Today, a brown-skinned Scot, whose grandfather came from Mumbai, can take pride in the Scottish Enlightenment or thrill to the tale of Bannockburn. But, as Renan also argued, what really matters in making a nation, beyond these shared stories, is “the clearly expressed desire to continue a common life.” That’s why he said that a nation’s existence “is, if you will pardon the metaphor, a daily plebiscite.”30 What makes “us” a people, ultimately, is a commitment to governing a common life together.
