Abstract This paper points to effects that the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars had in shaping British national identity. It also shows the effect French culture had in dividing British culture, the differences in the monarchy and government between the two countries, and how these threats of French influence united the British people.
From the paper:
"Linda Colley's book is entitled 'Britons', yet her intellectual history of the era between 1707-1837 it contains a sizeable amount of information about the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. One of her book's central contentions is that it was England's relationship with and against France that enabled to England to fully define itself as a nation and for the concept of the British people as ?Britons? to be developed. The French Revolution both threatened the ?Briton?s? safety as a nation and its ideology. It was this threat and this challenge that enabled all of these new ?Britons? to form a more cohesive sense as a people. Furthermore, the fear that the French Revolution sparked in the hearts of the British elites and the British government enabled the monarchy to be reformed without being overthrown."
Abstract This paper discusses Briton's quotation in relation to a program of resistance which was designed by Vaclav Havel, the past president of Czechoslovakia. According to this paper, Havel maintained that social justice could be achieved though a plan of ethical action and meaningful social engagement. He belongs to a culture where artists and intellectuals are deeply committed to both democratic government and the common good. The concept of the power of the powerless is based in the conviction that the center of power is also the center of truth.
From the Paper "The power of those who choose to oppose the system - The Power of the Powerless -lies not in directly confronting the system but in denying it in principle...making a choice to live in the truth and refusing to live in the lie" (Briton 102). Briton's quotation is in relation to a program of resistance which was designed by Vaclav Havel, the past president of Czechoslovakia. Havel maintained that social justice could be achieved though a plan of ethical action and meaningful social engagement. He belongs to a culture where artists and intellectuals are deeply committed to both democratic government and the common good."
Abstract This paper reviews and summarizes Linda Colley's "Briton Forging the Nation: 1707-1837". The paper describes Colley concerns in the book, amongst other things, about the overemphasis of historical study of British identity during 1707-1837. The author goes on to discuss Colley's examination of the history of the period and her psychohistorical interpretation of the self destruction and erosion of British patrician life. The paper explains why Colley thinks that the social upheaval in Britain at the time is necessary in order to generate a truer sense of British identity and values.
From the Paper "Britain went through a specific and intensive period of socio-cultural differentiation within society 1707-1837. Those concerned with the progression of British identity saw the island nation's identity being too dependent on commercial interests and perceived social revolutions of ideas that were encouraging debate and turmoil within society, instead of unity. While this initially might be considered healthy debate in the development of the Democratic society of free-flowing ideas, Colley expresses concerns that the original fundamental base of British identity was being convoluted, due to introduction to British society of too outside influences that where overemphasized."
Tags: socio-cultural differentiation, british identity
Abstract This paper uses the resources of Linda Colley's "Britons," a book about how such an identity came to be. It shows that the religion, British Protestantism, and its unique monarchy, as well as imperialistic dominance all played a part in creating a pride in being British.
From the paper:
"The United Kingdom today, along with France and Germany, is thought of as having one of the strongest senses of national identity of any country in the current European Community. Yet this was not always the case. How did a concept of "Englishness" or "Britishness" develop and solidify in the national consciousness? How did this small island nation of Scots, Welsh, and Anglo-Irish, and Anglos form a cohesive sense of themselves? Linda Colley's book 'Britons' attempts to answer this question."
Abstract This detailed paper covers the history of Britain from 1707 to 1837. Historical revisionist Linda Colley mixes historical fact with her interpretations of this time period and is able to come up with a coherent, albeit not too accurate, emphasis on this restrictive 130 year period in the long history of England, Briton and British nationalism.
Topics covered in this paper include:
Thesis Statement
England in 1707 and the Preceding Critical Years
British History Beginning with George I and ending with Queen Victoria - 1707-1837
Enter George II
The Reign of George III and the Regency
The Prince Regent's Reign
Conclusions
Bibliography
From the Paper "Scotland to the North and the Irish isles became the focal points of the conflicts along with the long standing warring with France across the Channel. The French in fact many times used the Irish isles as a jumping off point to initiate campaigns designed to conquer the unconquerable British Isles. These French and English wars were taking place long before Colley's period of study and lasted long after the period as well."
