Ulf Hannerz

When culture is everywhere: Reflections on a favorite concept

Current debates over the concept of culture are examined, especially with regard to the relationship of culture to bounded collectivities, human nature, and individuality; present‐day views are seen against the background of back‐and‐forth swings in the history of anthropological thought. Recent theorizing about cultural acquisition is also considered.

The withering away of the Nation? an afterword

The article examines the argument that the nation, and national sentiments, are now in decline. It identifies contemporary social categories whose ties to individual national settings may become tenuous or ambiguous, and it suggests that in some instances they may be engaged in shaping transnational cultures which cannot be labeled “superficial.” While print language may have supported the delineation of nations as imagined communities, the symbolic modes involved in other media technologies may draw cultural boundaries differently.