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Migration and Nationalism
Migration and
Nationalism
Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives

Edited by
Michael Samers
Professor, Department of Geography, University of Kentucky,
USA
Jens Rydgren
Professor, Department of Sociology, Stockholm University,
Sweden

Cheltenham, UK • Northampton, MA, USA

© Michael Samers and Jens Rydgren 2024

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a

retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or
photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.

Published by
Edward Elgar Publishing Limited
The Lypiatts
15 Lansdown Road
Cheltenham
Glos GL50 2JA
UK

Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc.

William Pratt House
9 Dewey Court
Northampton
Massachusetts 01060
USA

A catalogue record for this book

is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023949819

This book is available electronically in the

Political Science and Public Policy subject collection
http://dx.doi.org/10.4337/9781839100765

ISBN 978 1 83910 075 8 (cased)

ISBN 978 1 83910 076 5 (eBook)

EEP BoX
Contents

List of contributorsvii

1 Introduction: migration and nationalism 1

Michael Samers and Jens Rydgren

PART I THEORETICAL CONTRIBUTIONS

2 Immigration and nationalism in the neoliberal order 31

Christian Joppke

3 In the name of dignity and respect: international migration

and the ethnopopulist backlash 51
Hans-Georg Betz

PART II COUNTRY-SPECIFIC CONTRIBUTIONS

4 Italy between and beyond geographical and racial divides 70

Marco Antonsich

5 Post-Soviet Russia: anti-immigrant sentiment and

discourses of national identity 88
Inna Leykin and Anastasia Gorodzeisky

6 The politics of ethnic nationalism, nostalgia and

anti-immigrant framing: the trajectory of the Sweden
Democrats 1989–2022 114
Gabriella Elgenius and Jens Rydgren

7 Immigration and nationalism in Japan 136

Naoto Higuchi

8 The nation and its margins: the cultural politics of

multiracialism and migration in Singapore 156
Brenda S.A. Yeoh and Theodora Lam

v
vi Migration and nationalism

9 How sub-state nationalism and immigrant integration

policies entwine over time: a spotlight on Flanders (Belgium) 174
Ilke Adam and Catherine Xhardez

10 Migration and right-wing mobilization in the Czech Republic 197

Lenka Bustikova and Petra Guasti

Index226
Contributors

Ilke Adam is an Associate Professor in Political Science at the Brussels

School of Governance (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and co-directs the Brussels
Interdisciplinary Research centre on Migration and Minorities (BIRMM). Her
research focuses on the multi-level governance of immigration, immigrant
integration, anti-racism and anti-discrimination, as well as on anti-racist
activism.
Marco Antonsich is a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at the University
of Loughborough. His research focuses on how togetherness in diversity is
theorized, narrated and lived within contemporary societies, focusing particu-
larly on the idea of everyday nationhood. His latest project on ‘New Italians
– The Remaking of the Nation in the Age of Migration’ is available here:
www​.newitalians​.eu/​en. He is the founder and convenor of the Loughborough
University Nationalism Network (LUNN).
Hans-Georg Betz until recently taught at the University of Zürich. Before
coming to Switzerland, he taught at various North American universities, most
notably York University in Toronto and the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced
International Studies in Washington, DC. He has written several seminal
books and articles on radical right-wing populism, nativism (both past and
contemporary), and Islamophobia. He has also been a frequent contributor to
fairobserver.com.
Lenka Bustikova is Professor of Political Science and Director of Center for
European Studies at the University of Florida. Her research focuses on polar-
ization, party politics and democratic erosion. Her book, Extreme Reactions:
Radical Right Mobilization in Eastern Europe, received the Davis Center
Book Prize in political and social studies.
Gabriella Elgenius is Professor of Sociology at the University of Gothenburg
and was previously at the Universities of London and Oxford. She works in
political sociology within two main areas: the ethnic nationalism, populism
of radical right parties and on civil society and integration in conditions of
socio-economic vulnerability. She has also published on nostalgia and ethnic
nationalism, racialized logics, Brexit and polarization diaspora civil society

vii
viii Migration and nationalism

and books on national symbolism and nation-building. She is Associate

Member at the University of Oxford and Fellow of the RSA.
Anastasia Gorodzeisky is a sociologist. She is the head of the international
MA program in Migration Studies and a faculty member at the Department
of Sociology and Anthropology in Tel Aviv University. Her current research
interests comprise of public attitudes toward migrants and migration; global
migration and immigrant incorporation; cross-national comparative sociology;
and politics of knowledge.
Petra Guasti is an Associate Professor of Democratic Theory at the Faculty
of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague, and a Senior Research
Fellow at the Institute of Sociology, Czech Academy of Sciences. Petra’s
research focuses on reconfiguring the political landscape and revolves around
representation, democratization, and populism. Between 2022 and 2025, Petra
is a co-PI of SYRI (National Institute for Research on the Socio-Economic
Impact of Diseases and Systemic Risks), where she also leads a 22-member
team.
Naoto Higuchi is Professor of Sociology at the Waseda University, Japan.
His recent publications include Japan’s Ultra-Right (Trans Pacific Press,
2016), ‘The “Pro-Establishment” Radical Right,’ in Civil Society and State in
Democratic East Asia (Amsterdam University Press, 2020), ‘Social Movement
Studies in Japan,’ (International Sociology, Vol.36, No.2, 2021), as well as
‘Poverty of Migrants in Japan,’ in Migration Governance in Asia (Routledge,
2022).
Christian Joppke holds a Chair in Sociology at the University of Bern.
His PhD is from the University of California at Berkeley (1989). He wrote
extensively on social movements, immigration, citizenship, multiculturalism,
religion, nationalism, and populism. His most recent book is Neoliberal
Nationalism: Immigration and the Rise of the Populist Right (Cambridge
University Press, 2021).
Theodora Lam is Senior Research Fellow in Asia Research Institute, National
University of Singapore (NUS). Her research interests cover transnational
migration and families, the web of care within transnational households, geog-
raphies of children and young people, and gender studies. She has researched
on both skilled and low-waged labour migrants as well as their families in
Singapore and other Asian countries. Theodora has published on various
themes relating to migration, citizenship and education, and co-edited several
special journal issues and books.
Inna Leykin is an anthropologist and a faculty member in the Department
of Sociology, Political Science, and Communication at the Open University
 Contributors ix