Abstract This paper examines technological disasters in the airline industry. In particular it looks at the British jet aircraft industry after the accidents. It allows us to gain insight into what people's conceptions were, and why certain events unfolded as they did. It shows us how people can learn from technological disasters, and even though they seem catastrophic at the time, they give us the necessary tools to insure that such disasters do not happen again.
From the paper:
"The Comet planes, operated predominantly by BOAC had established Britain as both a successful pioneer and leader in civil jet aviation. However, several American companies, including Boeing, were in hot pursuit of de-Havilland, fighting for their share of the new civil jet market. ?The Comets symbolized to Britons their nation's pre-eminence in jet aviation,? 5 and so the accidents came as a devastating blow, both in the short and long term. In the aftermath of the accidents, all Comets were grounded pending investigation, causing huge problems and losses."
Abstract Although no actual historical accounts of a King Arthur exist, his reputation is certainly legendary. Whatever the case, the deeds of Arthur, fictitious or not, developed into an immense body of romantic stories that have provided a glorious past for the Britons. This paper looks at the history of the Arthurian legends beginning with "De Excidio et Conauestu Britanniae" (c.540) by the Roman-Welsh citizen, Gildas, through Geoffrey of Monmouth's popular "History of the Kings of Britain" (c. 1136) and concluding with Sir Thomas Malory's "Morte D'Arthur (c. 1470), based on both English and French Arthurian traditions.
From the Paper "The development of the Arthurian legend reflects medieval political and nationalistic concerns. A great deal of fiction in the guise of fact, the legend of Arthur provided a glorious past for the Britons who wanted to believe that they could trace their ancestry to Aeneas in Troy, as suggested by Geoffrey and Layamon. Geoffrey indeed realized this desire to satisfy the need to know one's roots when he created what he did not know in his History. In a turbulent age when acts of violence founded countries, kingdoms, and even families, the emergence of a strong leader capable of combating the discord with violent acts of his own appealed to the people and gave them both justification for their present state and hope for their future. With his series of expanding conquests, power being the ultimate authorizing force (might makes right), Arthur embodies the Celtic good by legally legitimizing and glorifying territorial victories much like the Norman Conquest. Thus, Arthur was a national hero who unified the Britons and prevented them from fighting amongst themselves so much that outside forces could easily defeat them."
Abstract This paper uses Linda Colley's book "Britons - Forging the Nation: 1707 - 1837" as the starting point for a discussion concerning how the French Revolution impacted the British. One additional source is used.
Abstract This paper explains that Britain's government rarely undertakes actions that are not either popular or predicted to be popular. Therefore, Tony Blair relies largely on "focus groups" designed to poll popular opinion before undertaking any serious legislative measures. The author points out that a war for public opinion in the polls is a war between demographics, where similar people will answer the opinion poll in like fashion. The paper concludes that, even if most Britons think of the Iraqi conflict in terms of a glorified television spectacle, their leaders have not forgotten the benefits Britain once enjoyed supporting the old regime.
From the Paper "According to the Reuters news organization, a poll released on Saturday, April 5th, 51% of Britons see ?a high death toll as a price worth paying for victory in the nation's war against Iraq,? according to the YouGov polling organization. This number falls only slightly short of the 55% of Britons that support the war, but is vastly different from pre-war polls, which found two thirds of UK residents opposed to declaring war on Iraq without United Nations support."
Abstract This paper looks at an early part of Irish literature, "The Tain", which is part of Irish literature known as "The Ulster Cycle". The paper explains that "The Tain", as was typical of Irish literature of that period, is an attempt to explain events that occurred around the time it was written. Virtually all of the stories in "The Tain" refer to the strife between Ulster and the Connaught, the rest of the island. The paper discusses the characters and events in the different stories in "The Tain" and explains how they very much relate to how people actually lived their lives at that time and the historical events that actually took place.
