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Since benedictanders on first published his l and mark Imagined Communities in 1991, scholars have almost ritualistically followed Anderson in quoting the nineteenth-centuiy French philosopher Ernst Renan.* According to Renan’s pithy formula, “the essence of a nation is that all its people have a great deal in common, and also that they have forgotten a great deal.” Indeed, according to Renan, “Forgetting, I would even go so far as to say historical error, is a crucial factor in the creation of a nation, which is why progress in historical studies often constitutes a danger for nationality.” Less commonly cited, however, is w hat follows in Renan: “historical enquiry brings to light deeds of violence w hich took place at the origin of all political formations, even of those whose consequences have been altogether beneficial. Unity is always effected by means of brutality
