Is It Still Nationalism? A Critique of Ronald Sundstrom's "Sheltering Xenophobia"

Abstract:According to Ronald Sundstrom, nationalism shelters xenophobia by creating obstacles that prevent immigrants and refugees from attaining a sense of civic belonging. He uses the metaphor of sheltering to suggest that xenophobia becomes a by-product of nationalism in the right conditions. This is a misunderstanding of the relationship between nationalism and xenophobia. This article argues that nationalism is inseparable from xenophobia because certain core beliefs already presuppose some form of civic ostracism. These core beliefs are sovereignty and partiality. Despite the various noble causes behind nationalism—cultural preservation, survival, and liberation—its roots are grounded in the expulsion of foreign Others and preference for fellow nationals. Any attempts to reform nationalism must reckon with these two core beliefs. An ideology that abandons those beliefs would no longer be nationalism. In other words, there is no nationalism without xenophobia.