Lieberman’s lecture to examine why ‘Nationalism Was European’

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North Korea’s official name includes “Democratic People’s Republic.” The full national title of Laos is the “Lao People’s Democratic Republic.” And yet neither of these countries has a government that appears, to our American eyes, to be a democracy.

Why is this? How did Europe and Asia, despite comparable histories in the early modern period before the Industrial Revolution, develop divergent understandings of nationalism?

Victor Lieberman

Victor Lieberman, recently named the Raoul Wallenberg Distinguished University Professor of History, will examine these questions in his April 1 lecture “Why Were Nationalism and Democracy European? Political Community in Europe and Asia c. 1400–1850.”

Lieberman, an expert in Southeast Asia and author of several celebrated works on the region both on its own and in a global context, will speak about the unique characteristics of Western Europe that led to modern notions of democracy.

Using Burma and England as case studies, Lieberman, who also is the Marvin B. Becker Collegiate Professor of History and professor of history, will argue that in both realms, over several centuries, culture became more standardized, and particular traits became emblems of loyalty to the royal center.

In effect, in both realms culture became politicized, but only in England did the resultant formation include legal equality, citizenship rather than subjecthood, a novel emphasis on popular sovereignty, and growing secularization — in effect, what we term “nationalism.”

Lieberman explores the legal, religious and commercial factors propelling England and much of Western Europe in this unique direction.

Lieberman was named a Distinguished University Professor in 2013. It is the highest professorial title granted at U-M. He chose Raoul Wallenberg as his namesake to honor the humanitarian who saved thousands of Jews during World War II and who also attended U-M.

“For many years I admired Wallenberg as an exemplar of genuinely heroic self-sacrifice and impartial love, and I was grateful for an opportunity to express publicly that long-standing admiration,” says Lieberman.

Lieberman has published four books, edited four others, and written 50 articles. In 2012 The American Historical Review, the leading journal of history, said his two-volume “Strange Parallels: Southeast Asia in Global Context, c. 800-1830” was “the most important work of history produced so far this century.”  

“The Distinguished University Professor award is both a very welcome recognition of past work and an incentive to future research and teaching,” says Lieberman. “It reinforces my deep gratitude toward and identification with the U of M.”

Lieberman will speak at 4 p.m. April 1 in the Rackham Amphitheatre, followed by a reception in the Assembly Hall. Both are free and open to the public.

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