4
Taken in its most basic formulation, Anderson’s model portrays elite interests and
the creole planter-class’ fear of the political demands of populations of color as the
principal mechanisms shaping the struggle for independence or, as it comes to be
understood, national autonomy. In the Cuban case, creole interests and elite anxieties
were the central mechanisms, but due to different historical circumstances, the result was
a muted nationalist sentiment.
My hope is that this project contributes to the growing body of work that views
history as an important element structuring actors' preferences. In the pages that follow I
will reconstruct Anderson's argument with more care than I have employed in these
preliminary comments. Then I will turn to some thoughts about the value of what could
be called a historically informed social mechanisms approach, and conclude with an
examination of the Cuban case which, once one moves below the surface, actually
displays a surprising degree of continuity with the Anderson model.
ANDERSON'S ACCOUNT OF CREOLE NATIONALISM
Benedict Anderson was drawn to the example of new world nationalism because of
the absence of the causal elements most authors had come to associate with the
emergence of nations in Europe. The restless middle class, a bourgeoisie-in-waiting,
eager to employ nationalism to topple an aristocracy self-indulgently gobbling-up wealth
that could be more profitably employed, was absent from the new world social landscape
almost entirely (Nairn 1977, 98-103). Further, this was a pre-industrial era, so the
requirements of industrialization, which some authors have linked to nationalist
reengineerings of social connectedness, were irrelevant (Gellner 1983; Hobsbawm 1992;
Nairn 1977). Language differences, which Anderson himself linked with the diversity of
Convention