ISSN 1392-0561. INFORMACIJOS MOKSLAI. 2008 45
Changing Englishness: In search of national identity*
Elke Schuch Cologne University of Applied Sciences Institute of Translation and Multilingual Communication Mainzer Str. 5, D-50678 Köln, Germany Ph. +49-221/8275-3302 E-mail: [email protected]
The subsumation of Englishness into Britishness to the extent that they were often indistinguishable has contributed to the fact that at present an English identity is struggling to emerge as a distinct category. While devolved Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have been able to construct a strong sense of local identity for themselves in opposition to the dominant English, England, without an equivalent Other, has never had to explain herself in the way Scotland or Wales have had to. But now, faced with the af- ter-effects of globalisation, devolution and an increasingly cosmopolitan and multicultural society as a consequence of de-colonisation and migration, the English find it difficult to invent a postimperial identity for themselves. This paper argues that there are chances and possibilities to be derived from the alleged crisis of Englishness: Britain as a nation-state has always accommodated large numbers of non-English at all levels of society. If England manages to re-invent itself along the lines of a civic, non- ethnic Britishness with which it has been identified for so long, the crisis might turn into the beginning of a more inclusive and cosmopolitan society which acknowledges not just the diversification of the people, particularly the legacy of the Empire, but also realises that the diversity of cultures has to be accommo- dated within a common culture. Such a common culture can be developed and nurtured by teaching a critically re-assessed history syllabus which would enable citizens to emotionally engage with and share in the social and cultural heritage of Britain. Key words: national identity, Englishness, multiculturalism, ethnicity, immigration
It has been common in the past for the Eng- No less than Shakespeare himself, Eng- lish – and others – to say “English” when land’s national bard, conflated England they should really have said “British”. 80% and Britain when he had the dying John of of all British citizens live in England as the Gaunt describe England as “this sceptred political and economic centre of the UK, isle …. bound in with the triumphant sea” and England and English has frequently (Richard II, 2.1.40, 61). This confusion is been taken to mean the whole of Britain1.
under PM Asquith on whose gravestone it says: “Prime * Paper presented at the 14th NIC Symposium on In- Minister of England, 1908–1916”. But, as a matter of tercultural Communication, 29th November – 1st Decem- fact, there has never been a Prime Minister of England ber 2007, Vilnius University, Faculty of Communication only (Cf. Taylor, 2004: 130). For further examples of 1 For instance, on 14 August 1914, newspapers re- the pervasive confusion of England with Britain see also ported: “England declares war on Germany”. This was Kumar 2003: 1–12.
52 a peculiarly English one and goes back to Scots and the Welsh to unite around a com- history: Britain as a political entity is the mon flag – and against Catholic enemies, in result of “internal colonialism” (Kumar, particular France and Spain (Colley, 1992). 2001: 42) with England being the aggres- The Empire – which was always the British, sor and an imperialist nation which invad- not the English Empire – was also a unify- ed and annexed the neighbouring countries ing force, drawing heavily on the expertise and subjugated the populations of Wales, of the Scots and Welsh as doctors, traders, Scotland and Ireland. Because England explorers, engineers and administrators. In has dominated the British Isles for so long, the 19th century then, Queen Victoria be- an attachment to Britain has always been came the imperialist flagship and first mon- easier for England than for Scotland or arch to all of Britain and the Empire. But Wales (Starkey, quoted in Brooks, 2006). Protestant belief no longer binds people in The development of British culture has a society which has become increasingly never clashed with English sensibilities as secular and multi-religious, the monarchy is it did with the Welsh when threatened with troubled, Britain has experienced a reduced the loss of their language, and the British world role since 1945, and – the Empire has government has never offended majority now gone. political opinion in England, as it did in England was the driving force behind Scotland and Wales where they never gave the British Empire, but with the Empire majority support to Margaret Thatcher, but gone, the English, more than their Celtic nevertheless found themselves governed neighbours, find it difficult to discover between 1979 and 1997 by the Conserva- a postimperial identity for themselves tive party they massively rejected. It is (Weight, 1999)2. After the decline of the therefore not surprising that many English Empire, post-war migration to Britain and share a construction of national identity multiculturalism as a consequence of de- that is British. colonization posed the biggest challenge to The subsumation of Englishness into an English identity. England has absorbed Britishness to the extent that they were of- large numbers of people from the former ten indistinguishable has contributed to the colonies – in particular from the Carib- fact that at present an English identity is bean, India and Africa – to the extent that struggling to emerge as a distinct category. today people from ethnic minority groups The reason for this is that many elements make up 9% of the population of England, of this British identity, with which the Eng- lish have identified, have long lost their 2 Cf. Krishan Kumar (2001: 46): “England’s na- validity. According to the historian Linda tional identity was willingly buried in the service of a Colley, the concept of Britishness largely missionary cause that was in the fullest sense global.” began to emerge in the 18th century and See also Jeremy Paxman (1999: vii): “The imperial English may have carried British passports – as did the was promoted by the common religion of Scots, Welsh, and some of the Irish – but they really Protestantism, which was used as a propa- didn’t need to think too hard about whether being ‘Eng- lish’ was the same as being ‘British’: the terms were ganda weapon to encourage the English, the virtually interchangeable.”
