- Walker Connor
Infobox Person
name = Walker Connor
caption = Walker Connor lecturing at Middlebury College, 1 March 2006
image_size =
birth_date = birth year and age|1926
citizenship =United States
education =B.A. ,University of Massachusetts M.A.,Ph.D. ,Georgetown University
occupation =Political Scientist
title =Distinguished Visiting Professor
employer =Middlebury College Walker Connor (born 1926) is
Distinguished Visiting Professor ofPolitical Science atMiddlebury College (Middlebury, Vermont, USA). Connor is best known for his work onnationalism , and is considered one of the founders of theinterdisciplinary field ofnationalism studies .Before the collapse of European
communism that began in the late 1980s, nationalism was not a subject of significant academic study and was generally neglected, with the exception of some major contributions by authors such asErnest Gellner ,Benedict Anderson , andAnthony D. Smith .cite book|last=Gellner|first=Ernest|title=Nations and Nationalism|publisher=Blackwell|date=2005|edition=Second Edition|isbn=1405134429|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=jl7t2yMfxwIC] cite book|last=Anderson|first=Benedict|title=Imagined Communities|publisher=Verso|location=London|date=1991|edition=Second Edition|isbn=0860915468|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=4mmoZFtCpuoC] cite book|last=Smith|first=Anthony D.|title=Theories of Nationalism|publisher=Duckworth|edition=Second Edition|location=London|date=1983|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=sLMZAAAAMAAJ&pgis=1|isbn=0715605844] Connor’s work is another exception to this rule, and today he is regarded as “one of the scholars of nationalism and ethnic conflict who has contributed most towards establishing a conceptual grounding” for the study of nationalism. [citation|first=Daniele|last=Conversi|contribution=Conceptualizing nationalism: An introduction to Walker Connor’s work|title=Ethnonationalism in the Contemporary World: Walker Connor and the Study of Nationalism|editor-first=Daniele|editor-last=Conversi|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=NnT44L7HZ8UC|isbn=0415332737|location=London|publisher=Routledge|date=2004|page=1]Widely cited for his insistence on the inherently
ethnic character of nationalism, which he calls "ethnonationalism" to emphasize the point, Connor has long held that the most significant obstacle to advancing the study of nationalism is terminological imprecision. Particularly problematic, he contends, is the tendency to conflate the distinct concepts ofstate andnation , as well as the respective concepts ofpatriotism and nationalism which derive from them.Cite book|last=Connor|first=Walker|title=Ethnonationalism: The Quest for Understanding|location=Princeton, New Jersey|publisher=Princeton University Press|date=1994|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=bmgineq0r3MC|isbn=0691025630]Another significant theme in Connor's work is the passionate, nonrational character of nationalism. When trying to understand national sentiment, he argues, the key is not chronological or factual history, but sentient or "felt" history. National identity is based on the emotional psychology of perceived kinship ties – a sense of the nation as the fully extended family – and accordingly belongs to the realm of the
subconscious and nonrational. [Connor, "Ethnonationalism", 202-03.]Finally, Connor is also well-known for his analysis of
Marxist-Leninist treatments of nationalism, which he deals with at length in his book "The National Question in Marxist-Leninist Theory and Strategy."cite book|last=Connor|first=Walker|title=The National Question in Marxist-Leninist Theory and Strategy|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, New Jersey|date=1984|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Ei1HHgAACAAJ|isbn=0691076553]Academic appointments and honours
Connor has held resident appointments at, among others,
Harvard , Dartmouth, Trinity (Hartford), Pomona,Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute , theLondon School of Economics , theWoodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars , Oxford, Cambridge, Bellagio, Warsaw, Singapore, andQueen's University at Kingston .The
University of Nevada named him Distinguished American Humanist of 1991-92, and theUniversity of Vermont named him Distinguised American Political Scientist of 1997. [citation|title=Ethnonationalism in the Contemporary World: Walker Connor and the Study of Nationalism|editor-first=Daniele|editor-last=Conversi|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=NnT44L7HZ8UC|isbn=0415332737|location=London|publisher=Routledge|date=2004|page=x]elected publications
Publications by Connor
*cite journal|last=Connor|first=Walker|date=2004|title=The Timelessness of Nations|journal=Nations and Nationalism|volume=10|issue=1/2|pages=35-47|url=http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1354-5078.2004.00153.x
*Cite book|last=Connor|first=Walker|title=Ethnonationalism: The Quest for Understanding|location=Princeton, New Jersey|publisher=Princeton University Press|date=1994|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=bmgineq0r3MC|isbn=0691025630
*cite book|last=Connor|first=Walker|title=The National Question in Marxist-Leninist Theory and Strategy|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, New Jersey|date=1984|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Ei1HHgAACAAJ|isbn=0691076553Publications by other authors
* (Includes a bibliography of Connor's work from 1967-2001.)
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External links
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