We need more essays addressing this intricate topic. For example, what is "White English Identity?" Aren't the English a fine melting pot of the Anglos, the Saxons, the Angles, the Jutes, the Celtic Britons, the Danes, the Norsemen, and the Normans? And let's not forget the Vikings. I write from afar in San Diego, California, USA, so perhaps I am missing something. I find elements of White English Indentity in my own conception of myself, in place names like the James River, Chesterfield County or Ampthill. All of these names which informed my childhood in Virginia originated in England. Similarly, my very family name "Twyman." came from Birchington, Kent, England. My genetic heritage is probably 10% percent English. Are the White English my people? https://twyman.substack.com/p/who-are-my-people?utm_source=publication-search
The comment of Greg Smith intrigues me as to identity as a social construction framework. Maybe, identity derives more from internal locus of control as consciousness. As I grow older, I feel so far away from external creation of boundaries.
John... this is good as far as it goes, but as a sociologist I think it needs to be in counterpoint with identity seen though a social constructionist framework. Idenitites are "imagined communties", never reified and fixed cultures. They work because of the creation of ingroup and outgroup boundaries, and the interplay between these groups, and the languages, narratives, symbols and rituals which are used to define them. People may have blurred or bipolar identities. What we are seeing is a political manipulation of the concept of white Englishness... Personally I am not convinced that Englishness exists in a real sense... I wrote this... at Jonathan Chaplin's instigation..
There is a more extended treatment of my theoretical approach to identities in my Trans-Atlantic Evangelicalism: Toxic, Fragmented or Redeemable? (2020)
Thanks for your comments. I think the issue I'm feeling after is 'affinity' - the hard to define sense thatI quite easily we feel bonded with some people; largely because of shared experience and assumptions which aren't in need of bringing to the surface. That is a sense of 'ussing' (sic). Whilst 'Unite the Kingdom certainly had an othering element, I think its size also reflected many people who feel that there is an 'us' that is not being recognised or represented in national life.
As regards flags, I have been struck in Tottenham by the frequency of green/gold/black Jamaican insignia (virtually unknown in Wembley). As with St George's Cross flags, I think both cover a continuum from pride through defiance to aggressive assertion against others. Jamaicans have a strong case for asserting their sense of grievance - so do white, not wealthy English people also have a case in our present economic climate? I think the issue is not clear cut.
Personally, I am not that bothered. My primary identity and affinity is as a believer in Jesus. Other lesser ones are quite random (Liverpool supporter, Dylan fan, humanities education). I have always taken being English as like being male - a given that it would be crass to be assertive about. But then I have been formed as quite individualistic and life has been good to me, so perhaps I can be complacent about 'identity' so that I don't feel a strong need for 'ussness' and fit into it easily wherever I find it.
We need more essays addressing this intricate topic. For example, what is "White English Identity?" Aren't the English a fine melting pot of the Anglos, the Saxons, the Angles, the Jutes, the Celtic Britons, the Danes, the Norsemen, and the Normans? And let's not forget the Vikings. I write from afar in San Diego, California, USA, so perhaps I am missing something. I find elements of White English Indentity in my own conception of myself, in place names like the James River, Chesterfield County or Ampthill. All of these names which informed my childhood in Virginia originated in England. Similarly, my very family name "Twyman." came from Birchington, Kent, England. My genetic heritage is probably 10% percent English. Are the White English my people? https://twyman.substack.com/p/who-are-my-people?utm_source=publication-search
The comment of Greg Smith intrigues me as to identity as a social construction framework. Maybe, identity derives more from internal locus of control as consciousness. As I grow older, I feel so far away from external creation of boundaries.
Best,
W. F. Twyman, Jr.
John... this is good as far as it goes, but as a sociologist I think it needs to be in counterpoint with identity seen though a social constructionist framework. Idenitites are "imagined communties", never reified and fixed cultures. They work because of the creation of ingroup and outgroup boundaries, and the interplay between these groups, and the languages, narratives, symbols and rituals which are used to define them. People may have blurred or bipolar identities. What we are seeing is a political manipulation of the concept of white Englishness... Personally I am not convinced that Englishness exists in a real sense... I wrote this... at Jonathan Chaplin's instigation..
Title of paper: Will there always be an England? https://www.southampton.ac.uk/~assets/doc/comms%20and%20marketing/Will%20There%20always%20be%20England%20-%20Greg%20Smith.odt?
There is a more extended treatment of my theoretical approach to identities in my Trans-Atlantic Evangelicalism: Toxic, Fragmented or Redeemable? (2020)
https://williamtemplefoundation.org.uk/temple-tracts/
Dear Greg and Wink,
Thanks for your comments. I think the issue I'm feeling after is 'affinity' - the hard to define sense thatI quite easily we feel bonded with some people; largely because of shared experience and assumptions which aren't in need of bringing to the surface. That is a sense of 'ussing' (sic). Whilst 'Unite the Kingdom certainly had an othering element, I think its size also reflected many people who feel that there is an 'us' that is not being recognised or represented in national life.
As regards flags, I have been struck in Tottenham by the frequency of green/gold/black Jamaican insignia (virtually unknown in Wembley). As with St George's Cross flags, I think both cover a continuum from pride through defiance to aggressive assertion against others. Jamaicans have a strong case for asserting their sense of grievance - so do white, not wealthy English people also have a case in our present economic climate? I think the issue is not clear cut.
Personally, I am not that bothered. My primary identity and affinity is as a believer in Jesus. Other lesser ones are quite random (Liverpool supporter, Dylan fan, humanities education). I have always taken being English as like being male - a given that it would be crass to be assertive about. But then I have been formed as quite individualistic and life has been good to me, so perhaps I can be complacent about 'identity' so that I don't feel a strong need for 'ussness' and fit into it easily wherever I find it.