ABSTRACT
National studies are a broad field of academic pursuits potentially comprised of all the social sciences and humanities, though its typical core is limited to philology, history and ethnography. In the early modern period in Western Europe, a popular idea coalesced that people 'naturally' come in neatly delineated (ethnic) groups. These groups can be discerned through the careful research of their customs and appearance, thus allowing for the supposedly unambiguous and 'scientific' apportioning of all humanity into such 'discoverable' discrete population categories. The moulding of nobles (and burghers) together with peasantry on the basis of their postulated 'common national language' that somehow needs to be taught to all in school, is Central Europe’s typical paradigm of creating 'national history' through philology, that is, through language creation and engineering. Most nationalists prefer to stick to the circular logic of national studies rather than face the imminent danger of disenchantment by consenting to the unravelling of their cherished national myths.
