Abstract
The purpose of this article is to reconstitute a constructionist approach to nationalism.
It has often been said that there is a bifurcation between the political and methodological forms of constructionism. On the one hand, Benedict Andersons works have been regarded as a reflection of political constructionism by virtue of his oft-quoted but much travestied dictum that the nation is an imagined community; on the other hand, he focuses on the question of death, namely, "What makes nationalism generate such colossal sacrifice?" The problem of death transcends the scope of constructionism because it is not limited to the nation's constructed nature, but to its existence, which comprises emotional experiences.
In addition to constructionism, this article addresses methodological construction ism by making three suggestions. First, Anderson's work can be regarded as being constructionist, not because it claims that the nation is constructed but because its arguments are only based on observable discourses. Second, the constructionist approach to nationalism must focus on the discourse of nationalism that attempts to capture irrational phenomena such as death or attachment. Third, the contradiction between the political and the methodological emerges out of an irrational core that cannot be explained by the discourse of nationalism.
