Rethinking the National in Comparative Education

Abstract In the 1960s, nations were often defined by shared traits such as language, religion, history, territory, and race, with nation-building efforts focused on emphasising these commonalities through tools like language policy and history education. While this model still appears in some conservative circles through practices like nationality tests, it is increasingly untenable in an era of global mobility and multiculturalism, where no country exhibits true homogeneity. In fact, the notion of uniform nationhood was always more myth than reality, particularly when considering nations like the Soviet Union, Nigeria, South Africa, Brazil, Malaysia, or India. Despite this, there has been little effort to reconceptualise nationhood in ways that embrace diversity, even as some have questioned the relevance of the nation in an age of internationalism and cosmopolitanism. This paper explores why the concept of the nation remains significant in comparative and international education and examines how diverse individuals might collectively constitute something as complex and elusive as a nation.