scholarly journals ‘You know all them things’: Nostalgia, Idealization, and Speech in Working-Class Poems by Seamus Heaney, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Lucille Clifton

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 8-21
Author(s):  
William Fogarty
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Seamus Heaney ◽  
Gwendolyn Brooks ◽  
James Wright ◽  
The People ◽  
Lucille Clifton ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Uk

This essay examines nostalgia, idealization, and speech in poems from the latter half of the twentieth century in the US and the UK that convey working-class experience, identifying nostalgia as a binding feature of such poems and tracing it to the 18th -century ‘nostalgia poem.’ I will first establish briefly how nostalgia in poems by Philip Levine, James Wright, and Robert Hayden results in idealizations that resist sentimentality and then demonstrate that the various forms of local speech employed in some other post1945 poems about working-class life by Seamus Heaney, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Lucille Clifton act as a stay against such idealization, effectively transforming them into more explicitly anticlassist –and, in the case of Brooks and Clifton, antiracist and antisexist –forms of social critique and defiance. Their poems interrupt and complicate the idealization of the familiar working-class surroundings they seek to reenter, familiar and familial realms that are not just temporal and spatial but linguistic. They honor their characters’ fortitude in the face of working-class encumbrances not by idealizing them but by concentrating on their working-class characters’ linguistic origins. Manifestations of local speech in these nostalgic poems amount to a poetic resource that disrupts idealizations of working-class experience, critiquing, in that process, classism and, in Brooks and Clifton, revealing classism’s intersections with racism and sexism. These poems don’t just desire to go back to earlier worlds but do go back linguistically to working-class, nonstandard languages – their particular forms of original local speech–that refuse the conditions that would subordinate those languages and the people who speak them.

Amending the constitution

Legal Studies ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-92
Author(s):  
Ian Cram
Keyword(s):  
Informed Consent ◽  
Constitutional Reform ◽  
Constitutional Amendment ◽  
Constitutional Change ◽  
Civic Society ◽  
The People ◽  
The Face ◽  
Managed Change ◽  
Scottish Independence ◽  
The Uk

How easy ought it to be to enact constitutional amendment? In the absence of constitutionally prescribed procedures, fundamental reforms in the UK can often appear hurried, under-consultative and controlled by transient political majorities. In the recent referendum on Scottish independence, the NO campaign's promise of additional powers to Holyrood in the face of a possible ‘Yes’ vote appears to fit this pattern (even if, for reasons of political sensitivity, it was not driven directly by members of the Coalition government). A recent sample of concluded constitutional reforms, including the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 and the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, have drawn criticism from within Westminster on the grounds of defective process. Specific options to improve pre-parliamentary and parliamentary stages of constitutional reform have been proposed with a view to attaining principled procedures of constitutional reform removed from executive control that signal attachment to process values such as wide and effective consultation, deliberation outside and inside Parliament, and informed scrutiny. The foregoing prescriptions for remedying defective processes may, however, be said in the ultimate analysis to retain a normative preference for a more formal, elite-managed vision of constitutional change that is premised upon a limited conception of the citizens' ‘informed consent’. In any case, in purely descriptive terms, top-down managed change does not capture the totality of patterns of past constitutional reform in the UK. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, for example, radical grassroots campaigns for the extension of the franchise resulted ultimately in universal adult suffrage. More recently, the Scotland Act 1998 can be seen as the culmination of a civic society–led, deliberative engagement with ordinary voters over decades that offered an alternative vision of ‘bottom-up’ constitutional reform to that seen in more formal, elite-led processes of constitutional reform. The inclusive and participatory nature of the campaign for Scottish devolution marked out a radically different model of constitutional reform to that which has typified Westminster-style amendment and which is still largely directed by political elites. In such circumstances as prevail currently at Westminster, it is difficult to give much credence to claims that the outcomes of constitutional reform processes enjoy the ‘informed consent’ of the people.

scholarly journals The contradictions of populism: reasserting adult education for democracy

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Crowther
Keyword(s):  
Adult Education ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The People ◽  
The Us ◽  
Current Context ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Capitalist Democracies

The context for this paper is the rise of populism across the UK, Europe and the US, a trend which is sweeping western liberal capitalist democracies in particular but also beyond in countries such as Turkey. Populism is used primarily as a derogatory label to demean the poor, working class groups and people with low educational attainment, as not having the experience or capacity to make wise decisions. In the UK this has led to demands for a second referendum on leaving Europe because the ‘will of the people’ was manipulated. It is also claimed that Parliament is sovereign so the decision to exit Europe should be made by its members who are better informed and can legitimately overturn the referendum decision. On the other hand, demagogues of the far right who led campaigns of disinformation and thinly veiled racist vocabulary to sway the Brexit result champion the ‘will of the people’ in disingenuous ways. If we widen our lens, there are also examples of progressive populist politics in Europe, such as Podemos in Spain, which are indicative of a counter-trend to the neoliberal model of globalization. Whilst populism is mainly used as a derogatory label, it can also be framed progressively as a response of the powerless, the poor and the ignored reacting to the limits of liberal democratic institutions in the current context. The election of Trump in the US and the Brexit result in the UK can be understood in these terms too. The repressed, overlooked or denigrated by the political and media elite, have responded at the only opportunity available to them. At the same time, the kind of social purpose adult education which aimed to engage with people in communities, on their own terms, has withered as neoliberal forms of lifelong learning and citizenship transform educational practices into ‘remoralising’ citizens to take care of themselves. In this context adult education and democracy are in crises. However, both crises can be turned towards generating productive synergies which adult educators need to connect with. This presentation seeks to explore and stimulate this debate.

scholarly journals Små barns livsverdener: Klassespesifikke erfaringsrom?

