Culture of Great Britain Nizhniy Novgorod 2014 Contents Introduction………………………………………………………………………3 Chapter 1. A sense of place……………………………………………………...6 Chapter 2. Culture and style: national self-expression……………………….....11 Chapter 3. Culture for the community ……………………………………….....17 Practical work……………………………………………………………………23 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….26 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………..28 2 Introduction Great Britain is the birthplace of Newton, Darwin, Shakespeare, the Beatles; home of the world's largest foreign exchange market, the world's richest football club - Manchester United, the inventor of the hovercraft, the JK Rowling and so on. From Scotland to Cornwall, Britain is full of customs and traditions. A lot of them have very long histories. Some are funny and some are strange. But they're all interesting and are all part of the British way of life1. Artistic and cultural life in Britain is rather rich, like in most of the European countries. It has passed several main stages in its development. The Saxon King Alfred encouraged the arts and culture. The chief debt owed to him by English literature is for his translations of and commentaries on Latin works. Art, culture and literature flourished during the Elizabethan age, during the reign of Elizabeth I; it was the period of English domination of the oceans and colonies, and, due to the strong political and economic position of the country, there were few obstacles in the way of the cultural development. This time is also famous for the fact that William Shakespeare lived and worked then. The empire, which was very powerful under Queen Victoria, saw another cultural and artistic hey-day as a result of industrialization and the expansion of international trade during the so-called industrial age. However, German air raids caused much damage during the First World War and then during the Second World War. The madness of the wars briefly inhibited the development of British culture. Immigrants who have arrived from all parts of the Commonwealth since 1945 have not only created a mixture of nations, but have also brought their cultures and habits with them. Monuments and traces of past greatness are everywhere. There are buildings of all styles and periods. A great number of museums and galleries display precious and interesting finds from all parts of the world and from all stage in the development of nature, man and art. London is one of the leading world centres for music, drama, opera and dance. Festivals held in towns and cities throughout the country attract much interest. Many British playwrights, composers, sculptors, painters, writers, actors, singers and dancers are known all over the world. The main goals of our research are: to analyse features of culture of Great Britain; to study what influence have rendered historical events and geographical features of the country on formation of culture of contemporary Great Britain; 1 http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/ 3 to study the issue of national identity of British and cultural distinctions between inhabitants of the Wales, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland; to touch upon the issue of cultural diversity: and also to deal with a problem of so-called «the culture of violence». There are three chapters in our research which cover a wide range of questions. In Practical work there are there parts: Section analysis, Chapter analysis and discussion, Textual interpretation. In the course of research have been studied books on culture of Great Britain (for ex.: «British culture: an introduction»2, «British Cultural Identities»3, «British language & culture»4), on the history of the country (for ex: «What’s it like? Life and culture in Britain today»5, «Britain in close-up»6) and modern British media sources of information such as web-site of BBC7, newspapers The Guardian, The Times and so on. The culture of this country refers to the patterns of human activity and symbolism associated with the United Kingdom and the British people. It is informed by the UK's history as a developed island country, being a major power, and, its composition of four countries - England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. They have preserved and distinct customs, cultures and symbolism. As a direct result of the British Empire, British cultural influence (such as the English language) can be observed in the language and culture of a geographically wide assortment of countries such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan, the United States, and the British overseas territories. These states are sometimes collectively known as the Anglosphere. As well as the British influence on its empire, the empire also influenced British culture, particularly British cuisine. Innovations and movements within the wider- culture of Europe have also changed the United Kingdom; Humanism, Protestantism, and representative democracy have developed from broader Western culture. 2 Christopher D. British culture: an introduction. Routledge, 2006, 292p. 3 Storry M., Childs P. British Cultural Identities. London and New York: Routledge, 2002 4 British language & culture. Lonely planet, 2007, 256p. 5 Collie J., Martin A. What’s it like? Life and culture in Britain today. Cambridge University press, 2000, 96p. 6 McDowall, D. Britain in close-up. Longman, 1995, 209p. 7 http://www.bbc.co.uk/ 4 The Industrial Revolution, with its origins in the UK, brought about major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, and transportation, and had a profound effect on the socio-economic and cultural conditions of the world. The social structure of Britain during this period has also played a central cultural role. More recently, popular culture of the United Kingdom in the form of the British invasion, Britpop and British television broadcasting, and British cinema, British literature and British poetry is respected across the world. As a result of the history of the formation of the United Kingdom, the cultures of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are diverse and have varying degrees of overlap and distinctiveness8. 8 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_the_United_Kingdom 5 Chapter 1. A sense of place The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to give it its formal title, is a highly centralised and unitary state, and its main component, England, has been so for almost a thousand years, longer than any other European country. As a political entity, however, Britain (as the United Kingdom is loosely called) is less than 300 years old, being the state which emerged from the union of the ancient kingdoms of Scotland and England in 1707. It is widely assumed that the British are a relatively homogeneous society with a strong sense of identity, but it is an assumption that requires considerable qualification. Even after 300 years the terms 'British' and 'Britain' which are used for official purposes, can also seem very artificial. In his famous Dictionary of Modem English Usage, first published in 1926, Fowler wrote: «It must be remembered that no Englishman, or perhaps no Scotsman, calls himself a Briton without a sneaking sense of the ludicrous, or hears himself referred to as a BRITISHER without squirming. How should an Englishman utter the words Great Britain with the glow of emotion that for him goes with England? His Sovereign may be Her Britannic Majesty to outsiders, but to him is Queen of England.» For centuries it has been the idea of England (or Scotland), rather than of Britain, which has been charged with patriotic emotion. The idea of England is invoked at times of national crisis, for example at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, when Admiral Lord Nelson's famous order to the British fleet read, "England expects that every man will do his duty." In 1939 during Parliament's emergency debate on the eve of war, one Member of Parliament (MP) called across the chamber to another who was rising to speak: "Come on, Arthur, speak for England." One should not be surprised, either, that Fowler wrote these words under 'England'. If you look up 'Britain', 'British' and 'Briton' you will find 'See England.' Most people call Britain 'England', and the British 'English', as if Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland were merely outer parts of England. Nothing, it should be said, infuriates a Scot more than ignorantly to be called English, or for all Britain to be referred to as England. Many Welsh and Northern Irish feel similarly about their identity. The United Kingdom is a land of great diversity, partly in its landscape, but more importantly in the human sphere. There are four territorial divisions, and they all carry a special sense of identity which is strongly affected by the tension between their own distinctive history and tradition and centralised government from London. Yet even England has local identities, which tend to be stronger the further one travels from the south east. In Cornwall, in the far south west, there is still a sense of Celtic identity, and a romantic affinity with their cousins, the Celtic 6 people of Brittany in north-west France, persists. In the north of England, in the words of one MP, people are "warm, friendly, quick-tempered and insular". Communities such as those in the mining villages of Durham are tightly knit, with a strong sense of loyalty. The people of Yorkshire and Lancashire, too, have a strong sense of community identity that can hardly be found in the south. As one moves closer to London, community loyalties are weaker and society is both more homogeneous and yet also more individualistic, the characteristics of a highly integrated modern society. The sense of local difference may be partly a matter of history, but it is also to do with the subtle changes in landscape, architecture or even the way English is spoken, from one county to another9. It's also important to remember that people from all over the world - not just Africa, Asia and the Caribbean - have been immigrants to Britain in the past 50 years.