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AbstractRecent historical studies tend to confirm the antimodernist interpretation, emphasizing the strong premodern roots of nations and nationalism. However, a broad comparative analysis of the rise of the nation‐state during the Age of Revolution shows that earlier notions of nationhood did not have a significant role in the creation of nation‐states in Europe and the Americas. They were not the consequence of a glorious national revolt, but of a clash between the Old Regime and new ideals of political legitimacy. Many of these conflicts led to civil wars and the survival of the nation‐state was mostly determined by the geopolitical constellation. The boundaries of the nation were defined in terms of civilization, whereas language and culture were largely irrelevant. Within these new nation‐states, a universalist nationalization process began. In many instances, citizenship was awarded easier to foreigners than to "uncivilized" inhabitants, while Classical Antiquity was preferred over the national past.

Inspired by Michael Billig's Banal Nationalism, social scientists have begun to study the impact of nationalism on everyday life. However, Billig's concept is far from clear. Actually, banal can refer to 'mundane' expressions of nationalism, to their 'unconscious' consumption or their 'cold' temperature. Moreover, on many occasions Billig referred to the state instead of the nation, thus in fact analysing 'banal statism'. For historians it is often difficult to ascertain whether people consciously perceived certain expressions of nationalism or not. However, we can analyze when certain mundane forms of nationalism were invented, while looking for clues as to how they cooled down and slowly became taken for granted. In this article, I will analyze how the nationalization of the domestic sphere manifested itself in Spain. In fact, this transnational trend has been largely ignored by architectural historians and scholars dealing with gender, food, design and animal–human relations, because they primarily focused on processes of modernization. In this way, the intensification of the nation-building process, which now also actively implies housewives, has remained largely invisible. Using evidence from a broad array of books, lectures and magazines, I will show that during the belle époque – when Spanish nationalism was quite hot – all kinds of spaces, objects and practices associated with the private sphere and the home were consciously nationalized by writers, architects and cooks. The focus will be on the nationalization of domestic architecture, food and dishes, but I will also pay attention to the nationalization of furniture, pets, gardening and cleaning. There are clear indications that over time many new national forms, objects and spaces slowly became banal stereotypes, thus further naturalizing existing national identities.

Nationalism studies does not seem to be a very innovative field of research. The path-breaking views of Anderson, Gellner and Hobsbawm – all published in 1983 – still form the starting point for almost all existing investigations. Moreover, most recent studies focus on one national case, which implicitly results in a vast collection of 'unique' trajectories. However, over the last few years a number of highly original studies on the origins of nationalism, nation-state formation, banal nationalism, methodological nationalism and nation-building in a global perspective seem to announce a new dawn. Some of these refreshing interpretations – which will be discussed in this article – clearly demonstrate that historiographical nationalism still has a preponderant role in history writing. In the concluding paragraphs I will emphasize the need to overcome not only methodological nationalism, but also the terminological and normative nationalism that still dominates our discipline.

AbstractBanal forms of nationalism permeate our everyday life. However, it is not very clear when all kinds of banal objects and practices became nationalised. In this article, I focus on the domestic sphere by analysing how around 1900 a small group of activists began to propagate the nationalisation of domestic architecture, decorative arts and even gardening. Domestic practices such as cooking, cleaning and consuming were nationalised at about the same time, at least in Western Europe. Although in the beginning the nationalisation of the domestic sphere was perceived as something new, within a few decades the existence of national cuisines and architectural styles was taken for granted. As a consequence, it becomes clear that the nationalisation of the domestic sphere constituted a new and very successful phase in the nation‐building process, which now also began to affect quotidian practices and objects in the private realm.

AbstractMethodological nationalism is still dominant in nationalism studies. When studying the construction of national identities, scholars generally limit their study to the borders of one nation‐state, while only paying attention to members of that particular nation. Implicitly, foreign actors and influences are left out of the picture. I will challenge this methodological nationalism with a case study, which demonstrates that the place of Toledo within the Spanish national imagination, and more particularly that of El Greco, the most important representative of the city's artistic heritage, was largely determined by foreigners. During the nineteenth century, El Greco was rediscovered primarily by foreign scholars and artists. Moreover, it would be the rise of international tourism in the early twentieth century that convinced Toledans to adopt El Greco as the city's main artistic icon. This case, thus, clearly shows that in nationalism studies methodological nationalism can be avoided by also including foreign actors.