Literacy and National Identity

Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (1983)

Lucien Febvre & H.J. Martin, The Coming of the Book (1958)

Elizabeth Eisenstein, The Printing Press as an Agent of Change (1979)

Ø The printing press and social change: A confluence of developments

Ø Johannes Gutenberg printed the first bible with moveable type press (1455)

s No longer was the printing of books done by hand (manuscripts)

s Gradual increase in use of paper instead of parchment/vellum

s Printing primarily in Latin

Ø Gradual decline of monopoly over printing and literacy by Catholic church

s Secularization of literacy

s Spread of literacy

s Protestant Reformation: Press of protest

s Martin Luther: “The printing press was God’s highest act of grace” (quoted by Eisenstein)

Ø The geography of the book

s “Fall of Latin” – printing in vernacular

s Standardization of vernacular

s Territorialization of “print capitalism”

s Beginning of mass production of printed matter

s Stabilization of territorial identity

s Rise of nationalism