ABSTRACT
Sacred Territories and National Conflict
Anthony D. Smith
The conventional historical and political explanation for national conflict and loyalties is that it is born out of the administrative acts and decisions of colonial states and European powers. While accepting that this presentation has some positive factors, particularly in placing national conflict in the political domain, this article also argues that this analysis has certain drawbacks. It underestimates the relationship between common ethnicity and modern political nationalism. It fails to give adequate importance to symbols of ethnic past and, most notably, it does not account for the role of the land itself in creating conflict and loyalties among ethnic groups. The article shows how land becomes, through historical, religious or mythical experience, both part of the consciousness of the ethnic group and sacred to the ethnic group. It concludes with the argument that although by no means all conflicts involve the notion of sacred territories one should not underestimate this force in the development of national conflicts and loyalties.
