Premium
Negotiating English identity: Englishness, Britishness and the future of the United Kingdom
Author(s) -
KUMAR KRISHAN
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
nations and nationalism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.655
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1469-8129
pISSN - 1354-5078
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8129.2010.00442.x
Subject(s) - britishness , parliament , devolution (biology) , national identity , nationalism , negotiation , identity (music) , political science , narrative , independence (probability theory) , welsh , sociology , media studies , gender studies , law , history , politics , anthropology , art , literature , aesthetics , archaeology , human evolution , statistics , mathematics
. The current interest in Englishness and English national identity, spurred partly by parliamentary devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, has been accompanied by calls for an English parliament and even the promotion of a robust English nationalism. This article argues that this is a mistaken direction for the English. English traditions have been non‐national and even supra‐national. English identities have been especially bound up with Britain and Britishness. An England without Britain is hard to conceive, and would be impolitic to pursue. Survey evidence shows continuing Britishness among the English, with scant support for an English parliament or English independence. The expressions of English nationalism remain relatively muted. ‘England for the English’ is neither a realistic nor a sensible strategy.