Georgian Nationalism and the Idea of Georgian Nation

Abstract

The goal of the article is to provide up-to-date discourse on the history of Georgian nationalism and the idea of Georgian nation. The author discuss an alternative view on the time of Georgian nationalism’s emergence and identifies the main sources and topics of Georgian national narrative. The early nineteenth century is suggested to be the date of Georgian nationalism origin, instead of the generally accepted late nineteenth century. The results of the present investigation also reveal that the concept of Georgian nation, despite its west-European model, did not completely match the original sample. The ethnic legacy of nationalizing the Georgian community and the impacts come from the Russian empire (part of which Georgia was in the nineteenth century) gave the Georgian case the special colours.

Keywords

• Georgia
• Nation-Formation
• Nationalism