This is a critical discussion of Benedict Anderson’s best selling and highly influential Imagined Communities (1983/1996). This book is located within the Marxist tradition of deliberation on the crucial topic of nationhood and nationalism, which were both regarded as highly problematic in relation to the prospects for proletarian revolution. The manner in which this came to be very influential outside Marxism is discussed, in particular reference to some major features of symbolic interactionism. The final portion of the article deals with the considerable limitations of Marxism in general and the wider study of nationalism. In this respect it is argued that a global vision must necessarily precede any plausible discussion of the “units” that constitute the world as a whole. This vision is demonstrated through invocation of cartography and mapmaking. These are characterized as features of global cultures and consciousness, thereby strongly criticizing the emphasis on connectivity both in the work of Anderson and of most globalization theorists.
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