceptions of what history is and cannot be seen in an essentialist and decontextualized way, since it cannot be automatically fitted into the political spectrum detached from materiality.