From the Paper "One has only to look at the ancient literature of a region to find significant hints about the character and its current condition of that region, as well as its history. A close look at the early literature of the Irish, particularly the stories known as The Ulster Cycle, goes a long way toward explaining the partition of the landmass of Ireland today. Indeed, a look at the stories makes it seem that what is happening now is not only logical from an historical standpoint, but relatively mild compared to the events narrated in the literary history of Ireland. These tales are filled not only with symbols that have become standard in literature, but with the seeds of current events."
Abstract Carefully examines arguments for and against the Corn Laws by contemporary Britons and also provides a comprehensive literature review, which examines what current scholars say about the matter. The writer covers extensively the affirmative arguments for national security and price stability and finds them wanting. The paper also covers Mill's opening salvo against the first strong Corn Law in 1815 and finds that, while strong, such economic arguments had little impact at first. It also covers extensively Robert Torrens's introduction of the concept of the terms of trade, which provided a potentially forceful argument for protection. The paper concludes that the anti-Corn Law arguments were generally more sound.
Section I: Introduction
Section II: Historical Background: Evolution of the Corn Laws 1670-1815
Section III: Literature Review
Section IV: Explanation of Methodology
Section V: Before the Corn Law of 1815
Section VI: The Corn Law of 1815
Section VII: The Terms of Trade
Section VIII: Conclusion
From the Paper "The Corn Laws, the rules governing the import and export of grain in the United Kingdom, sparked particularly heated debate since their 1815 revision, and even after their 1846 repeal. To agriculturalists, the Corn Laws were a necessity without which food security and an acceptable rural standard of living could not be maintained. To industrialists and urban workers, the Corn Laws were a theft and an impediment to national progress. The existing literature extensively examines the economic effects of the Corn Laws across sectors of the economy, social groups, and national income, as well Britain's terms of trade, and self-sufficiency in corn production. Despite such extensive analysis, nowhere have we been offered a systematic analysis of the soundness of British contemporaries? arguments regarding the Corn Laws. In this way, we are deprived of an understanding of the intellectual effort contemporary Britons invested in their thinking regarding the Corn Laws debate, and thus, the sincerity of their expressed motivations for advocating particular policies. This paper fills this gap. It will be shown that the argumentation was largely static until Robert Torrens? introduction of the terms of trade argument. Moreover, the arguments for strong protection are generally so weak that they are best regarded as merely covers for the true desire to raise prices and rents, to increase the profits of the landlords. In contrast, the anti-protectionist arguments are strong, and grow increasingly sound with time, as would be expected, as debate refines and improves the level of economic thinking."
A dissertation that addresses the evolution of speech patterns that have developed from black music during the past half-century, focusing on hip-hop music.
Abstract The phenomenon of hip hop has spawned a new way of dressing, acting, and speaking adopted by black young people, as well as an increasing number of young whites, especially males. Hip hop and its music and speech patterns, known as hip hop or rap or gangsta rap, has moved out of the ghettos and into suburban, middle-class neighborhoods, especially among the young males in those neighborhoods. This paper questions whether it is a bona fide language type, such as Black English Vernacular (BEV), in and of itself, or whether it is a dialect of BEV. Also investigated are the vectors by which this speech might have crossed the color divide and why. Finally, how hip hop/rap/gangsta came to be and what it owes to previous black dialects, as well as to African and West Indian influences, are considered. What emerges is a constantly changing dialect that appeals to the same populations that generally cause language change, the lower classes, which start it, and the middle classes, which carry it upward.
Table of Contents
Abstract
Introduction: Statement of Problem
Review of the Literature and Research Questions
Language of the Black Diaspora
Other Cultural Factors
Black English Vernacular Dialects: Africans via the West Indies
Use of "Downmarket" Speech among Britons, White and Black
Is Estuary English Equivalent to BEV Dialects?
