Signs of Life Quotes

“I thought about the slippery dream of nationalism. We’ve always been clannish, but nationalism is surprisingly modern, growing from the Romanticism of the eighteenth century when an idea emerged that there was a national soul, akin here to ‘The Myanmar Spirit’. The spirit of a nation is tied to its art, literature and traditions, and to the mishmash of things we call culture. Nationalism helped mould identities and was crucial in spelling the end of colonialism and in reinforcing the right to self-governance. But it is, of course, a lie. Everywhere is, and always has been, multicultural.”
― Stephen Fabes, Signs of Life: To the Ends of the Earth with a Doctor