of Israel. She studies the politics of social scientific knowledge; interactions

between the cultures of intellectual expertise and policymaking in post-Soviet
Russia; democratic transformations in postsocialist countries; and emerging
practices of the self in contemporary Russia.
Jens Rydgren is Professor of Sociology at Stockholm University. He works
primarily within the areas of political sociology and ethnic relations, but his
research interests span a wider area covering also social networks, belief for-
mation, and social theory. He has published extensively on issues pertaining to
nationalism, populism, and radical right-wing parties and voters. He is elected
Fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters.
Michael Samers is Full Professor in the Department of Geography at the
University of Kentucky, having taught previously at the University of
Liverpool and the University of Nottingham. He has served as Editor of
Geoforum, held a Fulbright Research Scholarship at CERAPS, Université de
Lille II, France, and is the author, co-author, or co-editor of numerous articles
and four books, including the 1st and 2nd edition of Migration (the latter with
Michael Collyer) which has been translated into Italian and Korean.
Catherine Xhardez is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political
Science at the Université de Montréal. She holds a PhD in political science
(Université Saint-Louis – Bruxelles and Sciences Po Paris) and she conducts
research on immigration, public policy and federalism. Her research has been
published in Regional Studies, Citizenship Studies and Journal of International
Migration and Integration, among others, as well as in several edited volumes.
Brenda S.A. Yeoh FBA is Raffles Professor of Social Sciences, National
University of Singapore (NUS) and Research Leader, Asian Migration Cluster,
at NUS’ Asia Research Institute. She was awarded the Vautrin Lud Prize
for outstanding achievements in Geography in 2021 for her contributions to
migration and transnationalism studies. Her research interests in Asian migra-
tions span themes including social reproduction and care migration; skilled
migration and cosmopolitanism; and marriage migrants and cultural politics.
1. Introduction: migration and
nationalism
Michael Samers and Jens Rydgren

I. THE RISE OF NATIONALISM?

If the 1980s witnessed the apparent birth of a polymorphous ‘neoliberal globali-

zation’ built on the legacy of what Robinson (1983) called ‘racial capitalism,’
then arguably, it also coincided with another: the rise of ‘multiculturalism’ as
discourse, policy, and practice in countries such as Canada, the Netherlands,
and the UK. Grosso modo, Slavoj Žižek (1997) would refer to the combination
of these two broad processes of neoliberalism and multiculturalism as ‘the
cultural logic of multinational capitalism’. Approximately thirty-five years
later, we see occasional proclamations of the end of globalization (if not
‘neoliberalization’) (see e.g., Olivié and Gracia, 2020; The Economist, January
12, 2023), and while ‘multiculturalism’ as policy or discourse has waned (but
see Kymlicka, 2021), it has been superseded by corporate-shaped discourses
and policies of ‘diversity’ (Alba and Foner, 2014; Joppke, 2004; Faist, 2008).
These discourses, practices, and policies of multiculturalism and ‘(super-)
diversity’ (Vertovec, 2007) in many countries appeared to reach their nadir
in the scholarly study of ‘post-nationalism’ (e.g., Tonkiss, 2019). Yet now,
it seems reasonable to conjecture that nationalism has filled the void left by
the exhaustion of or resistance to neoliberal globalization,1 and its associated
economic and ‘cultural logics’ (Ko and Choi, 2022). While it is not our
intent in this chapter to discuss the fate of globalization or neoliberalism, nor
undertake any comprehensive analysis of the historical trajectory of national-
ism, we think that reports of the rise of ‘ethno-nationalism’ (to be discussed
subsequently) over roughly the last decade and half are often inadequately or
erroneously conceptualized as an implicit or explicit reaction to the conse-
quences of neoliberal globalization (for a similar argument, see Sabanadze,
2010).2 In fact, Joppke (Chapter 2 in this book), argues that nationalism may
enable neoliberal policies and practices of migration, including the promotion
of highly skilled migration at the expense of accepting asylum-seekers, refu-
gees, and less-skilled migrants. He refers to this as ‘neo-liberal nationalism,’

1
2 Migration and nationalism

as one variant of nationalisms that exist in practice. There is much evidence to

support this, such as the range of ‘point systems’ or ‘tier systems’ that are used
functionally to ensure economic growth in richer countries.
Part of our goal in this Introduction is to modify and complement the view
that nationalism has increased in response to neoliberal globalization, and
in fact, present arguments for why the surge in political manifestations of
nationalism over the last decade may be less a new phenomenon than what
it has sometimes been presented to be. First, scholars over the last decade
have spoken of a ‘neo-nationalism’. According to Yiftachel and Rokem
(2021) “neonationalism naturally draws on traditional nationalism but also
displays its own unique combination of characteristics, such as opposition
to migration, Islamophobia, anti-elitism and anti-institutionalism, a commit-
ment to ‘free-market’ capitalism, and suspicion toward welfarism. These are
coupled with increasing authoritarianism, affinity with religion, and a return
of militarism and patriarchy” (p. 1). Yet claims of such a renewed national-
ism often underemphasize that moments of anti-migration/anti-immigrant
ethno-nationalism have existed since the purported emergence of nation-states
and racial(ized) (colonial) capitalism in the 17th century, and certainly during
the supposed hey-day of neoliberalization (e.g., Balibar, 1991; Breuilly, 1993;
Cheles et al., 1991; Geary et al., 2020; Miles, 1993; Nagel and Grove, 2021;
Sabanadze, 2010; Solomos et al., 2020; Wilpert, 1993).3 In fact, some have
associated nationalism with anti-colonial struggles, as in the nationalism of
formerly colonized countries during the 1950s and 1960s (see Sabanadze,
2010). Second, proclamations of the rise of nationalism are sometimes con-
fused with other processes (e.g., authoritarianism, nativism, populism, white
supremacy, etc.), and we need to carefully try to disentangle these processes
although they often are empirically interrelated in cases such as Brexit and
the rise of right-wing political parties in say Austria, France, Hungary, or the
United States. Lastly, if we stretch our eyes beyond ‘western’ countries, then
there is also considerable evidence of post-colonial de-nationalism within
African countries (Aniche et al., 2022). In sum, as Bieber (2018) writes, “There
is no clear global trend that would suggest a rise of nationalism, but instead,
there has been a rise of nationalist politics in some countries, either expressed
by the rise of new parties, the electoral success of nationalist candidates or the
shift of public discourse of established parties” (p. 529). Nonetheless, Jenne
(2018) notes perceptively that “The aggregate level of nationalist sentiment
around the world need not have increased for its aggregate impact to have
increased” (p. 546, emphasis in original). Even in many places where nation-
alist sentiments or attitudes have not increased in the past decade, nationalism
may have become more manifest and salient for policy, as political actors have
mobilized around exclusionary forms of nationalism. Surprisingly, compara-
 Introduction 3