53 compared to only 2% of the population of of the West Midlands are from what are both Wales and Scotland. England, there- loosely called ethnic minorities. fore, is ethnically more diverse in terms of This was the context in which Scottish the recent origins and current cultures of its and Welsh nationalism has grown. The end people than Scotland and Wales3. English of the Empire and the relative decline of cities and towns, in particular, consist of Britain in the post-war world have made very varied multicultural, multilingual and many Scots question the importance of the cosmopolitan communities. About 20% of Union. Over the last few decades, Eng- the population of London, and nearly 15% land has had to face nationalist challenges from Scotland and Wales as regional dif- ferences have become more and more pro- 3 Cf. Alibhai-Brown (2007): “England is a cul- tural and biological crossbred… This is why millions nounced. As a consequence of these sepa- of migrants seek to come here and why, way back in ratist movements, devolved parliaments in the times of Elizabeth I, the influx from elsewhere was unstoppable. You do not have anything like the same Scotland and Wales have been introduced energetic heterogeneity or magnetism in Scotland, with the curious result that in the new Wales or Northern Ireland.” English society has indeed “multi-national state” only the English become more and more culturally mixed. Chinese and Indian food, the cuisine of the Empire, has become are without a parliament or assembly of standard British fare. There is an abundance of Asian their own4. Devolved Scotland, Wales and grocery stores and snack bars in England’s cities and a survey has shown that chicken tikka massala is the nation’s favourite dish, more popular even than fish 4 The Scottish and Welsh MPs in Westminster can and chips (Johnston, 1997). Cultural events like the vote on many English matters where English MPs can- Notting Hill Carnival, staged by the Caribbean popula- not decide issues in Scotland and Wales because power tion of Britain every year in London, are part of a com- has moved to Edinburgh and Cardiff respectively. The mon culture. Many non-white Britons have excelled in fact that the British Parliament at Westminster decides sport and show business: Black or Asian newsreaders on English affairs is just a case in point that the English like Trevor McDonald and Moira Stuart are house- – by identifying with Britishness – have denied them- hold faces. Currently, 30% of all professional football selves many of the overt signs of Englishness one might players in the UK are black and cricket, the archetypal otherwise have expected. For example, the National sport of the white English middle and upper classes and Trust does not operate in Scotland, there being instead a epitome of ‘Englishness’, has been assimilated by the separate National Trust for Scotland. There is also a Na- Indians. School populations show similar signs of mix tional Library of Wales, but no English national library, and change. Classrooms now draw upon Caribbean- just the British Library. Similarly, there is a Scottish British and Indo-Pakistani-British catchments, each National Gallery, but not an English national gallery, with a youth culture, both mainstream and ethnic. Asian just the British Museum – it’s striking how many in- students are high-achievers at school and university and stitutions and organizations are called British, National a recent study has shown that Black Britons are more or Royal. There are also national anthems for Wales socially mobile and less likely to be working class than and for Scotland, but not for England. Instead the Na- the white population and have emerged as a new entre- tional Anthem of the United Kingdom (“God Save the preneurial and professional class (Taher, 2005). Black Queen”) is played. The saint days of Andrew and David ambition was only recently epitomised by Tim Camp- are celebrated in Scotland and Wales respectively, but bell, the son of working-class Jamaican immigrants and St George’s Day is not celebrated in England (despite 28-year old winner of the BBC business series The Ap- it also being Shakespeare’s birthday). Instead, the vast prentice. He won a job working for Alan Sugar and has majority of the English people ignore their national risen above his working-class roots to gain success in day with cool reserve and disdain, which might in it- business. Last but not least, at the 2006 World Cup in self reflect a rather confident and unchallenged sense of Germany the traditionally aggressive and nationalistic identity. There are only few exceptions to the absence of white English identity of England football fans was sof- typically “English” organizations, for example, English tened by a multi-cultural mix of white, black and Asian Heritage and the English National Opera (Cf. Bryant, Britons, all cheering for the England team. 2006: 187).
