Britishness: Identity and Representation

Terminology: The British Isles, Britain, the UK?

  • The British Isles includes:

    • Ireland

    • England

    • Scotland

    • Wales

  • The British Islands includes:

    • The United Kingdom

    • The Isle of Man

    • The Channel Islands (Jersey, Guernsey)

    • Ireland

  • Political, cultural, and geographical borders do not coincide.

Britishness: Key Questions

  1. What is meant by Britishness?

  2. Can cultural identity be defined?

  3. How are British cultural identities represented?

Topical Debate on Britishness

*Emerging in the context of three events:
1. Introduction of the Life in the UK Test (2005).
2. The Scottish Independence referendum (2014).
3. The Brexit referendum (2016).

Perspectives on Britishness

  • David Sinclair-Benstead:

    • Born in Scotland, lived most of his life in England.

    • Feels British but wouldn't support Scottish independence.

    • Britishness means the royal family and tradition.

    • Values the Queen's role in stopping dictatorship.

    • Britishness includes quirky things such as morris dancing and cheese rolling.

  • Alan Ward:

    • Considers himself English and a Yorkshireman.

    • Yorkshire identity is important to older people.

    • Bradford is full of foreigners, and the communities live separately.

    • Believes foreigners are outbreeding the British people.

  • Tom Stinchcombe:

    • Considers himself British rather than English.

    • Scotland, England and Wales need to stick together.

    • Britishness means living under a democracy and having the freedom to do what you want with your life.

    • Parliament embodies Britishness.

    • Wants Britain to be an ideas bank for the world.

The Guardian Article: A Britain Proud of its Present and Realistic About Its Past

  • The National Centre for Social Research's British social attitudes survey shows:

    • A country that has become less nationalistic and jingoistic.

    • Less "proud" or "very proud" of British history.

    • Declines in pride in Britain's democracy, its political influence and its economic achievements.

    • Pride remained constant and high in sport, and art and literature.

  • Younger generations' idea of Britishness revolves around a “civic identity” rather than an ethnic one.

  • 70% of people over 65 feel "it is important for someone to have been born in Britain", compared to 41% of those under 35.

Historical Context of Britishness

  • 1603: James VI & I of Scotland and England.

  • 1707: First Act of Union (England, Wales, Scotland) à Great Britain.

  • 1801: Second Act of Union (GB & Ireland) à the United Kingdom.

  • The UK is called an “invention”, a “created state”.

    • Not something that is centuries old.

    • An administrative construct with a complex impact on “the daily texture of its peoples’ experiences, and increasingly on their ideas and identities”.

    • The idea of ‘Britishness’ could manifest itself in two different, seemingly contradictory ways:

      • A broad, aggressive and assertive sense of Protestant distinctiveness.

      • This often co-existed with a marked perception of vulnerability and of external threats.

The Nation as an Imagined Community (Anderson, 1983)

  • A nation is a socially constructed community, imagined by the people who perceive themselves as part of that group.

  • Its members hold in their minds a mental image of their affinity.

  • Constructed but felt to be authentic and timeless.

  • Imagined because the members will never know or meet most of their fellow-members, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion and the idea of deep comradeship.

Shared National Identity

  • Emerged in the 19th century among romanticist thinkers.

  • The nation appears as an organic and spiritual unity: the sum of its various components, which can be read/interpreted individually as expressions of the national consciousness.

  • Linked to authenticity and shared cultural heritage.

  • Hobsbawm & Ranger’s (1983) perspective on nationalism:

    • Nationalism as an “invention” by social elites.

    • Nations formed arbitrarily.

    • Concept of “invented traditions” → creates superficial cultural heritage.

  • Example: British Crown traditions:

    • Appear deeply rooted in history.

    • Actually ‘invented’ in the 19th century.

    • Purpose: to legitimise the monarchy.

Defining Cultural Identity

  • Culture encompasses the practices and beliefs that people encounter and share, including events, ideas, images and narratives.

  • Contemporary British culture is a mixture of all the cultures of the past that people are influenced by.