tively less has been written about the consequences or impacts of nationalism,
including for immigration (Halikiopoulou, 2023).
Examining this impact for migration, immigration, and their related policies
is a central premise of not only this Introduction, but in fact this entire book.
We detail the putative effects of nationalist mobilization from Islamophobia
and anti-Muslim violence or anti-Black anti-Brown racism in Europe or
North America, to xenophobic violence in China or South Africa, to many
other forms of exclusion, marginalization, oppression, and physical violence
in different parts of the world. Part of this exclusion entails migration and
settlement/citizenship (immigration) policies, but it would be wrong to think
that such policies are merely the epiphenomenon of nationalism. Rather,
nationalism may be the effect of exclusionary migration and immigration
policies (e.g., Berdiyev and Can, 2022), and sometimes they will turn out to
be mutually reinforcing. Similarly, we do not see racism and exclusion as the
simple consequence of nationalism, but rather as entangled or ‘articulated’
(Miles, 1993) and we therefore have in mind a much more dialectical than
causal understanding of nationalism.
Yet let us focus for the moment on the idea of nationalism itself. Nationalism,
or more appropriately nationalisms (as we will attempt to define them later
below) have always assumed different forms (e.g., Anderson, 1983; Brubaker,
1996; Calhoun, 1997; Gellner, 1983; Hobsbawm, 1990; Kohn, 1944). Writing
from the perspective of two scholars in ‘western’ countries, it is deceptively
easy for us to assume that nationalism is limited to ‘white’ or ‘Christian
nationalism’ but elsewhere nationalism is manifested differently. We might
call these forms (which may be enduring or more provisional) ‘variegated
nationalisms,’4 to highlight how they are shaped and re-shaped by the inter-
section of global, national, or more localized processes. This moves beyond
‘ideal types’ fashioned notably by Kohn (1944) and implied by Bonikoswki
and DiMaggio’s (2016) ‘varieties of nationalism,’ even if the latter recognize
the provisional nature of nationalist forms. Thus, we see nationalist processes
(some might say ideologies or others in the tradition of Foucault, ‘discursive
practices’) as dynamic, but which congeal into unstable forms that may be
more or less ‘striated’ (Tolia-Kelly, 2020). That is, they may be inflected with
the dimensions of class, skill (see especially Moriconi et al., 2022), ethnicity
(including language and religion), gender, indigeneity, ‘race’/skin color, sexu-
ality, and recursively shaped by regionalized, localized or ‘micro’ discourses,
policies, and practices. Such striation is exemplified in the notion of Uri Nara
(Korean for ‘our nation’), which for many young Koreans can include ‘white
westerners’ living in South Korea, but not Joseonjok (ethnic Koreans from
Asian countries) or Goryeoin from the former USSR (Campbell, 2015).
Our task then, in this Introduction and this book as a whole, is to tease out
some of these different manifestations of nationalisms since roughly 2010,
4 Migration and nationalism

with respect to migration (mobility) and immigration (settlement). In doing

so, it is crucial to underline that in this Introduction, we do not intend to cover
the whole of the cavernous literature on nationalism from the 19th and 20th
century, nor do we necessarily seek to explain nationalism; rather our aim is
to emphasize the consequences of nationalism for immigration in the 21st
century, and especially the last decade. In Section II, we begin by laying out
the various theoretical or conceptual understandings of nationalism in relation
to migration, drawing upon brief empirical examples to support our analysis.
In Section III, we consider the related but distinctive notion of populism
in relation to migration, and in Section IV, we focus on the consequences
of nationalism for immigration. In the penultimate section, we reflect on
a putative shift from nationalism to civilizationalism, and in the final section
we offer some concluding remarks on the potentially conjunctural features of
nationalism in the early 21st century.

II. NOTIONS OF NATIONALISM, ITS

MEASUREMENT, AND ITS PURPORTED RISE

Notions of Nationalism

Nationalism is the complex entanglement of cultural, economic, political, and

social processes (e.g., Smith, 2010). Bieber (2018) surmises that “Like air,
nationalism is both ubiquitous and elusive” (p. 519). Nevertheless, he argues
that:

Nationalism is best understood as a malleable and narrow ideology, which values

membership in a nation greater than other groups (i.e., based on gender, parties, or
socio-economic group), seeks distinction from other nations, and strives to preserve
the nation and give preference to political representation by the nation for the
nation. (original in italics, p. 520)

Another way of putting this, is that nationalism essentially emphasizes the need
to make cultural and political units congruent (Gellner, 1983; Freeden, 1998).
This was according to Kedourie (1993: 1) invented in Europe at the beginning
of the 19th century. We might question Kedourie’s temporal framing of nation-
alism, but the main message of the original doctrine was that (1) humanity is
naturally divided into nations, (2) nations are known by certain characteristics
that can be ascertained, (3) the only legitimate form of government is national
self-government, and (4) the members of the nation can reach freedom and
fulfillment only “by cultivating the peculiar identity of their own nation and
by sinking their own persons in the greater whole of the nation” (Kedourie,
1993: 67). For Herder, one of the putative ‘founding fathers’ of the doctrine
 Introduction 5

of nationalism, nations were seen as separate and natural entities ordained by

God. The best political arrangement, according to Herder, was achieved when
each nation formed a state of its own. The only true and lasting state was one
in which a nation is formed through natural kinship. States that contain more
than one nation, on the other hand, were seen as unnatural, oppressive, and
doomed to decay. Hence, Herder argued that states in which there are more
than one nation run the risk of losing their identity, because they sin “against
the principle of diversity,” which makes them unable to fully cultivate their
originality (Kedourie, 1993: 52). The nationalism of radical right-wing parties
in Europe for example, and especially their claim to ‘the right to be different,’
is attuned to these aspects of Herder’s nationalism.
Yet the production and reproduction of this (benign sounding) ‘right to be
different’ is tackled by social scientists from very different traditions. One
tradition is more likely to be associated with social and critical theory, and/
or cultural and post/de-colonial studies (say in the tradition or work of Sara
Ahmed, Balibar and Wallerstein, Foucault, the Frankfurt School, Paul Gilroy,
Gramsci, Stuart Hall, Achille Mbembe, Omi and Winant, or Cedric Robinson,
among many others). Here, the writings typically refer to affect, nationalist
ideologies, the biopolitics of immigration, (settler) colonialism, (discursive or
racial) formations, or discursive or racial practices and policies. In this sense,
nationalism insofar as it strengthens the nation-state, is by its nature ‘exclusion-
ary,’ and racism is central to organizing at least the western nation-state (e.g.,
Balibar and Wallerstein, 1991; Higham, 1955; Tudor, 2022). Different varia-
tions within this critical literature have been expressed. For example, in what
Klotz (2000) calls a new non-racial xenophobia, the South African government
and its citizens have (sometimes violently) excluded Zimbabwean immigrants.
From a different perspective Behdad (1997), writing in the context of the
United States specifically, sees the relation between nation and immigration as
one of ‘ambivalences’ where migration becomes essential to not only national
identity but to state discipline as well. Lastly, Behdad’s argument seems to
implicitly presage two related bodies of work that have emerged over the pre-
vious two decades. The first explores the ‘affectual’ dimensions of nationalism
(Ahmed, 2014; Antonsich and Skey, 2017; Tolia-Kelly, 2020). At the risk of
caricaturing this literature, this work stresses how power and inter-subjective
feelings (Ho, 2023) (rather than individually discrete attitudes), are entan-
gled in the reproduction of nationalism. Parallel to this affectual literature is
a literature that seeks to understand ‘everyday nationalisms’ (e.g., Goode and
Stroup, 2015; Fox and Van Ginderachter, 2018).5 Such writings challenge
or complement structural understandings of nationalism, and which Fox and
Van Ginderachter describe as “bottom-up analyses of the quotidian practices,
modalities, and habits that reproduce the nation in daily life” (p. 546). In turn,
6 Migration and nationalism