54 Northern Ireland have emerged as confi- harmony. Growing community tensions, dent nations with a strong sense of local the problem of a radicalised minority of identity, while Labour’s devolution policy young Muslims who reject a country they has had a destabilising effect on the notion believe morally corrupt and the fatal Lon- of Englishness. don bombings of 7 July 2005 have sparked Neither do the English seem to find off debates on the alleged shortcomings the kind of inspiration in Englishness that and failures of British multiculturalism. Scots, Welsh and Irish derive from their re- It came as a shock to many British people spective nationhood. While the Welsh and that the suicide bombers were British na- Scots manifest their national pride in their tionals, leading outwardly “normal” lives Scottish and Welsh identities, regional loy- in British society, one even playing cricket alties in England are still strong enough to with friends the night before he travelled dilute interest in the identification with a to London5. common Englishness. Scousers, Brum- Addressing the Fabian Society in Janu- mies, Geordies, Yorkshiremen, Cornish ary 2006, Gordon Brown pleaded for “a people and residents of London all have a Britishness which welcomes differences strong regional identity, which they often but which [he is eager to point out] is not place ahead of an Englishness they some- so loose, so nebulous that it is simply de- times find alien and embarrassing. While fined as the toleration of difference and le- the Scots, Welsh and the Irish all have aves a hole where national identity should something to fall back on and have thus be” (Brown, 2006). However, he seems to been able to construct a modern identity find it extremely difficult to fill that hole for themselves in opposition to the domi- and can, in the end, only return to the “mo- nant English, England, without an equiva- dern commitment to liberty, responsibility lent Other, has never had to explain herself and fairness” (ibid.). But there is nothing in the way the Scottish or Welsh identity in this definition of Britishness peculiar has had to. But now, faced with the after- to Britain, Brown speaks of citizenship effects of de-colonization, globalisation in universal terms. Values such as liberty, and devolution, the English have begun responsibility and fairness are common to asking questions about their identity and the whole of humanity, not just to Britain. are increasingly concerned to re-define their Englishness. 5 Even those who support the concept of a multicul- tural British society emphasise the need for an integra- This insecurity about what constitutes tive and unifying identity: “If a plural society is to hold national identity has led various politicians together, it clearly needs a shared self-understanding, a conception of what it is and stands for, a national iden- from the Left and Right to argue that more tity” (Alibhai-Brown, 2001: 273). Trevor Phillips, the attention to common values and practices Head of the Commission for Racial Equality, argued in is needed. Otherwise, so they fear, there an interview in The Times, 3 April 2004, that multicul- turalism was out of date. It encouraged separateness is the danger of a vacuum being created when the need now was to emphasise ”common values which could be filled by extremist opinion … the common currency of the English language, hon- ouring the culture of these islands, like Shakespeare and with dangerous consequences for social Dickens” (quoted in Bryant, 2006: 197).
