Against Paranoid Nationalism: Searching for Hope in a Shrinking Society

by Ghassan Hage

Hage brings insights from political economy and psychoanalysis, defining societies as mechanisms for the production and distribution of hope.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Philosophy

Paperback

First published February 1, 2007

About the author

Ghassan J. Hage is a Lebanese-Australian academic serving as Future Generation Professor of Anthropology at the University of Melbourne, Australia.

Reviews

[Nora]

This weaves together ideas about nationalism, immigration, and colonialism in a way that's incredibly nuanced for such a short book. It's clearly written in the context of the early 2000's but still feels very applicable to the world today. Hage comes off as extremely empathetic to all people, even when looking at some of humanity's worst tendencies. One of his most interesting points for me was that a lot of racism is not driven wholly by xenophobia (fear of the other) but more by what he calls "homiophobia", the fear that the so-called other is actually the same as us.

[Liz]

the perfect blend of hilariously cutting and unexpectedly generous and hopeful. thanks max, good recommendation.