these ‘everyday nationalisms’ have consequences for immigration or migrant

workers (e.g., Collins and Bayliss, 2020).
Another tradition, in sharp contrast to the epistemological character of
affect theory; perhaps rather more analytical than critical, and more common
in (historical) sociology and comparative political science involves the exam-
ination of large-scale surveys. This literature generally relies on two pairs of
conceptual distinctions that will be useful to rehearse. The first is between
territorial (or civic) nationalism and ethnic nationalism (Smith, 1991), and
the other between endemic (or what Billig, 1995 calls banal nationalism) and
virulent nationalism (Bieber, 2018). However, as Simonsen and Bonikowski
(2020) admonish, national identity or beliefs cannot be confined to at least
civic and ethnic nationalism, and in some cases these nationalisms are com-
bined (Bonikowski and DiMaggio, 2016). This in turn suggests that the whole
binary may be suspect (Kennedy and van Ginderachter, 2022; Smith, 2010).6
That said, whereas territorial or civic nationalism is characterized by a view of
the nation as a rational association, ethnic nationalism is rather characterized
by a view of the nation as an organic, historic community of culture, held
together by family-like bonds of solidarity. More specifically, it is argued that
territorial/civic nationalism is more voluntary and open, while ethnic nation-
alism is deterministic and closed. According to territorial/civic nationalism,
every individual must belong to a nation, but heredity is less important for
membership in the nation. The ethnically defined nation, on the other hand, is
one that you are born into, which makes the myth of common ancestry more
important than territorial residence (Smith, 1991, 1995). Hence, while terri-
torial nationalism is based on a common history and mass culture and allows
people of different ethnic origins to take part in these, ethnic nationalism, with
its myth of common ancestry, allows only people of a specific ethnic descent
to be members of the narrow family circle depicted as the nation.
Consequently, ethnic nationalism implies by definition a collective exclu-
sivity (Smith, 1999), or search for ‘purity’ (Mavroudi, 2010). While ‘we,’
the members of the ethnic nation, have a “definite origin in time and space,”
all the others who happen to reside in the same territory “are guests and
strangers” (Smith, 1999: 194). The drive for cultural homogeneity and purity
is also alleged to be more common in ethnic nationalism (Smith, 1999), and it
is logical that the family is one of the most fundamental metaphors of ethnic
nationalism (Smith, 1991). This metaphor denotes something ‘natural’ (which
implies something that is not chosen). In fact, the beauty of gemeinschaft,
which nationalists promote, lies largely in its “natural ties” (see Anderson,
1983). Vernacular cultures, such as language and customs, are highly prized
in the ideology of ethnic nationalism (rather than legal equality, which is
essential for territorial nationalism). As a consequence, a populist political
ethos is a predominant feature of ethnic nationalism (Smith, 1995, 1999; cf.
 Introduction 7

Hobsbawm, 1990). In ethnic nationalism, as in populism, ‘the people’ are the

supposed final court of appeal.
With respect to the second pair of distinctions discussed above (that is,
between endemic and virulent nationalism), the quotidian or occasional
repertoire of flag-waving, anthems, or advertising can be contrasted with a
“virulent nationalism that rejects the status quo and seeks to reassert the will
of an imagined community over a political or cultural space is different from,
but draws on, endemic nationalism” (Bieber, 2018: 520). In terms of virulent
nationalism, it is difficult to find a more anti-immigrant example than the
storming of the U.S. capital on January 6, 2021, but there have been violent
episodes of anti-immigrant nationalism throughout U.S. and European history,
among other regions of the world.
For quantitatively oriented social scientists, conceptualizing nationalisms
through distinctions is insufficient. Instead, they seek to measure different
forms of nationalism and their spread. In this literature, nationalism can be
measured as a spectrum of levels of inclusion and exclusion and whether
it is endemic, virulent, or even violent (Bieber, 2018). More specifically,
measurements might involve a number of different attitudes. For example,
are citizens nationally identified? Do citizens have pride in the nation’s spe-
cific institutions,7 and does this lead to welfare nationalism or chauvinism
(Fernández-Barutell, 2021; Rydgren, 2003b)? Do citizens have certain criteria
for national membership? Do citizens trust other nationalities? Do citizens pri-
oritize the nation or rank the nation over various identities? Do citizens prefer
particular religious or racial(ized) identities over others (as in the case of Hindu
nationalism, or Christian and white nationalisms in Canada, certain European
countries, or the U.S.)? (Bracic et al., 2022; Dunbar-Ortiz, 2022; Kaufmann,
2020; Solomos et al., 2020). Do citizens believe the ‘nation’ has become too
soft or feminine – what might be called a gendered nationalism? (Bracic et al.,
2022). Do citizens vote for nationalists and does this lead to nationalist policies
and violent nationalism as expressed through ethnic violence, hate crimes, or
civil war (Bieber, 2018; Bonikowski and DiMaggio, 2016) and ultimately
‘generalized nationalism’? (Bracic et al., 2022).

The Spaces and Times of Nationalism

In our discussion above, we have referred to the ‘people’ and ‘community’

and the ‘ethnically defined nation,’ but who are ‘the people’ and how are they
spatially delimited? While most social scientists interested in nationalism
have been less interested in explicitly conceptualizing ‘space,’ others are
dedicated to the project (e.g., Herb and Kaplan, 2018; Yiftachel and Rokem,
2021), and Koch (2023) and Rembold and Carrier (2011) speak of a certain
‘spatial turn’ in understanding national identities over the last twenty years.
8 Migration and nationalism

