Ethnicity and nationality: Towards a class-based theoretical framework (Volumes I and II)

This work is an attempt to develop a theoretical model useful for explaining the historical evolution of ethnic and national identities. Central to this framework are the following assertions: (1) that ethnic and national identities are dynamic affiliations which undergo change through intergroup resource competition; (2) that given their material base, a complete theory of ethnicity and nationality must consider these ties in relation to class; (3) that the evolution of group identities can ultimately only be understood in the context of global capitalist development; and (4) that the uneven nature of capitalist development (i.e., the core-periphery division) can be employed to explain intersocietal variations in the evolution of ethnic and national identities. Drawing upon these assumptions, we propose a global, historical and material approach to the study of intergroup relations and ethnic change. In the analysis of intergroup relations in historically specific circumstances, our model employs the notion of eth-class (defined as social location in terms of both ethnicity and class) in order to explore the material interests which underlie group action. We maintain that eth-class captures both the interrelationship between ethnicity and class and the reality that ethnic groups contain internal class divisions. Thus, ethnic and national mobilization are analyzed as alliances of eth-class fractions; assimilation and ethnic merger reflect strategic decisions to alter group identity. In addition to a conceptual discussion of ethnicity and nationality and a critical review of both classical and contemporary theories of ethnic change, this work contains two case studies in which our model is employed to explain the evolution of ethnic identities after 1800 in both the United States and South Africa. We find that the global, historical, and material approach presented in our framework facilitates analysis of the development of intergroup relations and group identities in these two societies

Creating and curating an archive: Bury St Edmunds and its Anglo-Saxon past

This contribution explores the mechanisms by which the Benedictine foundation of Bury St Edmunds sought to legitimise and preserve their spurious pre-Conquest privileges and holdings throughout the Middle Ages. The archive is extraordinary in terms of the large number of surviving registers and cartularies which contain copies of Anglo-Saxon charters, many of which are wholly or partly in Old English. The essay charts the changing use to which these ancient documents were put in response to threats to the foundation's continued enjoyment of its liberties. The focus throughout the essay is to demonstrate how pragmatic considerations at every stage affects the development of the archive and the ways in which these linguistically challenging texts were presented, re-presented, and represented during the Abbey’s history

Tall tales from the archive

The administrative documents preserved in archives tell stories which are shaped by their institutional and governmental context, and are as deceptive and full of invention as more self-consciously literary works. Medieval archives contain a vast repository of historical narratives which, despite their fictional components and bureaucratic manipulation, nevertheless provide vivid insights into everyday life. The rhetorical conventions of such bureaucratic documents as pardons, petitions and appeals represent forms of historical literature which are cultural productions of equal significance to the chronicle or the epic poem. But, unlike court poetry or chronicles, the archives tell us a great deal about the life of ordinary people. In the wake of the discussion of the archive by Foucault and Derrida, the archive has been seen as a symbol of power and a means of control, but often the archive is the chief means by which non-elite groups find their voice

Gildas

International audienceGildas est le premier auteur britannique à témoigner des événements postérieurs au départ des légions romaines. C'est par l'analyse de ses modèles, principalement bibliques, et de ses buts que son récit historique allusif, si frustrant, peut être compris et interprété comme un témoignage de premier plan