{{Short description|American political scientist (1926–2017)}} {{Infobox person | name = Walker Connor | image = | caption = | image_size = | birth_date = {{birth date|1926|6|19}} | birth_place = [[South Hadley, Massachusetts]], United States | death_date = {{death date and age|2017|2|28|1926|6|19}} | death_place = [[Mount Holly, Vermont]] | education = [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]], [[University of Massachusetts Amherst]] [[Master of Arts|M.A.]], [[Ph.D.]], [[Georgetown University]] | occupation = [[Political Scientist]] | title = [[Distinguished Visiting Professor]] | employer = [[Middlebury College]] }} '''Walker F. Connor''' (June 19, 1926 – February 28, 2017) was [[Distinguished Visiting Professor]] of [[Political Science]] at [[Middlebury College]] (Middlebury, Vermont, USA). Connor is best known for his work on [[nationalism]] and is considered one of the founders of the [[interdisciplinary]] [[field of study|field]] of [[nationalism studies]].<ref>{{cite web|title=WALKER CONNOR Obituary|url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?pid=184412022|work=The New York Times|accessdate=11 April 2017}}</ref>
Before the collapse of European [[communism]] that began in the late 1980s, nationalism was not a subject of significant academic study and was generally neglected,{{citation needed|date=September 2011}} with the exception of some major contributions by authors such as [[Ernest Gellner]], [[Benedict Anderson]], and [[Anthony D. Smith]].<ref name="Gellner 2005">{{cite book|last=Gellner|first=Ernest|title=Nations and Nationalism|publisher=Blackwell|year=2005|edition=Second|isbn=1-4051-3442-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jl7t2yMfxwIC}}</ref><ref name="Anderson 1991">{{cite book|last=Anderson|first=Benedict|title=Imagined Communities|publisher=Verso|location=London|year=1991|edition=Second|isbn=0-86091-546-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4mmoZFtCpuoC}}</ref><ref name="Smith 1983">{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Anthony D.|title=Theories of Nationalism|publisher=Duckworth|edition=Second|location=London|year=1983|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sLMZAAAAMAAJ|isbn=0-7156-0584-4}}</ref> Connor’s work was another exception to this rule, and today he is regarded as “one of the scholars of nationalism and ethnic conflict who has contributed most towards establishing a conceptual grounding” for the study of nationalism.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Daniele|last=Conversi|contribution=Conceptualizing nationalism: An introduction to Walker Connor’s work|title=Ethnonationalism in the Contemporary World: Walker Connor and the Study of Nationalism|editor-first=Daniele|editor-last=Conversi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NnT44L7HZ8UC|isbn=0-415-33273-7|location=London|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|page=1}}</ref>
Widely cited for his insistence on the inherently [[ethnic]] character of nationalism, which he called ''ethnonationalism'' to emphasize the point, Connor long held that the most significant obstacle to advancing the study of nationalism is [[terminology|terminological]] imprecision. Particularly problematic, he contended, is the tendency to [[conflation|conflate]] the distinct concepts of [[State (polity)|state]] and [[nation]], as well as the respective concepts of [[patriotism]] and nationalism which derive from them.<ref name="Connor 1994">{{Cite book|last=Connor|first=Walker|title=Ethnonationalism: The Quest for Understanding|location=Princeton, New Jersey|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1994|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bmgineq0r3MC|isbn=0-691-02563-0}}</ref>
Connor viewed the nation as a "self-differentiating ethnic group" that believes its members are ancestrally related, forming a "fully extended family." He believed that nationalism belongs to the realm of the "subconscious" and the "nonrational" (which he distinguished from "irrational"), rooted in the deep psychological bond of common ancestry. He argued that [[national identity]] is not dependent on academic accuracy.<ref>Connor, ''Ethnonationalism'', 202-03.</ref>
Connor is also well known for his critiques of [[Marxist-Leninist]] theories of nationalism in his book, ''The National Question in Marxist-Leninist Theory and Strategy'',<ref name="Connor 1984">{{cite book|last=Connor|first=Walker|title=The National Question in Marxist-Leninist Theory and Strategy|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, New Jersey|year=1984|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ei1HHgAACAAJ|isbn=0-691-07655-3}}</ref> in which he argues that the Marxist view of nationalism as merely a byproduct of economic conditions ensured they failed to suppress nationalism as they did not understand that ethnic identity and by extension nationalism was separate from economic or class interests.
==Academic appointments and honours== Connor held resident appointments at, among others, [[Harvard]], [[Dartmouth College|Dartmouth]], [[Trinity College (Connecticut)|Trinity (Hartford)]], [[California State Polytechnic University, Pomona|Pomona]], [[Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute]], the [[London School of Economics]], the [[Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars]], [[University of Oxford|Oxford]], [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]], [[Rockefeller Foundation#Bellagio Center|Bellagio]], [[Warsaw University|Warsaw]], [[National University of Singapore|Singapore]], and the Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in Ethnicity and Multicultural Citizenship at [[Queen's University at Kingston]].
The [[University of Nevada, Reno|University of Nevada]] named him Distinguished American Humanist of 1991-92, and the [[University of Vermont]] named him Distinguished American Political Scientist of 1997.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ethnonationalism in the Contemporary World: Walker Connor and the Study of Nationalism|editor-first=Daniele|editor-last=Conversi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NnT44L7HZ8UC|isbn=0-415-33273-7|location=London|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|page=x}}</ref>
==Selected publications== ===Publications by Connor=== *{{cite journal|last=Connor|first=Walker|year=2004|title=The Timelessness of Nations|journal=Nations and Nationalism|volume=10|issue=1/2|pages=35–47|doi=10.1111/j.1354-5078.2004.00153.x}} *{{Cite book|last=Connor|first=Walker|title=Ethnonationalism: The Quest for Understanding|location=Princeton, New Jersey|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1994|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bmgineq0r3MC|isbn=0-691-02563-0}} *{{cite book|last=Connor|first=Walker|title=The National Question in Marxist-Leninist Theory and Strategy|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, New Jersey|year=1984|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ei1HHgAACAAJ|isbn=0-691-07655-3}}
===Publications by other authors=== * {{Cite book|title=Ethnonationalism in the Contemporary World: Walker Connor and the Study of Nationalism|editor-first=Daniele|editor-last=Conversi|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NnT44L7HZ8UC|isbn=0-415-33273-7|location=London|publisher=Routledge|year=2004}} (Includes a bibliography of Connor's work from 1967-2001.)
==Notes== {{reflist}}
==External links==
===Video=== * {{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/pu_walkerconnor|title=Religion and Nation: Competitors or Reinforces?|last=Connor|first=Walker|date=2006-06-03|publisher=Internet Archive / Middlebury College|accessdate=2008-08-02}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Connor, Walker}} [[Category:2017 deaths]] [[Category:1926 births]] [[Category:United States Army personnel of World War II]] [[Category:American political scientists]] [[Category:Georgetown University alumni]] [[Category:Harvard University staff]] [[Category:People from South Hadley, Massachusetts]] [[Category:Scholars of nationalism]] [[Category:University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni]]