The Making of English National Identity

Thèmes abordés

Britain - identity - uk - nationality - national identity - Krishan Kumar - Englishness - Britishness - Otherness - nationhood - multiculturalism

Résumé du document

In the recent decades, it seems that many scholars have tried to find when and how nationalism was born among the English people. Some of them have argued that the starting point of English nationalism took place in the medieval period; others think that it was created in the early-modern period or even during a later stage. In any case, many of them insisted that the period they study was the one that witnessed the birth of nationalism, which seems totally biased. While the number of studies made on this subject is growing, Krishan Kumar published in 2003 his research 'The Making of English National Identity'. Contrary to ' other studies, this one has been carried out in a different way: the author embraces the whole history of England, from its creation to the present day, explaining and challenging the theses of many major scholars of nationalism regarding the moment when English identity was created.

Krishan Kumar is a professor of Sociology and a department chair at the University of Virginia. His studies and interests tend to focus on empires and their people, nationalism and national identity, well represented in 'The Making of English National Identity'. This work seems to have had a real impact on contemporary debates regarding multiculturalism and English identity, owing to his deep reflection on the subject, and also on the appearance of a new school of nationalism, in which he plays a significant role.

What he argues is that “it is not until the late nineteenth century, at the earliest, that we find a clear concern with questions of Englishness” . He means that English nationalism did not exist before the end of the nineteenth century. According to him, a concrete definition of the terms ‘English identity' and ‘Englishness' is of major importance. In order to show that, he analyzes each period chronologically, refuting the theses which have been done about the rise of nationalism in each period. He begins with the creation of England and the Anglo-Saxons, the medieval times, and then turns his attention to the early modern period and the making of the empire of Great Britain as well as “Greater Britain”. Subsequently, he focuses on the nineteenth century with the “moment of Englishness” and ends up by analyzing the twentieth century and contemporary times through multiculturalism, including hypotheses about what would challenge the English identity in the future.

I will initially explain the author's definition of Englishness and English identity, followed by an analysis on why, according to the author, there was no sense of English identity before the nineteenth century. Finally, my analysis will turn to the making of English identity and the current situation of nationalism in Britain.

Extraits

[...] They tended to forget that the Parliament has a role for Britain as a whole. In opposition to this idea stands the Labour Party. Krishan Kumar observed that the leaders of this party were most of the time Scots, as Tony Blair for instance. This gives to it a British dimension and show their difference to the Conservatives who has been mostly represented by personalities from the South of England. The author even argues that if Britishness and British identity held their own in the twentieth century, much of this must be attributed to the power and the influence of the Labour[38]. [...]

[...] The author insists on the role of the Conservatives and of the Liberals in defining this English identity Anglosaxonism and Teutonism: a shift in English national mythologies English nationalism was born thanks to rise of Teutonism or Anglosaxonism”,wich are some of the “components of English national identity”[30]. This has marked a shift in English national mythologies. Anglosaxonism is more a cultural matter than Teutonism. It is a sense of nationalism based on race, language and customs. It also includes a meaning of mission, of a blessed or privileged people standing above the others. [...]

[...] Consequently, England could not be considered as a nation, since to be a nation means to share a sense of nationhood. If it is not the case, then it is just a state. Nationalism could not have appeared at that time. The author has demonstrated here the inconceivability of linking a sense of Englishness and the medieval period, dismantling the argument made by Bede. The term ‘English' could not be used to describe the people living in England The Creation of Great Britain Great Britain was, according to the author, the ‘first empire'. [...]

[...] The creation of a sense of nationhood and of nationalism has been made without any sense of Englishness. The rise of the Empire rallied the people of the British Isles in a common enterprise. However, British identity is made up of many nations, one of them being England. This last one has not yet been able to find its own identity, because of the imperial dimension of Britishness. The appearance of Englishness and English national identity The nineteenth century has witnessed the appearance of an English identity. This is what the author calls Moment of Englishness'. [...]

[...] He gives a priority to the differentiation between English national identity and British national identity. He also insists on the fact that nationhood is not the same as nationalism, and that imperial nationalism is clearly different from English nationalism. These distinctions are of a major importance to understand his point of view and why he challenges so many theses English national identity as opposed to British national identity The opposition between English national identity and British national identity is, as I have already mentioned, central in Kumar's work. [...]