Contemporary British Identity

Author : Christina Julios
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351161180
Total Pages : 280 pages
Book Rating : 4.83/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Contemporary British Identity written by Christina Julios and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-11-30 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Against the background of an increasingly diverse British society, this book traces the evolution of British identity in the twentieth century. Debates exploring the nature of Britishness and multiculturalism are here deconstructed through a linguistic lens, which considers the role played by the English language in shaping Britain's national identity. Within this context, two significant historical events are considered: the expansionism of nineteenth century British Empire, and the subsequent rise of the United States to the position of world superpower. In charting the development of British nationhood over time, the book identifies three contrasting public narratives, each reflecting society's perceptions of the identity question at particular points in time: a discourse of laissez-faire at the turn of the century; a discourse of multiculturalism in the ensuing decades; and a discourse of integration during the closing years. The book raises fundamental questions about who we are as a nation and how we got here. It also provides clues as to the direction the prevailing public discourse on British identity is likely to take in the twenty-first century.

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134469608
Total Pages : 318 pages
Book Rating : 4.04/5 ( download)

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Download or read book British Cultural Identities written by and published by Routledge. This book was released on with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Sara Upstone
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317914805
Total Pages : 217 pages
Book Rating : 4.08/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Rethinking Race and Identity in Contemporary British Fiction written by Sara Upstone and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-10-04 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book takes a post-racial approach to the representation of race in contemporary British fiction, re-imagining studies of race and British literature away from concerns with specific racial groups towards a more sophisticated analysis of the contribution of a broad, post-racial British writing. Examining the work of writers from a wide range of diverse racial backgrounds, the book illustrates how contemporary British fiction, rather than merely reflecting social norms, is making a radical contribution towards the possible future of a positively multi-ethnic and post-racial Britain. This is developed by a strategic use of the realist form, which becomes a utopian device as it provides readers with a reality beyond current circumstances, yet one which is rooted within an identifiable world. Speaking to the specific contexts of British cultural politics, and directly connecting with contemporary debates surrounding race and identity in Britain, the author engages with a wide range of both mainstream and neglected authors, including Ian McEwan, Zadie Smith, Julian Barnes, John Lanchester, Alan Hollinghurst, Martin Amis, Jon McGregor, Andrea Levy, Bernardine Evaristo, Hanif Kureishi, Kazuo Ishiguro, Hari Kunzru, Nadeem Aslam, Meera Syal, Jackie Kay, Maggie Gee, and Neil Gaiman. This cutting-edge volume explores how contemporary fiction is at the centre of re-thinking how we engage with the question of race in twenty-first-century Britain.

Author : Irene Morra
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1135048959
Total Pages : 266 pages
Book Rating : 4.52/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Britishness, Popular Music, and National Identity written by Irene Morra and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-10-30 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a major exploration of the social and cultural importance of popular music to contemporary celebrations of Britishness. Rather than providing a history of popular music or an itemization of indigenous musical qualities, it exposes the influential cultural and nationalist rhetoric around popular music and the dissemination of that rhetoric in various forms. Since the 1960s, popular music has surpassed literature to become the dominant signifier of modern British culture and identity. This position has been enforced in popular culture, literature, news and music media, political rhetoric -- and in much popular music itself, which has become increasingly self-conscious about the expectation that music both articulate and manifest the inherent values and identity of the modern nation. This study examines the implications of such practices and the various social and cultural values they construct and enforce. It identifies two dominant, conflicting constructions around popular music: music as the voice of an indigenous English ‘folk’, and music as the voice of a re-emergent British Empire. These constructions are not only contradictory but also exclusive, prescribing a social and musical identity for the nation that ignores its greater creative, national, and cultural diversity. This book is the first to offer a comprehensive critique of an extremely powerful discourse in England that today informs dominant formulations of English and British national identity, history, and culture.

Author : Martin Upham
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780993454974
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.76/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Britain Explained written by Martin Upham and published by . This book was released on 2017-05-18 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explains the complexities of British identity as expressed in politics, education, the economy, law, culture, sport, religion and social attitudes. For international and UK students taking courses covering British society and culture and the general reader wishing to understand a country divided by Brexit.The 2016 EU referendum underlined Britain's differences from its continental neighbours. But it also demonstrated how this 'united' kingdom is in many ways very disunited. England and Wales voted one way, Northern Ireland and Scotland the other; and within England the provinces voted against London. Such divisions are nothing new. Clashing interests and identities are expressed in every aspect of British history and contemporary life. Author Martin Upham spent many years explaining the complexities of British identity to Americans 'studying abroad' in London, where he was the director of AHA International (now GEO). This book is based on that experience. The result is a fascinating expedition that will entertain and educate not just students of British society and culture and those coming from abroad but also general readers concerned about the state of Britain − whether they are Brexiters or Remainers.Illustrated throughout.

