'Sod them, I'm English': The changing status of the 'majority' English in post-devolution Britain

As well as prompting an urgent re-assessment of constitutional and legislative matters, processes of devolution have also contributed to a series of wide-ranging debates on identity in Britain. Yet, outside of survey data and a growing body of work looking to assess the status of minorities in Britain, relatively little has been heard from the wider population. This is particularly true for those who constitute the majority group within Britain, the English. In this paper, I want to offer a complementary perspective by using data from qualitative interviews to explore the ways in which members of the ‘ethnic majority’ in England discuss these issues. The findings suggest a tentative, but noticeable, shift towards an English identity, which is often defined as a necessary response to the increasing assertiveness of ‘other’ national groups within Britain

Thank god, I'm back!: (Re)defining the nation as a homely place in relation to journeys abroad

Growing individual mobility has been a key element in the re-evaluation of the links between (national) place and identity in what has been labelled a 'borderless world'. In this paper, an alternative perspective is provided by exploring the ways in which discussions around travel are used to redefine the nation as a bounded, familiar and homely place. In the first section, a number of key themes in the wider literature on ‘home’ are identified and applied to the nation, notably the idea that ‘homely spaces’ are imagined and experienced in relation to journeys elsewhere. This idea is then evidenced by a range of empirical data, which shows how individuals are often made aware of their own national identity and allegiances, when negotiating encounters with other people and cultural forms. In discussing the discomfort and uncertainty they experience in ‘foreign’ locales, the national home is defined as a secure base from which to proceed from and, most importantly, return to. Interestingly, these types of views were expressed by a range of social actors, ranging from college students, who travelled widely and with great enthusiasm, to retired people, who were increasingly restricted in their ability to visit foreign locales

‘We want our country back’ – stop sneering, start listening

The post-mortem is now well under way and the general consensus seems to be that those who voted leave were gullible fools led astray by a combination of a partisan press and slick political operators selling a particularly potent brand of snake oil, one part false promises, two parts undiluted bigotry. Notwithstanding the quality of the overall political debate around Brexit (it was awful on both sides), such a view might make Remainers feel better about themselves but offers little in making sense of what actually happened last Thursday and why

Perforation of the bowel in typhoid fever

Under the title Perforation of the Bowel in Typhoid Fever, after dealing briefly with the history of the operative treatment of this condition and the etiology generally of the complication, T propose to discuss more fully the causation, the symptoms in connection with, the diagnosis of and the treatment by surgical measures of this, the commonest and most fatal complication of enteric fever.I have selected this subject for my thesis, because in my opinion it is one of great and inc+easing importance in medicine and surgery and one which has only in recent years found its way into the literature of this and other countries.During my residence in hospitals under the Metropolitan Asylums Board, I have had opportunities of seeing several cases in the course of which this complication has occurred and of closely watching the different phases of the illness from the moment of the first sign of perforation until the completion of the operation which gives practically the only chance of life.I have collected notes of twenty cases of perforation of the bowel treated by operation in the North Eastern Fever Hospital, London, nineteen of which occurred during the years 1901-1904, and one during the present year.I shall give a short account of these cases, followed by a discussion on their salient points, showing how they compare with similar records of other observers

The politics of belonging in the Indigenous North

This chapter focuses on the politics of belonging. In the case of the Sami, it shows how a sense of belonging is expressed in relation to particular practices, material objects, temporal rhythms, forms of language and places. The language became the first 'official' marker of Sami culture after the ruling of the Committee for Sami Affairs in 1952. The 'recognition' comes from being involved in more informal networks or social relations as individuals are defined by their 'ties to recognised Sami families'. At the national level, legislation was enacted to recognise the Sami's unique culture and ancestry and their status as an Indigenous people who have the right to special protection. In discussing Nils-Aslak Valkeapaa's connections with Indigenous groups in North America, it is argued that a shared sense of belonging comes not only through political activism but also through 'the feelings that the similarity of life across the Arctic arouses,' including the environment, material objects and cultural practices.<br

Mindless markers of the nation’: The routine flagging of nationhood across the visual environment

The visual environment has increasingly been used as a lens with which to understand wider processes of social and economic change with studies employing in-depth qualitative approaches to focus on, for example, gentrification or trans-national networks. This exploratory paper offers an alternative perspective by using a novel method, quantitative photo mapping, to examine the extent to which a particular socio-cultural marker, the nation, is ‘flagged’ across three contrasting sites in Britain. As a multi-national state with an increasingly diverse population, Britain offers a particularly fruitful case study, drawing in debates around devolution, European integration and Commonwealth migration. In contributing to wider debates around banal nationalism, the paper notes the extent to which nations are increasingly articulated through commerce, consumption and market exchange and the overall significance of everyday markers (signs, objects, infrastructure) in naturalising a national view of the world

Remarks on the Forms of Local Injuries Justifying the Amputation of A. Limb.

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'Mindless markers of the nation': The routine flagging of nationhood across the visual environment

The visual environment has increasingly been used as a lens with which to understand wider processes of social and economic change with studies employing in-depth qualitative approaches to focus on, for example, gentrification or trans-national networks. This exploratory paper offers an alternative perspective by using a novel method, quantitative photo mapping, to examine the extent to which a particular socio-cultural marker, the nation, is ‘flagged’ across three contrasting sites in Britain. As a multi-national state with an increasingly diverse population, Britain offers a particularly fruitful case study, drawing in debates around devolution, European integration and Commonwealth migration. In contributing to wider debates around banal nationalism, the paper notes the extent to which nations are increasingly articulated through commerce, consumption and market exchange and the overall significance of everyday markers (signs, objects, infrastructure) in naturalising a national view of the world

Staging and engaging with media events: A study of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest

Recent work on media events has questioned their integrative function, arguing that they operate as sites of symbolic struggle between different interest groups. However, relatively few studies have examined the experiences of those who design, organize, and attend such events. This article addresses this lacuna with reference to the biggest nonsporting live TV event in the world, the Eurovision Song Contest. Drawing on data from the 2014 competition in Copenhagen, Denmark, it examines the varying levels of commitment to the event among organizers, fans, broadcasters, and journalists and, in particular, notes how this shaped responses to a controversial incident involving the Russian entry. While those with an ongoing interest, including organizers and fans, tended to emphasize personal narratives and individual freedom of expression, mainstream media and audiences adopted a far more cynical standpoint, privileging geopolitical issues to make the event seem more relevant and compelling