Episode 38: Left-wing Nationalism

This is Episode 38 of the State of the Theory Podcast. Politics. Power. Popular Culture. And other stuff, probably. In this series, we’re like super nerdy philosophical DJs: mashing up Serious Academic Questions with the most topical news and trends in pop culture. Each week, we’ll tackle a new topic and collide it with ‘critical theory’ (we’re pretty loose with our definitions, though, so expect the unexpected). Our aim is to destroy the stuff we know, explore the stuff we don’t and unsettle everything we think we know about the world. We take the obvious, the commonsensical, the certain, and then we rip it all to shreds. We are your theory doctors and we are always on call. In this episode, we look at the possibility or otherwise of left-wing nationalism, as manifested in Scotland, Catalunya, Kashmir, Palestine and elsewhere. Rarely for us, we end up disagreeing a fair bit, and both of us absolutely fail to convince the other of how right we are. We discuss hegemony and the nation-state, and to what extent secessionist movements can be seen to challenge and undermine the notion of the nation-state, and to what extent they can help or hinder a more general progressive political movement. Our theme music is "The Face of God" by The Agrarians (http://freemusicarchive.org/music/The_Agrarians/The_Jovial_Shepherd/The_Face_of_God) State of the Theory is brought to you by Hannah Fitzpatrick and Anindya Raychaudhuri Find us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/stateofthetheorypodcast) or Tweet us @drhfitz and @DrAnindyaR