This volume is the result of an international conference held at
Sapienza University in Rome on June 20 and 21, 2013, as the final stage
of the PRIN (Progetto di rilevante interesse nazionale) project “Empires
and Nations from the 18th to the 20th century”, during which scholars
from all over the world—academics, specialists, young researchers, PhD
students and post-doctorates—confronted diverse, but connected, topics
on the relations between multinational empires and the idea of the
nation. In this way, the reality of the historical empires and national
states was represented, and concepts such as identity, nationality, and
sovereignty analyzed. The first part of this work is dedicated to the
analysis of the origins of nation-states in the context of the
multinational Habsburg, Ottoman and Tsarist empires, while the second
pays particular attention to the issue of national minorities, which
followed the dissolution of the great empires. The third part is related
to national identity and focuses on art and culture by presenting
artists, painters, writers and intellectuals who had played key roles in
the formation of their national identities. Such pioneers include
Hungarians, Romanians, Serbs, Georgians, Chinese, and Brazilians.
Specific sections are dedicated to theoretical approaches and concepts
such as imperialism, geopolitics, nationality, and regionalism, and to
the analysis of religious and gender issues.
