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Abstract
The introductory chapter uses recent developments in the context of nationalism – the rise of populist nationalism in the 2010s and the emergence of ‘coronationalism’ in connection with the covid-19 pandemic – as starting points to map the major forms, principles, potentials, and consequences of nationalism in the postcolonial era. Stressing nationalism’s ambivalence, the introduction charts the unifying and exclusionary functions of nationalist endeavours. Subsequently, the introduction discusses discrepancies between and intersections of postcolonial studies and studies of nationalism, suggesting where and how the two fields can complement each other, for instance, in the context of constructivism, popular culture, anti-colonial nationalism, and the colonial history of nationalism. In its final section, the introduction provides a brief overview of the origin and aims of the essays assembled in the volume before it presents each chapter in more detail.