55 New Labour’s initiatives of forging a Bri- ry points to another problem, the problem tain of which all citizens would be proud of what ought to be taught in history (and by introducing a narrow “Britishness”-test literature and language) classes. What for ethnic minorities in 2005 must remain should an effective education for respon- equally questionable: One cannot test va- sible citizenship look like? How can one lues, people have to live, express and act bring out the richness in Britain’s multic- them out in their everyday lives. And it ethnic societies and do justice to the al- must have come as a surprise to many to most 5 million people of ethnic minorities hear a Scottish-born Labour Prime Minis- who currently live in the UK – people who ter encourage people to fly the Union Jack can’t claim Britain’s glorious imperial past on a “British Day” to promote unity, but as their historical legacy? then this may well be an indication of the Not surprisingly, Lord Parekh’s report confusion and uncertainty that pervade on The Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain cri- much of the Britishness debate. ticises the “absence from the national cur- Gordon Brown’s idea of a system of riculum of a rewritten history of Britain as common values and shared history as the an imperial force” (Parekh Report, 2002: basis of national unity is in fact only a short 25), demanding a reassessment which distance from what the Conservative lea- inevitably would emphasise the negative der of the Opposition sees as constituting side-effects of the Empire ranging from Britishness. For David Cameron, national subjugation and racism to exploitation unity and the sense of British identity are and plunder. Recognising that changes threatened by what he calls the “five Ber- were needed in the history syllabus and lin walls of division” (Cameron, 2007) – in the methods used to teach it, the con- among them multiculturalism. In his tent of traditional A-level history lessons opinion, multiculturalism is divisive and will soon see radical changes: Breaking encourages dangerous separateness and a convention of teaching history broken therefore more attention to common valu- into periods of time (such as the Tudors, es. Instead of a belief “in something called the Victorians and post-war Britain), a new multiculturalism” he demands: “We’ve got history course, launched in 2008, will ins- to make sure that people learn English, and tead concentrate on historical concepts and we’ve got to make sure that kids are taught thematic topics, examining values across British history properly at school” (ibid.). the era. This means that in an exam stu- One wonders if what he has in mind here dents could be writing about British impe- is actually that far away from Margaret rialism, witch-hunts in the 16th century and Thatcher’s insistence that the story of the America’s Wild West within one answer British Empire be taught in British schools (Asthana, 2007). This points to a new way without apology as a story of the nation’s of framing historical subjects. Similarly, civilising mission – “the White Man’s bur- the public debate about 1807 and the abo- den”. Be that as it may, David Cameron’s lition of the slave trade has shown how the demand for the proper teaching of histo- nature of modern British identity can best
56 be approached through a historical analy- fashioning” of Englishness: The English sis of Britain’s often uncomfortable past. themselves, as we have seen, find little Schools and colleges across Britain have difficulty feeling British and have unwit- used the 1807–2007 commemorations for tingly conflated England with Britain, a debate about empire, multiculturalism while England’s Celtic neighbours very and national identity. often associate Britain with outside domi- Because it is in the history classroom, nation. With the Empire gone, the Scots not in townhall citizenship seminars, that a in particular, started loosening their links sense of belonging and connection to Bri- to Britain. And, as they are drawing back tain and its past can be nurtured, history now from the Union, they cannot take with syllabi should make it their task to inculcate them much that the idea stood for. But the a sense of integrative and unifying identity English can: Britain is the perfect example beyond race and religion. Only if history of a nation-state, a state identified not by lessons enable citizens to emotionally en- an ethnicity, but by historically developed gage with and share in the social and cul- institutions and structures, such as Parlia- tural heritage, as in the above-mentioned ment and the monarchy. The fact that the cases, will the realisation of civil, political, British nation has always been a civic, not social and cultural rights and duties bear an ethnic nation also explains why many the marks of a common culture. Multicul- Black and Asian British citizens who were turalism can and does work – but only in born and raised in England have come to so far as it does not take the form of ethnic think of themselves as hyphenated Britons, segregation, but of a cultural exchange that i.e. Black British or British Asian, while enables members of different communities only few think of themselves as ethnically to interact and learn from each other and to English – a status considered to be exclusi- share in each others traditions6. vely white. Englishness, apparently, is still I started out talking about Englishness racially coded, while Britishness has no and end up talking about Britishness. The necessary ethnic overtones. But just as Bri- usual dilemma. But the question of English tain has always accommodated large num- national identity is bound up with this dou- bers of non-English at all levels of society ble identification. England and Englishness – starting with the incorporation of Wales have to be seen within the framework of and Scotland into an expanded England – Britain’s imperial history. And maybe so- so England is ethnically diverse, too – a mething can be learned from this debate “mongrel tribe” (Alibhai-Brown, 2007), if about Britishness for the revival or “re- you like. England can keep Britain’s inclu- siveness, can keep the idea of a people ro- 6 In his speech “Europe in a Global Age” at the 14th oted in something other than shared blood NIC Symposium on Intercultural Communication 2007, or shared soil. England then could become Prof. Gerard Delanty talked about the “interprenetation of communities” in Britain and “cosmopolitan inclu- a place where people are not expected to sion”. He suggests defining multiculturalism as a form have the same skin colour or to have an- of social and legal recognition and respect, rather than mere tolerance. cestors who were born on the island, but