Author : Lauri Ramey
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 1403981132
Total Pages : 187 pages
Book Rating : 4.34/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Black British Writing written by Lauri Ramey and published by Springer. This book was released on 2004-09-03 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of essays provides an imaginative international perspective on ways to incorporate black British writing and culture in the study of English literature, and presents theoretically sophisticated and practical strategies for doing so. It offers a pedagogical, pragmatic and ideological introduction to the field for those without background, and an integrated body of current and stimulating essays for those who are already knowledgeable. Contributors to this volume include scholars and writers from Britain and the U.S. Following on recent developments in African American literature, postcolonial studies and race studies, the contributors invite readers to imagine an enhanced and inclusive British canon through varied essays providing historical information, critical analysis, cultural perspective, and extensive annotated bibliographies for further study.

Author : Thomas Hajkowski
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781526118844
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.4X/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The BBC and National Identity in Britain, 1922-53 written by Thomas Hajkowski and published by . This book was released on 2017-02-21 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the first study of how the BBC, through radio, tried to represent what it meant to be British. The book combines an examination of the BBC's desire to construct a strong, unitary sense of Britishness (through empire and the monarchy) with a thorough consideration of the broadcasting in the non-English parts of the United Kingdom.

Author : Tracy J. Prince
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 0786462949
Total Pages : 233 pages
Book Rating : 4.40/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Culture Wars in British Literature written by Tracy J. Prince and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2012-09-21 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The past century's culture wars that Britain has been consumed by, but that few North Americans seem aware of, have resulted in revised notions of Britishness and British literature. Yet literary anthologies remain anchored to an archaic Anglo-English interpretation of British literature. Conflicts have been played out over specific national vs. British identity (some residents prefer to describe themselves as being from Scotland, England, Wales, or Northern Ireland instead of Britain), in debates over immigration, race, ethnicity, class, and gender, and in arguments over British literature. These debates are strikingly detailed in such chapters as: "The Difficulty Defining 'Black British'," "British Jewish Writers" and "Xenophobia and the Booker Prize." Connections are also drawn between civil rights movements in the U.S. and UK. This generalist cultural study is a lively read and a fascinating glimpse into Britain's changing identity as reflected in 20th and 21st century British literature.

Author : Krishan Kumar
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107320097
Total Pages : 615 pages
Book Rating : 4.93/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Making of English National Identity written by Krishan Kumar and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2003-03-13 with total page 615 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why is English national identity so enigmatic and so elusive? Why, unlike the Scots, Welsh, Irish and most of continental Europe, do the English find it so difficult to say who they are? The Making of English National Identity, first published in 2003, is a fascinating exploration of Englishness and what it means to be English. Drawing on historical, sociological and literary theory, Krishan Kumar examines the rise of English nationalism and issues of race and ethnicity from earliest times to the present day. He argues that the long history of the English as an imperial people has, as with other imperial people like the Russians and the Austrians, developed a sense of missionary nationalism which in the interests of unity and empire has necessitated the repression of ordinary expressions of nationalism. Professor Kumar's lively and provocative approach challenges readers to reconsider their pre-conceptions about national identity and who the English really are.

Author : Sara Upstone
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1317914813
Total Pages : 194 pages
Book Rating : 4.15/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Rethinking Race and Identity in Contemporary British Fiction written by Sara Upstone and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2016-10-04 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book takes a post-racial approach to the representation of race in contemporary British fiction, re-imagining studies of race and British literature away from concerns with specific racial groups towards a more sophisticated analysis of the contribution of a broad, post-racial British writing. Examining the work of writers from a wide range of diverse racial backgrounds, the book illustrates how contemporary British fiction, rather than merely reflecting social norms, is making a radical contribution towards the possible future of a positively multi-ethnic and post-racial Britain. This is developed by a strategic use of the realist form, which becomes a utopian device as it provides readers with a reality beyond current circumstances, yet one which is rooted within an identifiable world. Speaking to the specific contexts of British cultural politics, and directly connecting with contemporary debates surrounding race and identity in Britain, the author engages with a wide range of both mainstream and neglected authors, including Ian McEwan, Zadie Smith, Julian Barnes, John Lanchester, Alan Hollinghurst, Martin Amis, Jon McGregor, Andrea Levy, Bernardine Evaristo, Hanif Kureishi, Kazuo Ishiguro, Hari Kunzru, Nadeem Aslam, Meera Syal, Jackie Kay, Maggie Gee, and Neil Gaiman. This cutting-edge volume explores how contemporary fiction is at the centre of re-thinking how we engage with the question of race in twenty-first-century Britain.