Indeed, ‘the people’ or ‘communities’ to which nationalism appeals, do not

stop at national sovereign borders, as has been made clear by the long-standing
literature on transnational/diasporic identities and political mobilization across
international borders. Here we should underscore the significance of networks
between white-identified nationalists in Canada, much of Europe, the United
States and beyond (e.g., Hyman, 2020; Stern, 2022; Stewart, 2020; Varga and
Buzogány, 2022). Yet, we should also emphasize the complementary state-led
nationalism that extends citizenship of a particular nation state to ‘ethnic
nationals’ who have never lived in their ‘own’ country. We are thinking of
the German government’s preference for the Aussiedler (ethnic Germans
living in the former USSR) during the 1990s, the South Korean preference
for Joseonjok (ethnic Koreans living in China especially), or the Japanese
government’s preference for ‘ethnic Japanese’ living in South America (see
Higuchi, Chapter 7 in this book). Lastly, Hungary’s Prime Minister, Victor
Orbán’s shifting nationalist and white Christian supremacist ideas also had to
incorporate ethnic Hungarians beyond the Hungarian–Serbian border. In order
not to disrupt this trans-border nationalism, Orbán reinvented the border as one
between Christian Europe and an invasion of Muslims (Merabishvili, 2022).
Now, if explicit thinking about ‘spatial metaphors’ with respect to national-
ism and immigration still seems relatively inchoate, one cannot say the same
for the question of ‘time’. Here, the literature makes it clear that myths of
ethnic descent, focusing on genealogical ancestry, are of essential importance
to ethnic nationalism. The myths trace, and attempt to prove, a link between
the contemporary ethnic group, which claims the ‘right’ of the nation, and the
founder (or founders) of the nation, which is typically depicted as a hero, or
even a deity (Smith, 1999). In this respect, the myth of ethnic descent is a myth
of a Golden Age (see Levinger and Lytle, 2001). With this ideal of a Golden
Age, which typically is more fictitious than real, ethnic nationalists try to
define what is, normatively, distinctive about the national community in ques-
tion. As Smith put it, ethnic nationalists generally “define an ideal, which is not
so much to be resurrected (few nationalists want actually to return to the past,
even a golden past) as to be recreated in modern terms” (Smith, 1999: 263).
By contrasting the great culture and civilization of the ancestors with contem-
porary decline or decadence, the myth of a golden past helps articulate a quest
for renaissance (Smith, 1999). Besides the forgotten virtues, the roots of the
‘contemporary evil’ are sought in moral decay; that pleasure and vice have
overcome discipline and sacrifice; and that the old hierarchies have crumbled
away. Generally, the myth of decline tells a story of how the community lost
its anchor, by giving way to individualism and particularistic interests at the
expense of collective ideals (Smith, 1999). Golden ages are central for nation-
alist movements as sources of political legitimacy, authority and authenticity
that contribute toward narrating continuity against untoward change, crises, or
 Introduction 9

decline (Elgenius, 2011, 2015). In doing so, nationalists construct a past (often
of national grandeur) suitable for serving the political present. The discursive
content of ‘golden ages’ includes the need for moral guidance in a decaying
present (Elgenius and Rydgren, 2022). According to Smith, this is a call to
return, at least in spirit, to these earlier ‘golden’ ages of the nation’s history
(Smith, 2009: 36). Few radical right-wing parties wish to return to the periods
they idealize (Rydgren, 2018) but they gain direction for a political project to
reconstruct an otherwise doomed future on the basis of these, and the argument
is for some radical right-wing parties and movements to make their country
‘great again,’ and for others to at least make it more similar to the way it was
before (cf. Bonikowski, 2016). Thus, their ethnonationalist or racial claims are
closely associated with defining the nation that once was, through a historical
origin, cultural heritage, and significant national events. In doing so, the nation
is narrated as one continuous and unified community of people, despite the
overwhelming evidence against such notions (Elgenius, 2016, 2017, 2018).
For example, Yiftachel (2002) in the context of Israel/Palestine notes the
entanglement of territory (the ‘where’) and time (the ‘when’), and the ‘when’
involves a history of the nation that becomes mythical and homogenous in the
quest for territory. For South Africa, Misago and Landau (2022) claim that
“South Africa’s national project rests on a chronotope – a narrative configura-
tion of time, space, and morality” (p. 2). As Misago and Landau (2022) insist,
“contemporary political speech discursively excludes them [migrants] from
claims to a shared history” (ibid). Migrants become a threat to progress, espe-
cially economic progress, restorative justice, and liberation that were promised
to South African citizens at the end of Apartheid. “In spatially removing them,
they also run them out of national time” (ibid).

Is Nationalism Increasing?

