Primordialism or perennialism is the argument which contends that nations are ancient, natural

phenomena.[1]

Primordialism can be traced philosophically to the ideas of German Romanticism, particularly in the works
of Johann Gottlieb Fichte and Johann Gottfried Herder.[2] For Herder, the nation was synonymous with
language group. In Herder's thinking, language was synonymous with thought, and as each language was
learnt in community, then each community must think differently. This also suggests that the community
would hold a fixed nature over time.

Primordialism encountered enormous criticism after the Second World War, with many scholars of
nationalism coming to treat the nation as a community constructed by the technologies and politics of
modernity (see Modernism).[1]

Primordialism, in relation to ethnicity, argues that "ethnic groups and nationalities exist because there are
traditions of belief and action towards primordial objects such as biological factors and especially territorial
location".[3]

This argument relies on a concept of kinship, where members of an ethnic group feel they share
characteristics, origins or sometimes even a blood relationship. Seen through the Igbos of Nigeria, following
what they felt was their origin as descendants of the Jews.[4] "Primordialism assumes ethnic identity as
fixed, once it is constructed".[5]

While acknowledging that "primordialism is admittedly not without its own flaws and problems," much like
all conceptual and theoretical traditions in the social sciences, political scientist Khalil F. Osman [6] argues
that "Primordialism, as an approach that stresses the workings of sub-national loyalties and solidarities
operative in the collective consciousness of communities, is still capable of furnishing an epistemological
and conceptual tool informing and opening up a unique space for inquiry and into social and political
action."