Imagined community

Imagine if you had a big group of friends, but you only see some of them once in a while. But even if you don't see them all the time, you still feel like you belong to a special group with these friends. You might call this group your "imaginary" friends because they aren't always with you, but you still have a special connection with them.

An imagined community is kind of like this group of imaginary friends. It's a group of people who might not know each other well or even meet each other in person, but they still feel like they belong to the same community. This community could be a country, a religious group, or even fans of a sports team.

People feel like they are part of an imagined community because they share things in common with other people in that community, like language, traditions, and values. Even if they don't know each other personally, they feel connected to each other because they are part of this larger group that shares these things.

So, even though the community might not be physically present all the time, people still think of themselves as part of that community because they imagine that they are a part of something bigger together.