Very excited that this article is finally out! I hope it'll be of interest to anyone who: 1) is interested in the history of #nationhood & #nationalism; 2) is into the debate over Romanness in "#Byzantium"; & 3) wants to develop critical #Marxist frameworks before & after capitalism. A short 🧵/1 - ThreadSky

historyastheory.bsky.social • 17 days ago

Very excited that this article is finally out! I hope it'll be of interest to anyone who: 1) is interested in the history of #nationhood & #nationalism; 2) is into the debate over Romanness in "#Byzantium"; & 3) wants to develop critical #Marxist frameworks before & after capitalism. A short 🧵/1

Reposted from Past and Present

New on advance access: "Nationcraft and the Origins of Territory: Experiencing Romanía in the Medieval Empire of New Rome"

by Nicholas S M Matheou (@edinburgh-uni.bsky.social)

#OpenAccess

doi.org/10.1093/past...

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historyastheory.bsky.social•17 days ago

2/ The essence of the argument is that the "Modernism" debate in the historiography of nationhood & nationalism mystified capitalist nationcraft in an abstract idea of "modernisation", so political economy should be at the centre of all analysis of ethnonational phenomena.

historyastheory.bsky.social•17 days ago

3/ This means there's no prior reason why ethnonational phenomena can't exist before "modernity"(= capitalism), it all depends on the political economy. So I develop a framework for territorial production in tributary, or simply tax-based, political and economic configurations.

historyastheory.bsky.social•17 days ago

4/ I think apply the model to the medieval empire of New Rome ("#Byzantium") 9th-13th c., where there's been a lively debate over the extent to which this is a "national" state. I argue that, to the extent that it is, this is a result of its intensive tax-based political economy.

historyastheory.bsky.social•17 days ago

5/ I do this in two phases, the first looking at the political economy itself, and the second at lived experience of this regime of accumulation. It's clear as a result that, in most ways, "Romania" was reified similarly to contemporary countries like "England", "France" etc.

historyastheory.bsky.social•17 days ago

6. Finally then the conclusion draws comparisons "backwards" (to ancient Rome), "sideways" (east and west in the Middle Ages), and "forwards" (to the era of capitalist domination), to argue that a pre/modern binary is entirely unhelpful: political economy is the real heart of variation.

historyastheory.bsky.social•17 days ago

7. This was a formative piece, that's evolved dramatically over some ten years from conference paper to publication, so I couldn't be happier to see it out. Thanks so much to everyone who read and critiqued it, to @pastpresentsoc.bsky.social, and I'm excited to hear future comments and critiques!

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