According to some scholars, anational identityof theEnglishas the people or ethnic group dominant inEnglandcan be traced to theAnglo-Saxon period.
For Lindy Brady and Marc Morris,Bede'sEcclesiastical History of the English Peopleand the construction ofOffa's Dykeexemplifies the establishment of such an identity as early as AD 731, becoming a national identity with the unification of theKingdom of Englandin the ninth and tenth centuries, and changing status once again in the eleventh century after theNorman Conquest,whenEnglishrycame to be the status of the subject indigenous population.[1][2][further explanation needed]Similarly,Adrian Hastingsconsiders England to be the oldest example of a "mature nation", and links the development of this nationhood to theChristian Churchand spread of written popular languages to existing ethnic groups.[3]
In contrast,John Breuillyrejects the notion these examples constituted "national" identity and criticizes the assumption that continued usage of a term such as 'English' means continuity in its meaning.[4]Patrick J. Gearyagrees, arguing names were adapted to different circumstances by different powers and could convince people of continuity, even if radical discontinuity was the lived reality.[5]Geary also rejects the conflation of early medieval and contemporary group identities as a myth, arguing it is a mistake to conclude continuity based on the recurrence of names and that historians fail to recognize the differences between earlier ways of perceiving group identities and more contemporary attitudes, stating they are "trapped in the very historical process we are attempting to study".[6]
From the eighteenth century, the terms 'English' and 'British' began to be seen as interchangeable to many of the English.[7]
While the officialUnited Kingdom censusdoes record ethnicity, English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British is a single tick-box under the "White" heading for the answer to the ethnicity question asked in England and Wales (while making the distinction ofwhite Irish).[8][9]
Although Englishness andBritishnessare used synonymously in some contexts,[10]the two terms are not identical, and the relation of each to the other is complex. Englishness is often a response to different national identities within Britain, such asScottishness,Irishness,WelshnessandCornishness.[11]
Sometimes Englishness is thought to be encapsulated in terms of a particular relation to sport:fair play,for instance. Arguably, England's "national games" are football and, particularly,cricket.As cricket historian Dominic Malcolm argues, the link between cricket and England's national identity became solidified through literature. Works such asJames Love'sCricket: an heroic poemandMary Mitford'sOur Village,along withNyren'sThe Cricketers of My TimeandPycroft'sThe Cricket Field,purported to identify the characteristics of cricket with the notional characteristics of English society, such as pragmatism, integrity, and independence.[12]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^Brady, Lindy.Constructing Identity in Anglo-Saxon Literature: Review of Current Scholarship(2016)
- ^Morris, Marc.The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England(2021)
- ^Baycroft, Timothy (1999)."Adrian Hastings, The Construction of Nationhood: Ethnicity, Religion and Nationalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. 235 pp. £13.99".Nations and Nationalism.5(1): 127–52.ISSN1469-8129.
- ^Özkirimli, Umut (2010).Theories of Nationalism: A Critical Introduction(2nd ed.). London: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 78.
- ^Özkirimli, Umut (2010).Theories of Nationalism: A Critical Introduction(2nd ed.). London: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 77.
- ^Özkirimli, Umut (2010).Theories of Nationalism: A Critical Introduction(2nd ed.). London: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 77–78.
- ^Smith, Anthony (13 May 2005)."'Set in the Silver Sea': English National Identity and European Integration "(PDF).Workshop: National Identity and Euroscepticism: A Comparison Between France and the United Kingdom.University of Oxford. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 19 March 2012.Retrieved10 February2011.
- ^"Ethnic group".Office for National Statistics.Retrieved11 May2015.
- ^Forrest, Adam (3 August 2021)."David Lammy questions why 'Black English' is not a census option".The Independent.Retrieved2 August2023.
- ^"South East Wales Public Life - Dr Gwynfor Evans".BBC.Retrieved2010-04-13.
- ^MacPhee, Graham; Prem Poddar, eds. (2010).Empire and After: Englishness in Postcolonial Perspective.New York: Berghahn Books. pp. 1–25.ISBN978-1-84545-320-6.
- ^Malcolm, Dominic (2012).Globalizing Cricket: Englishness, Empire and Identity.London: Bloomsbury. p. 34.ISBN9781849665612.
Further reading
edit- Breward, Christopher; Conekin, Conekin; Cox, Caroline (2002).The Englishness of English dress.Berg Publishers.ISBN978-1-85973-528-2.
- Siobhain Bly, Calkin (2009).Saracens and the Making of English Identity: The Auchinleck Manuscript.Taylor and Francis.ISBN978-0-415-80309-0.
- Colls, Robert (1987).Englishness: politics and culture 1880-1920.Routledge.ISBN978-0-7099-4562-8.
- Featherstone, Simon (2009).Englishness: twentieth century popular culture and the forming of English identity.Edinburgh University Press.ISBN978-0-7486-2365-5.
- Harris, Stephen J. (2003).Race and Ethnicity in Anglo-Saxon Literature.Taylor & Francis.
- Helmreich, Anne (2002).The English garden and national identity.Modern architecture and cultural identity. Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-59293-2.
- Langford, Paul(2001).Englishness identified: manners and character, 1650-1850.Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-924640-3.
- Rogers, David; McLeod, John (2004).The revision of Englishness.Manchester University Press.ISBN978-0-7190-6972-7.
- Spiering, Menno (1992).Englishness: foreigners and images of national identity in postwar literature.Rodopi.ISBN978-90-5183-436-9.
- MacPhee, Graham; Prem Poddar (2010). MacPhee, Graham and Prem Poddar (ed.).Empire and After: Englishness in Postcolonial Perspective.New York: Berghahn Books. pp. 1–25.ISBN978-1-84545-320-6.
External links
edit- Anthony, Andrew (30 June 2004)."I'm English - but what does that mean?".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved2 August2023.
- Clarkson, Jeremy (25 November 2007)."We've been robbed of our Englishness".The Sunday Times.Retrieved10 February2011.
- Glass, Bryan S (24 March 2005)."English Identity in the Wake of Devolution".Southwestern Political Science Association. Archived fromthe originalon 30 April 2009.Retrieved10 February2011.
- Glass, Bryan S (7 April 2005)."The Devolution Gamble: State, Nation, and Identity in England".The Midwest Political Science Association.Retrieved10 February2011.[permanent dead link]
- Hill, Amelia (13 June 2004)."The English identity crisis: who do you think you are?".The Observer.Retrieved10 February2011.
- Kenny, Michael (11 February 2010)."Englishness: the forbidden identity".The Guardian.Retrieved10 February2011.
- Kumar, Krishan (2003).The making of English national identity(PDF).Cambridge cultural social studies. Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-77736-0.
- Younge, Gary (28 June 2010)."England's identity crisis".The Guardian.Retrieved10 February2011.