Having devoted some time to conceptualizing nationalism, we now return to

the difficult question as to whether nationalism is increasing. The COVID-19
pandemic aside, popular commentators might point to epic policies such as
Brexit, or to the rise of individuals such as Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Xi Jinping,
Narendra Modi, Victor Obán, Vladimir Putin, and Donald Trump as irrefutable
evidence of the sharpening knives of nationalism, but such proclamations risk
confusing the explanans with the explanandum. Other scholars may not nec-
essarily attribute it to individuals or even to major episodes of sovereignty but
depart nonetheless from the premise that we are in a moment of ‘heightened
nationalism’ (e.g., Antonsich, 2020).
In the beginning of this Introduction, we argued that it is tempting to view
nationalism as a response to the ravages of neoliberal globalization, in other
words that nationalism has increased since say the 2008 ‘great recession.’
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is doubtful whether they would have succeeded had it not been for
the help of the friendly Esquimaux, who did everything in their power
for their visitors.
At one time, they all gave up the ship as lost. The ice closed
around them with such a crushing force, that the captain and crew
fled to the shelter of the Esquimaux snow houses, where they were
most hospitably received, and preparations were made to entertain
them all winter.
But the vessel escaped, it seemed, almost by a miracle, and the
crew returned to it very soon. Then the ice broke up into smaller
pieces and drifted away towards the open sea, and the ship
prepared to follow as soon as the channel should be sufficiently
open. The Esquimaux bade farewell to the whalers, and went off on
an expedition, partly for hunting, but chiefly to gather in their dogs
and reindeer under shelter for the winter, leaving a few old men and
boys to guard the settlement.
Polargno happened to be one of the boys left behind. The day
after the expedition started he walked down to the shore to see if the
bay was sufficiently open for the ship to start on its voyage. He found
that the vessel was enclosed in thin ice which extended for quite a
distance beyond in a solid sheet. But, as the weather was still
moderating, this ice would probably break up in a few hours. Some
sailors were packing up their things in a tent they had occupied on
the shore. They evidently expected certainly to get away this time.
But, before Polargno reached the place, they ran out of the tent, and
down towards the beach with exclamations of horror. Polargno ran
after them, and soon discovered the cause of their excitement.
Lower down could be seen the open sea, and, rising and falling on
the waves were blocks of ice, some large and some small. On one of
the largest floes stood a sailor, trying to ward off the attack of a polar
bear. The bear had evidently just arrived upon the scene, and was
walking around the man, preparatory to making a rush upon him. If
he once closed with the sailor there was small chance of the latter
escaping with his life. The ice floe, on which they both stood, was
now almost stationary, having become wedged in a mass of light,
loose pieces that were swaying back and forth on the water.
Having taken in this situation at a glance, Polargno did not hesitate
an instant, but ran down the shore at his best speed to a spot
opposite the ice-floe. The four sailors followed, but they could not
equal the speed of the Esquimaux boy, and when they arrived he
had taken off his outer suit and boots, retaining only his in-door suit,
and light seal-skin boots. The sailors could not imagine what the boy
was about, but their attention was absorbed in their comrade who
was in such deadly peril, and they paid little heed to Polargno. Two
of them had guns, but they found to their dismay, that these were of
no use. The distance was too great for them to aim at any particular
spot of the beast’s body, and a polar bear is very hard to kill, unless
a vital part is struck. If he were only wounded he would be so
infuriated that the sailor’s case would be hopeless. And, besides, the
bear was now on the farther side of the block of ice, and was thus
partly covered from their fire by the man’s body.
All this had passed in the space of a very few minutes; and now,
while they were wondering what they could do, and watching for a
chance to fire, the sailors suddenly discovered that the Esquimaux
boy was far on his way to the help of their comrade. He had made no
boast of what he was going to do. He had asked for no help. He
knew they could not give him any. The thin cakes of ice, which
dipped into the water under his light tread, would have sunk with the
weight of one of the sailors. He saw that a fellow-creature was in
danger of being killed by a ferocious animal; and, at once, without a
care for his own personal safety, he went to the rescue. He had, in
his belt, his knife and his hatchet, and, on these, and his dexterity
and quickness, and knowledge of the ways of polar bears, he relied
for success.
The sailors watched him, full of admiration for his courage, and for
his skill in jumping the floating cakes of ice that one would scarcely
expect to bear the weight of a bird. He seemed to select the largest
and strongest pieces, by a sort of quick instinct, and bounded from
one to another as lightly as a cat. A foot went into the water at nearly
every step, but he did not sink.
 Meantime the bear had advanced upon the sailor, who, it now was
seen, had a knife in his hand, prepared to do his best.
The Esquimaux boy had now reached the pack of loose ice
against which the ice floe had rested. This was firm, and he paused
an instant, before springing on to the floe. The sailors thought his
courage had failed at the last moment. But no! Polargno knew there
was no time to lose, and he required only this instant to see where
he could best strike the bear. There was no vital part at which he
could get a good stroke. All he could do at first was to divert the
bear’s attention from the sailor to himself.
He threw his hatchet straight at the side of the bear that was
exposed to him. It sank through the tough skin into the flesh, but the
wound was not a very severe one. The astonished animal turned,
and, seeing the boy who had now sprung upon the ice floe, not a
dozen yards from him, he made towards this new comer in a great
rage.
But Polargno was ready for him. He sprang aside, and quickly
struck his knife into the side of the bear. The animal fell, but was not
killed, and it tried to stagger up again; but, by this time, the sailor had
recovered his senses, for he had stood apparently stupefied when
the bear left him. He now came to the boy’s assistance, and,
together, they soon put an end to their formidable foe.
Polargno pulled off his hood, and waved it in the air, and shouted
“Hurrah!” This word and action he had learned from the sailors. By
this time the whole crew had come down from the ship, and they
also joyfully waved their hats, and shouted “Hurrah!”
But the two must be taken off the ice-floe before it went sailing out
into the sea. The pack of ice was, even now, moving faster, and gave
signs of breaking up. So a boat was got down from the ship as
speedily as possible, and some of the sailors, steering in and out of
the floating ice, went to their relief, and took them safely to the shore.
They intended to leave the carcass of the bear, but it went to
Polargno’s heart to see so much good meat wasted, and he begged
so hard for it, that the sailors waited long enough to tow it to shore,
though they were in a hurry to get back before the upper ice field
broke up.
You may wonder how the sailor and the bear got off on this ice-floe
together; as you, no doubt, feel sure they did not make an
appointment to meet there. The sailor told how he came there. It
happened this way: The day before, he had lost a small wallet,
containing some of his valuables, among the ice hummocks near the
shore. As soon as he discovered his loss he searched for the bag,
and his companions aided him. It could not be found, and, this day,
while the men were occupied in packing up the last of their effects,
he went out on the ice to look once more among the hummocks for
his wallet. He wandered some distance out, but the ice was solid and
firm. Suddenly he heard a noise like a sharp thunder clap, and the
next instant he was floating out into the open sea, with blocks of ice
swirling and tumbling about him in all directions. The ice had broken
loose, and there was no way for him to reach the shore. He called
and shouted, but his cries did not reach the ship, or the men in the
tent. He was afraid the floe he was on would go to pieces before he
could be rescued, and he knew it would be impossible for him to
swim through the masses of loose ice. His swift course was
fortunately arrested by the ice-pack, and he hoped there would be
time to rescue him before it was all swept away by the waves, as he
was sure he must soon be missed by his companions in the tent.
Just as he was comforting himself with this thought, he turned, and
saw a large polar bear sitting upon its haunches very near him, and
regarding him attentively.
As the polar bear is dead, and as he was not able to tell his own
story, either living or dead, in any language that we could
understand, I cannot inform you how he came to be sailing out to
sea on a cake of ice. But there he was, and greatly alarmed was the
sailor when he caught sight of him. He had the presence of mind,
however, not to make any sudden motion, and hoped by keeping
very still, to persuade the bear that he was only an inanimate object.
But the creature knew better than that. It is probable he had been
observing the sailor for some time, and the reason the man did not
notice the beast was because it was so nearly the color of the ice
hummocks. It soon crossed over to his ice-floe, and it was then that
the men in the tent first saw what had happened to their companion.

THE ICEBERGS CLOSED AROUND THE SHIP.

You may be sure the sailor was deeply grateful to the Esquimaux
boy. He had nothing to give his preserver, but he wanted to take him
home with him to New England, and take care of him ever after. But
nothing would induce Polargno to leave his beloved Greenland. The
captain, and such of the crew as had anything to give, loaded
Polargno and his parents with gifts. The parents took them all, but I
think they were very much surprised at this munificence, and at the
praise that the white men showered upon the boy for his brave deed.
They were very much pleased that he should have behaved so well
when called upon to do his duty; but it did not occur to them,
apparently, that he could possibly have done otherwise than he did,
though they admitted that it was a bold deed to go out single-handed
to fight a polar bear. The Esquimaux are a very brave people.
Courage is such a common quality among them that it excites no
surprise. But, of all their foes, the one they dread most is the polar
bear. But then here was a man in danger of being killed by a bear,
and the boy went to his assistance as a matter of course. That was
the way they looked at it.
They all had plenty of time to talk this over, for the ship did not get
away for a week after the hunting party returned. The ice closed
around it again; and again the sailors made up their minds to winter
there. The Esquimaux had told them of two ships that had remained
there too late the years before, and had become enclosed in
icebergs. Great masses of these icy mountains, descended upon the
doomed ships. The crews worked hard to get the ships free, even
dragging them out from among the icebergs on one occasion with
ropes. But it was all in vain. The vessels were destroyed, and the
crews lost all they had. The Esquimaux took them in their sledges to
a lower settlement, where they found a whaling ship that conveyed
them home. The ships were probably all gone now, and if this vessel
was in like manner destroyed, these sailors would be compelled to
stay all the season with the Esquimaux.
But, one day, the ice broke up with a great noise, and disappeared
as suddenly as it came, and the vessel sailed out of the bay in a
clear channel, the sailors having promised to return next year if they
could.
And, in a short time, snow and ice, and winter, and darkness
enveloped the place.
 But the Esquimaux did not care. They were used to it. They did
what work they could. They had abundant stores for the winter. And
they sat around their lamps, and told stories of the wonderful
adventures they had passed through, or heard of.
Polargno, we are agreed, is not handsome to our American eyes;
and he does not know how to read and write; and never even heard
of geography and arithmetic. And yet, I wonder how many well-
taught American boys would so bravely and unselfishly risk their
lives to save the life of another.
 TURTLES AND THEIR EGGS.