57 a place where it becomes as natural to talk Britons who are concentrated in cities and about being Black English or Anglo-Asian who have no historical link to an idealised as it has become to call yourself Black or English landscape? Asian British. English heritage is only part of the pic- So where does this leave all those peo- ture, not the whole. The heritage of the ple for whom George Orwell’s comment Empire is now woven into the texture of about England being the country of cricket England: “People like me”, writes the Ja- on the village green, warm beer and “old maican-born British cultural theorist Stuart maids biking to Holy Communion through Hall, “who came to England in the 1950s the mists of the autumn morning” (Orwell, have been there for centuries; symbolical- 1941: 10) still means so much? I’m not ly, we have been there for centuries. I was saying we should ignore the past, the idea coming home. I am the sugar at the bottom of a “green and pleasant” England is still of the English cup of tea” (Hall, 1991: 48). remarkably potent for many. In fact, what Stuart Hall’s image of the cup of tea – the one notes is that the English seem to be ultimate symbol of English identity – to finding difficulties in giving any account illustrate the strong bond between colo- of themselves except such as they can drag nized and colonizer shows that traditional up from the past. This could be seen very English stereotypes or a sense of exclusive clearly when the Labour Government last Englishness – which associates being En- year joined the media in “search of natio- glish with being born in England – can no nal identity” and launched an Icons On- longer satisfy in the light of an England of line Project asking the English to submit vibrant variety – a variety of religions, eth- their favourite icons of Englishness. The nicities and lifestyles. predictable answers included tea, Punch So, there are chances and possibilities and Judy, the traditional red phone boxes, to be derived from the alleged crisis of En- cricket and pubs. Only two icons out of al- glishness: If England manages to re-invent most 80 so far – Brick Lane, where a large itself along the lines of a civic, non-ethnic proportion of London’s Bangladeshi com- Britishness, with which it has been identi- munity lives and the “Empire Windrush”, fied for so long, the crisis might turn into which brought nearly 500 immigrants from the beginning of a more inclusive and cos- the Caribbean in 1948 – were listed to re- mopolitan society which acknowledges not present the variety of England’s different just the diversification of the people, parti- communities. But if drinking beer and pla- cularly the legacy of the Empire, citizens ying cricket defines Englishness, in what (whose forebears were) of Black or Asian sense can Muslims be English? In what origin, but also realises that the diversity sense can the traditional rural presumpti- of cultures has to be accommodated within on of white England be extended to mil- a common culture – enriched because of lions of Black, Asian and other immigrant its diversity.
58 References Alibhai-Brown, Yasmin (2001). Who Do We English National Identity”. In: British Cultural Stud- Think We Are? Imagining the New Britain. London: ies, ed. David Morley and Kevin Robins. Oxford: Penguin Books. Oxford University Press, 41–55. Alibhai-Brown, Yasmin (2007). “Let’s hear Kumar, Krishan (2003). The Making of Eng- it for the multicultural St George.” The Independent, lish National Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge Uni- 23 April. versity Press. Asthana, Anuschka (2007). “Q: What links Office for National Statistics.
KINTANTIS ANGLIŠKUMAS: IEŠKANT TAUTINĖS TAPATYBĖS Elke Schuch Santrauka Anglų priskirtis britams dėl dažno šių objektų nesky- šalis visuomet gebėdavo savo visuomenėje tinkamai rimo nurodo ir anglų identitetą, kuris dažnai išskiria- integruoti skirtingų kultūrų atstovus. Jei Anglija ga- mas kaip toks. Kol Škotija, Velsas ir Šiaurės Airija lėtų save pristatyti kaip pilietišką, ne etiškai britišką, turėjo galimybių konstruoti stiprų vietos identitetą kaip ji buvo suvokiama ilgus amžius, krizė gali tapti supriešinant jį su anglų identitetu, Anglija, be jokio kitokia, pasikeitimo pradžia, įtraukti ir kosmopolitiš- atitikmens Kitiems, niekuomet nesiekė pristatyti sa- ką visuomenę, kuri skatina ne žmonių atskirtį (išryš- vęs taip kaip tą darė Škotija ir Velsas. To priežastis kina skirtumus), tačiau priima ir kultūrų skirtumus, ta, kad daugelis elementų, sudarančių kritiškąjį iden- kurie yra svarbūs kuriantis bendrai kultūrai, kuri gali titetą, kurį anglai sau priskyrė ilgus metus, prarado būti sukurta mokantis kritiškai vertinti ir peržiūrėti savo tinkamumą (šiandienos atitikimą). istoriją. Tai padėtų piliečiams, laikantis emocionalu- Šiame straipsnyje yra teigiama, kad yra galimy- mo, įsitraukti ir dalytis socialiniu ir kultūriniu Brita- bių išspręsti Anglijos identiteto krizę: Britanija kaip nijos paveldu.
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