Anthropological theorist of nationalism, worked toward understanding nationalism as a constructed, historically contingent, and relatively recent phenomenon in political and individual identity. He defined a nation as "an imagined political community - imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign." Also made a case for the key role played by print media in the formation of nationalisms, in that it allowed for the conceptualization of a language group as a political community, valorized the popular tongue, and allowed for, well, communication with masses of people at a distance.