MATAMATA TURTLE.
How would you like this pretty creature for a pet? He can be
domesticated, and will stay with you very contentedly, if you put him
in a place where he can’t get away. If you leave an open gateway,
however, the chances are he will walk out of it some day, and return
no more. He does not go away because he is tired of being petted,
for he likes that; or because he does not like you, for perhaps, in his
heart, (if he has one) he is sorry to part from you. He goes simply
because he can. This restless disposition moves him to extend his
travels; and, no doubt, he intends to return at some future day. But
he never does.
If you have him in any place where he can do mischief you had
better keep an eye on him; otherwise he will be poking his long nose
into things that do not concern him in the least.
His two ends are not well balanced, his neck being so very long,
and his tail so very short! The fringe-like appendage hanging from
his neck gives it somewhat the appearance of a great centipede.
His small eyes have not a very intelligent expression, but our
matamata has quite sense enough to take very good care of himself.
His shell is really very pretty. It looks as if it were hung loosely
upon him for a canopy, and as if he might be just as well off without
it, especially as it must be somewhat heavy to carry around on all
occasions. But, if you consulted him upon the matter of removing it,
he would, at once, object. Probably he would draw his long neck
instantly within his shell, leaving not so much as the tip of his sharp
nose visible; then he would whisk in his ridiculous tail; and, lastly, in
would go his fat legs and feet; and there he would have as tight and
snug a house as possible.
Did you ever eat any turtles’ eggs? If not, I advise you to do so on
the first opportunity, for they are very good.
The turtles lay their eggs in the sand that the heat of the sun and
sand combined may hatch them at the proper time. As soon as they
are hatched the young turtles make their way to the water, where
they know how to provide their own living, without instruction. But, in
the warm countries, where turtles abound, it is a wonder that any
young ones manage to get out of their eggs.
For the eggs are esteemed such a luxury, that, as soon as the
laying season of the turtles is over, the natives turn out in great
numbers, and search the sands for eggs, which they collect by the
thousands, for sale, and for their own eating.
 SEARCHING THE SAND FOR TURTLES’ EGGS.
It is at this laying season that the South American Indians capture
great numbers of turtles. The turtles come out of the water at night,
in crowds, for the purpose of depositing their eggs. They dig
trenches in the sand; and, having placed their eggs in these, and
covered them, they all make a grand rush back to the water. Then
the Indians, who are on the watch, run after them, seize as many as
they can get hold of by the tails, and throw them over on their backs.
In this position a turtle is helpless, and the Indians can easily kill
them.
The flesh is excellent food; but what the Indians chiefly desire to
possess is the fine yellow fat with which the turtles are well supplied.
From this fat the Indians manufacture a superior kind of oil, for which
they find a ready sale.
If these turtles were as large as some of the West Indian turtles
that have been brought to this country, the Indians would not have
an easy task in turning them over.
 A FEW VOLCANOES.

A mountain with its great cone smoking like a chimney, or sending

up into the clouds a grand sheaf of flame, must be a splendid sight,
and one never to be forgotten. But when it begins to pour forth rivers
of hot lava it is time to get entirely out of sight of it, if you can. For
these streams of lava are sometimes very long.

RIVER OF RED-HOT LAVA FROM MOUNT ETNA.

A hundred years ago Etna poured forth such an immense river of
fiery stones, and liquid lava, and threw it out with such violence that
it rushed in cascades and whirling torrents for fifteen miles, burning
up everything in its course, until it finally plunged into the sea.
 This volcano has
an eruption once in a
while, but does not
often give the world
such a terrible one as
this. Sometimes the
lava only destroys the
fields and vineyards
near the mountain. It
is a small volcano,
but it has done a
good deal of damage.
Two hundred years
ago it entirely
destroyed the town of
Catania.
At a short distance
from it stands another
small volcano, which
is famous for the ruin
it has caused. You
have no doubt read
of the destruction of
the city of Pompeii;
and how it was
entirely buried under
the ashes thrown
from Vesuvius during
an eruption. Nearly
everybody in the
ERUPTION OF COTOPAXI IN 1741.
place at that time
perished, and now
people have to dig many feet under the ground to find the houses of
the buried city. A smaller city in the neighborhood, Herculaneum,
was buried at the same time, by the shower of ashes.
 This happened eighteen hundred years ago. But Vesuvius has not
been quiet ever since that time. There have been several eruptions.
In 1794 it hurled out torrents of fire from its top which rolled over a
town, a few miles distant, and burned it into ruins. Strange to say, the
town was rebuilt; and, a few years ago, Vesuvius visited it again with
a fiery flood, which, however, only destroyed part of the town.
A very much larger volcano, Cotopaxi, has, at different times, had
most frightful eruptions, but on account of its situation, has not done
so much damage as Etna and Vesuvius.
Just before an eruption occurs dull roars are heard inside of the
mountain, which seems to shake with the action of the lava boiling
up within it. Presently columns of smoke shoot up, then sheafs of
flame rise into the air with masses of cinders, and burning rocks. And
then the lava-streams pour over the sides, and roll down into the
plains.
Some volcanoes are always smoking when not in active eruption,
but the active volcanoes usually take long rests. The people who live
on, or near these burning mountains rely upon this fact for safety.
But it is not a very safe reliance, for their periods of rest are very
irregular; and they may break forth when least expected.
The greater number of these mountains throw out flames and lava,
but some send out hot mud instead, and others boiling water.
There are volcanoes that seem to have burned themselves out,
and are said to be extinct. Men can go down into the craters of
these, from whence the flames, and lava formerly issued, and
examine them. Some of these immense holes, or craters are now
filled with forests, and in others there are lakes. Others again are
nothing but rocky ravines.
Orizaba, in Mexico, is an extinct volcano, with a monstrous crater.
Persons standing on the opposite sides of this crater can barely see
each other, the distance between them is so great.
 CRATER OF ORIZABA.
The small volcanoes are more active than the large ones. Little
Stromboli is nearly always sending up flames, while the lofty
Cotopaxi is quiet sometimes for a century.
 THE ABSENT-MINDED BOTANIST.