Lowest Common Denominator?
Hip-hop Language and Women
Women as Primary Musicians/Speakers of BEV Dialects
Other Voices
Methodology and Results
Appendix
From the Paper "Kopano argues, in essence, that in their defiant states, both bebop and rap (hip-hop) artists create a rhetoric that is creative in the verbal and nonverbal mode. Both obviously include, either by contribution or adoption, other lifestyle factors, such as clothing choices. And, by extension, the dialect of Black English each one has engendered is likewise dispersed throughout the Black community, and adopted, at least in some ways, by the White community, particularly by the White males who are arguably attracted to the inherent subversive/aggressive message contained in it."
Abstract This paper examines how in a curious and prolonged interchange, soul music developed through innovations made by both Britons and Americans--blacks and whites--to emerge as the colorful, powerfully emotive style music fans treasure today. It traces the evolution of soul from its African roots in antebellum America to the British Invasion of the early 1960s, following its transatlantic path several times over as the blues of Mississippi and Memphis influenced the Beatles and the Fab Four subsequently inspired the songs of Otis Redding. The musicians of the Stax-Volt imprint are featured, as well as the British subcultural phenomenon of Northern soul.
From the Paper "The musical style known as "soul" has its roots in the southern experience in the United States, descending from an artistic lineage that began with the Negro spirituals of antebellum slavery. The spirituals, in turn, developed from the musical traditions of Europe and Africa, as the imported cultures of slave and master converged to create distinctly new song forms. A prominent example of this cultural fusion is the African bondsman's practice of adopting English balladry, wherein black songsters adapted British compositions to fashion their own renditions of Old World standards."
Abstract The prospect of switching Britain's official national currency to the Euro, and the related issue of whether the country should join the European Union, have certainly inspired much heated debate and a variety of viewpoints regarding possible consequences of these changes. This paper explains that the widespread prevalence, passion and diversity of the public discussion on British currency could be seen as a possible reason for the government's resistance to the Euro, in and of itself. It explains that the United Kingdom is regarded all over the world as a successful, consolidated democracy, meaning that the government represents the interests and wishes of its citizens. The writer further points out that therefore, it seems likely that until the public is assured and convinced that the Euro will result in only positive economic and political changes for both ordinary Britons and the country as a whole, the pound will continue its exclusive monopoly over the British economy for many years.
From the Paper "The decision of Britain of whether to adopt the euro as their only currency and eliminate the pound completely has been widely debated over the last few years. There are a myriad of good reasons for this; the switch to the euro currency will undoubtedly have various consequences whose benefits and downsides are very debatable. These consequences will certainly affect several of Britain's long-established roots and traditions in aspects of its government such as the economy, of course, but also its political parties, European integration, international relations, citizen participation in the government, and public opinion. Furthermore, economic results of Britain's adoption of the euro will likely include significant modifications in taxation, trade, unemployment, price stability, interest and exchange rates, standards of living, and economic distributional policy."
Abstract This paper reviews Linda Colley's "Captives, Britain, Empire and the World 1600-1850", a book describing the lives of citizens living in Britain during the period of 1600 to 1850. According to the paper, Colley, a professor of History at Yale University, also includes those Britons living in captivity.
From the Paper "Colley describes life for traveling soldiers as "unpredictable" noting that while the landscape "impressed the English occupation" the landscape and interesting surroundings did nothing "to make the soldiers, officials and families feel any more at home" (Colley 23, Yee 1). Rather many of those immigrating to expansive new lands often felt out of place. Many were also however eager as the author points out for opportunity, for the opportunity for example to diversify their income and develop new estates in foreign lands including the Tangier (Colley 24). The lands that Britain expanded into offered what many believed were "limitless potential" (Colley 25). Those held captive however enjoyed none of the spoils of conquest (Colley 187). Colley notes that more than "20,000 British and Irish captives were held in North Africa between the beginning of the seventeenth century and mid-eighteenth century" (Colley, 188; Yee 1). "