  • Identity is not static and essentialist, but performative: this means that identities are constructed in practices, narratives and representations (Hall, 1997).

  • As far as national cultural identities are concerned, this performative quality also implies that some traditions may be “invented traditions” (Hobsbawm & Ranger, 1983).

Defining Identity Politically: The Life in the UK Test

  • In 2005, the New Labour government (PM Tony Blair) launched the Life in the UK test for foreigners who want to apply for British citizenship.

  • Why: response to the increase in mass migration after the expansion of the European Union in 2004.

  • Goal: promote participatory citizenship.

  • Under Conservative governments more emphasis placed on testing historical and cultural facts.

  • Criticism: outdated, too patriotic and of little practical relevance.

Examples of Questions from the Life in the UK Test

  • The line ‘a rose by any other name’ belongs to which of the following plays or poems written by William Shakespeare?

    • Hamlet

    • As You Like It

    • Romeo and Juliet

    • Henry V

  • Which Anglo-Saxon poem is about a hero’s battle against monsters and has been translated into modern English?

    • Braveheart

    • Paradise Lost

    • Beowulf

    • Canterbury Tales

  • When was the National Health System (NHS) established?

    • 1952

    • 1934

    • 1945

    • 1948

  • Which religious community celebrates Vaisakhi?

    • Muslim

    • Hindu

    • Sikh

    • Jewish

  • Which politicians are members of the Shadow Cabinet?

    • Civil servants working for the government

    • Peers from the House of Lords

    • Senior members of the main opposition party

    • The remaining MPs in Government who are not in the Cabinet

Criticisms of the UK Citizenship Test

  • Too heavily concentrated on history, not enough on practical knowledge.

  • The test should focus on how well you can cope with day-to-day life in the UK.

  • The handbook promotes the misleading view that the Empire came to an end simply because the British decided it was the right thing to do.

  • The book is equally silent about colonial protests, uprisings and independence movements.

  • Historians call for a review of Home Office citizenship and settlement test.

  • The horrors of colonialism and slavery were unsurprisingly glossed over, incorporated into a triumphalist narrative of Britain as an unequivocal force for good in the world.

Rule Britannia Faces Axe in BBC's 'Black Lives Matter Proms'

  • The BBC is discussing whether to drop Rule Britannia and Land of Hope and Glory from the Last Night of the Proms in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement.

  • The traditional anthems are hugely popular with the flag-waving prommers who ordinarily cram into the Royal Albert Hall, but organisers fear a backlash because of their perceived association with colonialism and slavery.

Pride, Patriotism, and Nationalism in a Postcolonial World

  • “Collective identity and action can supply a focus for pride in a society and enable people to improve their material conditions, but, from another perspective, both patriotism and nationalism are uneasy notions in today’s postcolonial world.” (Storry and Childs, 2017, p. 6)

Representations of British Cultural Identities

Self-Image of a Rural Society

  • Countryside innocence.

Value of Heritage

  • Respect for history and traditions.

  • Traditional vs dissenting voices.

British Inularity

  • An "island race".

English Character

  • Stubborn.

  • Commercially minded.

  • Middle-class.

Traditional Narratives

  • Nostalgia for a Britain that was feared lost.

Multicultural Narratives

  • Serious and silly, subversive and mainstream, high and low.

  • Danny Boyle's Olympics opening ceremony could only have been made by a British artist.

The Elusive Nature of British Identity

  • A feeling rather than a government policy.

  • Not only ‘invented’ and ‘represented’ but a long-term arrangement.

  • Not only defined on the basis of ‘otherness’.

  • Derived from a living relationship with the past.

  • Requires people’s willingness and motivation.

Historical Events

  • The Great Exhibition (1851) Displays of British industrial and imperial power.

  • The Festival of Britain (1951)

  • The Millennium Dome (2001)

Additional Material

  • Please watch at home before lecture 2 (23 April 2025): History of Modern Britain (Marr, 2007) – 04 Revolution 1979
    https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x60gny8