The learned Mr. Nathaniel P. Reed, a native of New Jersey, and a

man well known to all the botanical and agricultural societies of the
civilized world, had, in the course of some thirty years spent in
patient and careful investigation into the structure and habits of
plants, acquired the power of completely abstracting his mind from
all its surroundings while engaged in his favorite pursuit. This was
often a very fortunate thing for him. But then, again, sometimes it
was very unfortunate.
He traveled everywhere, searching for specimens of plants. He
never seemed to get tired of this study. Over hot, sandy deserts, and
through savage forests he went undaunted; and, if he found a new
flower, or tree, he felt he was fully rewarded.
At last, he reached Cape Town in Southern Africa, a region he had
never before visited. A party of European hunters was just on the
point of starting on an expedition into the woods and jungles, and, in
an evil hour for them, asked Mr. Reed to join them. He at once
accepted the invitation, for it was a fine opportunity to hunt up new
plants.
I say it was in an evil hour that the hunters asked him because he
gave them so much trouble through his absent-mindedness. He was
a very entertaining traveling companion when not engaged in his
botanical studies, and so good-humored, and obliging that his
comrades did not grumble very much at the trouble he gave them.
But, nevertheless, he did cause them great anxiety, for they found
out that when he was searching for plants, or had a flower in his
hand analyzing it, he would put himself into situations of great peril
without knowing anything about it. And so, at least one of their
number always had to be on the lookout for Mr. Reed, to keep him
out of mischief.
For one thing, he would stray away from the main body. This was
against the rules of the expedition, for, in a forest full of wild beasts it
was necessary to keep together. Generally, when he wandered off
this way, he would be missed, and brought back before he had got
entirely out of sight. But, on three occasions, he managed to get lost,
without intending anything of the kind, and each time, he met with a
remarkable adventure.
The party had been out but a few days when he was lost for the
first time. He must have been absent two hours, when his
companions first missed him. At least no one could remember
having seen him for that length of time. What might not have
happened to him in those two hours, everywhere surrounded by
dangers? They immediately commenced the search for him.
They went back over the route they had traveled, and, at last,
found the place where Mr. Reed had left the caravan. They knew it
by the trampled bushes, and by the twigs broken off here and there,
and plants pulled up by the roots. Following these marks of his
progress they suddenly came out upon the banks of a river. And
there they saw the botanist. And, at the same time, all were struck
with horror at his situation. He, alone, was happily serene,
unconscious that any danger was near him.
Seated on a mossy bank, in the midst of tall reeds, on a peninsula
that extended pretty far out into the river, was their botanist. He had
an umbrella over his head to shield him from the sun, and was busily
engaged, arranging some “specimens” in his book of plants, which
he called an Herbarium. His back was towards the river, and so
absorbed was he in his occupation that he had not discovered that a
whole colony of crocodiles had come to pay him a visit. Neither did
he hear or see his companions although his face was turned directly
towards them.
The crocodiles had arranged themselves in a long row, with their
heads above the water, watching the botanist with great interest, and
evidently, meditating an attack upon him. How long they had been
there could not, of course, be known, but, in a few moments after the
hunters appeared upon the scene, the nearest crocodile seemed to
have made up his mind that a botanist was good to eat, and made
straight towards the land, followed by another huge beast.
 THE UNCONSCIOUS MR. REED.
Mr. Reed continued calmly to arrange his specimens.
Two men from the hunting party at once rushed forward upon the
peninsula, and fired upon the crocodiles. It was quite time, for two of
the foremost ones had reached the land. They rolled over into the
water, and all of the great beasts at once disappeared under the
surface of the river.
 The shots did arouse Mr. Reed’s attention, or else he had finished
his work; for he looked up, and said to his companions, who now
surrounded him:
“I have found one of the rarest of plants—the Iscodextiana—and it
has twelve stamens, just as I have always maintained.”
“I wonder if it would have agreed with the stomach of a crocodile!”
said one of the hunters.
Mr. Reed was so alarmed at the account of the peril to which he
had exposed himself, that it was a long time before he again
wandered from the caravan. The party had then formed a camp on
what was considered good hunting ground—that is in a forest
frequented by wild beasts. The hunters were successful in killing a
good many of these, and enjoyed the dangerous sport very greatly.
Meanwhile Mr. Reed continued his peaceful hunting of the wild
flowers, which grew all around in the most lavish profusion.
There were always some men left in the camp to guard it. One
day, when the hunters had returned, and were gathering around the
supper table, they missed Mr. Reed. On questioning the men who
had had charge of the camp, they could not remember when they
had last seen him. It was evident that he had wandered off to a
distance. If he got into one of his fits of abstraction there was no
knowing when he would ever find out he was lost, and try to get back
again.
Hastily swallowing some supper, a party of men went out in search
of the lost botanist, but were obliged to return to the camp without
him, for night came on, and the darkness was intense, and they
could not continue the search.
They retired to rest with heavy hearts, for they greatly feared their
very troublesome but very pleasant companion would fall a prey to
some wild beast. The sentinels on guard kept peering out into the
black forest, hoping to see the figure of their missing companion.
They kept up great fires as beacons to guide him to the camp.
In the middle of the night the whole camp was aroused by the
cries of the sentinels. The forest to the south of them was on fire.
The wind was high, and as there were many dead trees, and a great
deal of dry wood lying on the ground, the flames spread with great
rapidity. The hunters were not afraid that it would come their way, as
the wind blew it in an opposite direction. So they enjoyed the grand
spectacle.
In an hour the fire had extended through the woods for several
miles. The howls, and shrieks, and bellowings of hyenas, jackals,
lions, and tigers filled the air, as the frightened animals rushed out of
the flaming forest. A huge black form would sometimes loom up
against the red sky, and then seem to sink away into the darkness.
This was an elephant seeking refuge from the flames.
The hunters had watched the conflagration some time, when they
saw the figure of a man running towards them from the burning
woods. It was Mr. Reed! He had not been able to find the camp, he
said, until the fiery forest had made everything so bright that he
clearly saw the huts and tents from a long distance.
It appeared that he had lost his way while botanizing, but had
started on his return, confident he could follow his own trail back. But
he soon saw what he considered to be a flower. If so, it was larger
than any known to botanists. However he was not sure but it might
be a brilliantly colored mushroom. He forgot everything while
examining this, until, to his surprise, he found he could not see it.
Night had come on! He collected a quantity of dry wood into a heap,
and taking a match from his pocket applied it to the wood. This gave
him a bright light for the further examination of the plant.
He did not know how long it was after this that he discovered he
was nearly surrounded by burning wood, and that the forest was
roaring and crackling in front of him. He beat a retreat with all speed.