Building on Emerging Communities and Nations
Nationalism is defined as a sentiment based on common cultural characteristics that binds a population and often produces sociopolitical loyalty or devotion to one’s country. As a legacy of the colonialism that has existed between the 17th and 20th centuries, many of the nations that exist today were oddly created and determined. Therefore, at least throughout the last century, these nations have had strange internal compositions and grouped together seemingly unrelated individuals. For instance, when looking at a map or the specific geography of a country, a first point of discussion can be the uncommon geographical composition of developing nations. Unlike what can be referred to as the conventional geography of nations, countries like South Africa, Azerbaijan, and Indonesia seem to have a particular relation between the construct of their citizen and their corresponding power structures.
Building on Emerging Communities and Nations
In the specific case of South Africa, when observing a map of the country, it is evident that there are several sociocultural nations within its national boundaries given the fact the Kingdom of Lesotho, “land of the people who speak Sesotho”, stands as a political island of a different people in the middle of the South African nation. Likewise, one could ask, what makes someone from the near-border town of Springbok feel a closer companionship to his fellow South African in Cape Town than to a Namibian just across the border? In such cases, the peculiar shape of postcolonial emerging nations defies what is traditionally conceived of as a national cohesion and connections through a land continuum.
Within this context, we can think about the construct of the nation and what gives cohesion to any given state, particularly those who are diverse from within. Moreover, the ongoing dynamic of globalization and the movement towards supra-national entities, such as the European Union, seem to further challenge the importance of fixed national identities. Nevertheless, throughout the second half of the 20th century and to this day, emerging nations have brought together multiple groups into a single nation state, which must manage to coexist, define their self-identity, and even contest adverse stereotypes imposed upon them throughout history. Therefore, individuals in emerging regions rally around the shared institutions and economic agendas of their political units in order to create a nation out of a somewhat artificial boundary.
In this regard, by participating in Farmfolio’s offerings, international investors are contributing to the common economic project of rural communities in emerging countries. Furthermore, Farmfolio’s investors become owners of productive agricultural projects that are actively engaged in shortening the distance between farms and the tables in families’ homes. This is why, through Farmfolio’s initiatives in Panama and Colombia, our CEO Dax Cooke wants international investors to capitalize on agriculture as a unique natural resource by way of a new and innovative asset class. Farmfolio’s Farmshare offerings contribute socially and economically to the Latin American communities where they are settled by empowering them to grow and upscale their entrepreneurial vision, while yielding high returns for our clients and investors.
(Read more about Electoral Politics and Agribusiness in Paraguay)