The words we use these days, to refer to what we take to be the elementary building blocks of global pokit order--"nation," "state," "country," "society," "people"--have a disturbing ambiguity...On the one hand, we use them interchangeably, as though they were synonyms. "France" or "Hungary," "China" or "Cambodia," "Mexico" or "Ethiopia...are all of these at once--nations, states, countries, societies, and peoples. On the other hand, we perceive them as leading us off...in rather directions: tpeard blood, race, descent...; toward political and civic loyalty...; toward geographical aggregation...; toward interaction, companionship, and practical association...; toward cultural, historical, linguistic, religious, or psychological affinity---a quiddity of spirit.
-Available Light, Clifford Geertz, ch. XI, "The World in Pieces: Culture and Politics at the End of the Century (2000)
-Available Light, Clifford Geertz, ch. XI, "The World in Pieces: Culture and Politics at the End of the Century (2000)
