NATIONS AND J O U R N A L O F T H E A S S O C I AT I O N AS

NATIONALISM
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FOR THE STUDY OF ETHNICITY

A N D N AT I O N A L I S M EN
Nations and Nationalism 23 (1), 2017, 5.
DOI: 10.1111/nana.12293

Editorial

With great sadness, we honour the passing of our founding editor, Professor
Anthony D. Smith, who left us on 19 July 2016. The driving force behind the
founding of the journal, Smith managed it, and its parent Association for the Study
of Ethnicity and Nationalism (ASEN), with great skill for over two decades. He
thereby contributed to the profile of nationalism studies as both a world-renowned
author and institution-builder. John Hall’s interview with Anthony in our January
2016 issue (22:1) shows how Smith’s biography – as a Jewish Londoner with World
War II emigré roots – shaped his interest in, and outlook on, nationalism.
Smith was keenly interested in the problem of ‘resonance’: how the masses re-
ceive the nationalist message. Consequently, the first two articles in this issue, by
Jon Fox and Eric Kaufmann, highlight bottom-up processes of nation formation
and reproduction.
Smith’s oeuvre showed little interest in disciplinary or geographic
boundaries. His work ranged from art and music to politics and war, spanning
much of the globe. The empirical articles in this issue, like our journal,
exemplify this broad-gauged approach.
The study of nationalism is of growing relevance, as is clear from the
headlines. This was on display at the 26th ASEN conference in March 2016
at the London School of Economics (LSE), on ‘Nationalism, Migration and
Population Change’. A large number of international scholars attended panels
and plenaries over three days. A successful policy event featuring
London-based think tanks showed just how important an understanding of
nationalism is for grasping the forces shaping our world today.
The 2017 ASEN conference, dedicated to perspectives on Smith’s work, is en-
titled ‘Anthony D. Smith and the Future of Nationalism: Ethnicity, Religion and
Culture’. It takes place 27–28 March 2017 at the LSE. ASEN and our journal are
also sponsoring a symposium on Smith’s work this academic year, while the LSE
has inaugurated an Anthony D. Smith Annual Memorial Lecture in his honour.
Proposals for special sections continue to arrive at a brisk pace. We welcome
these, though all papers are independently refereed, just like normal submissions.
We welcome papers on nationalism from across the social sciences and humanities.
We have moved to electronic submissions via Scholar One, and, as usual,
thanks go to our Managing Editor Seeta Persaud for her efficiency in running
the journal and the Wiley Team for their consistent interest and assistance.

JOHN BREUILLY,
JOHN HUTCHINSON, and
ERIC KAUFMANN

Joint Editors-in-Chief

© The author(s) 2016. Nations and Nationalism © ASEN/John Wiley & Sons Ltd 2016