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Global
trade networks, migration, and cultural exchanges in the context of imperialism
and its aftermath are the centerpiece of much world history scholarship. John
R. Chávez's Beyond Nations: Evolving Homelands in the North Atlantic
World, 1400-2000 provides a fresh perspective on these processes by
focusing on how they have affected local communities. Chávez is
particularly interested in the development of ethnic identities and traces
their survival through imperialism and changes in government structures over
time, with the goal of understanding how to ensure a peaceful multicultural
global society. Overall, Chávez's complex and multidimensional narrative
analysis is an interesting contribution to studies of not only imperialism and
nationalism, but also international politics, gender, economics, migration, and
race.
Beginning
with the question of how people in the Atlantic World have understood their
homelands over the last six centuries, Chávez examines a wide variety of
evidence available in secondary sources and published primary sources. He
is especially attentive to origin stories, archaeological and linguistic
evidence, missionary accounts, and recent anthropological studies. Many
of these sources indicate a common theme of identity tied to geography, whether
the group continues to reside in its homeland or has migrated elsewhere.
Chávez made a deliberate decision to draw his examples "from the geographical
fringes to reveal more about the lesser known peoples and places on the edges of
the mainstream" (xiv). Using the experiences of a relatively small number
of groups (including the Micmacs, Tlaxcalans, Bretons, Temne, Tejanos, and
Basques) throughout the book provides continuity in a text that spans a large
area over a lengthy time period.
As
imperialism advanced, many ethnic communities were able to use competing
imperial powers against each other to retain a substantial amount of
self-determination. In some areas, for example, Native Americans were
able to leverage imperial rivalries between the English, French, and Dutch for
their own benefit. By the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries,
however, it became increasingly difficult for regional ethnic communities to
maintain their autonomy as nation-states were consolidated and imperialistic
nationalism sought to override regional identities. Decolonization in the
twentieth century often failed to protect minority groups from continuing
cultural destruction.
Ultimately,
the key to maintaining the integrity of regional identities and peaceful
coexistence, Chávez argues, is government structures that support the survival
of language and culture. He asserts that cooperative federalist
government structures are best because they "permit the individual to sustain
and balance varying ethnic, geographic, political, and economic loyalties"
(13). In the final section of Beyond Nations, he considers
international organizations and economic agreements, such as the United
Nations, the European Union, and NAFTA, that "[merge] the interests and
loyalties of nations, homelands, and individuals, while minimizing conflict."
(213-214). Some of these are less successful than others, particularly
when there is an imbalance of power between members of the federation. In
the end, Chávez has a beautiful vision of a peaceful global community governed
by mutual respect and cooperation. One can only hope that it will come to
be.
Lisa M. Edwards teaches Latin
American and world history at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. |
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