The Goddess, the Boot, and the Square

The chapter traces the transformation of an imaginary of the nation-state initially equated with the body of the sovereign to one where the national outline and the body of the citizen have become coextensive. If anthropomorphic and zoomorphic maps emerged at a time when it was crucial to present the nation-state as a natural and organic entity, the chapter shows that modern representations have become more sophisticated but that organic metaphors continue to undergird and sustain the notion of the nation-state. Using ethnographic examples from beyond the Euro-American region, the chapter also shows that the presence of somatic analogies, albeit in other forms, in places as diverse as Thailand, Mongolia, or Tibet, have turned the potent melding of corporeality and nationhood into a truly global narrative.