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kari Stefansen
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Parenting Practices ◽  
Limited Attention ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Ways Of Being

Title: Young children’s life worlds: Class specific spaces of experienceAbstract: The significance of class for children’s everyday life has received limited attention in Norway. In recent years a number of studies from the UK and the US have explored this topic. This paper presents analysis from a research project inspired by this growing body of research. It explores classed patterns in parents’ interactions with the institution of formal day-care. The paper also discusses how parenting practices of different sorts contribute to the reproduction of classed ways of being in the world. Special attention is given to the life worlds of middle-class and working-class children, and what is perceived as parallels between these life worlds and parents' class experiences. 

State and Nation in the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Keating
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
National Identities ◽  
External Support ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Definitive Answer ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The People ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Key Questions

The United Kingdom is not a nation-state but a political union. It was formed by the coming together, over centuries, of territories which retained their own national identities and institutions. Key questions of demos (the people), telos (the purpose of union), ethos (binding values) and the locus of sovereignty were never definitively resolved. Since 1999, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have had their own self-governing institutions within the Union. Devolution was an effort to stabilize the Union in the face of centrifugal pressures, but it left the same key questions unresolved. The Union is now contested in all four of its component parts and fundamental questions are raised about the meaning of political, social and economic union. Unionism, as doctrine and practice appears to have lost its way, unable to adjust to devolution. Brexit has added to the strains because membership of the European Union provided an external support system for the union of the United Kingdom itself. Yet the UK cannot easily fall apart into its constituent nations, and public opinion still appears largely content with the idea of a plurinational union. There is no definitive answer to the question of state and nation within the United Kingdom.

English L2 personas and the imagined global community of English users

English Today ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 8-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark F. Seilhamer
Keyword(s):  
Target Language ◽  
Global Community ◽  
The People ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Status ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Tone Of Voice ◽  
The Uk ◽  
High Level ◽  
Linguistic Proficiency

I have Danish parents, grown up in France, lived in the UK for 10 years and now living in Holland for the past 9 years. I am a different person in each language, adapting myself to the culture of the people who speak it. I have always wondered how the language could affect the message so much. It also affects my tone of voice and my emotions. [Christina, on July 27th, 2011]I find myself being more self-depreciating and less likely to accept praise when speaking in Japanese than when speaking English. Furthermore, a colleague once told me that even if he can't hear, he can tell which language I am using from 10-15 metres away, by looking at my posture, gestures and general body language. [Tim, on July 27th, 2011]My friends once told me that when I switch to Russian even my facial features change, becoming colder and harsher – set jaw, narrow eyes, speaking in a low voice, but with an intensity that makes everyone else listen. [Julia, on July 30th, 2011]The above quotations represent just a small portion of blogosphere postings from bilingual and multilingual individuals commenting on how they perceive and appear to have very distinct and separate personalities when speaking the different languages in their linguistic repertoires. Many such postings, like the first one above by Christina, explicitly attribute this phenomenon to attempts on the part of speakers to assimilate to the cultural norms of the countries where the languages are traditionally spoken. Scholarly treatments of the same phenomenon (e.g., Bryant, 1984; Hu & Reiterer, 2009; Zukowski/Faust, 1997) generally do likewise, often citing Schumann's (1978, 1986) Acculturation Model, which equates L2 proficiency with the extent to which a learner is able to adopt the culture of a target language group, and Guiora's (1967, 1979) concept of Language Ego, in which the permeability of one's L1 identity determines receptiveness to taking on new linguistic identities. According to these theories, a learner of Korean, for example, would be likely to develop a distinctly Korean L2 persona (as well as linguistic proficiency) if he or she has both a high level of affinity for Korean culture and a very permeable L1 language ego. Such arguments still, no doubt, apply to languages such as Korean or Japanese that are intrinsically associated with specific countries and cultures. Given the status of English as an international lingua franca in today's world, however, it can no longer be assumed that learners of English have any motive or desire to acculturate into traditionally English-speaking cultures, such as those of the US, England, or Australia. If learners/users of English associate the language not with such traditionally English-speaking cultures, but instead with an imagined global community of English users, do they still develop English L2 personas that are distinct from their L1 personas and feel ‘like a different person’ when speaking English?

Stage Two-Visiting the American Core

Going Virtual ◽  
2011 ◽  
pp. 116-140
Author(s):  
Paul Hildreth
Keyword(s):  
Face To Face ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Uk

Chapter VI describes Stage Two of the case study. Here we participate in a visit made by the UK core of the CoP to visit its peers in the US. In Stage Two, we want to focus on the issues and insights gained from our time with the UK core. In particular, Stage One showed us the importance of relationships for sustaining a distributed CoP and the importance of a face-to-face element in the development of the relationships. In Stage Two, we can observe the face-to-face element between the cores. Stage One also showed us the importance of the development and use of a shared artefact in the form of the planning document. In Stage Two, we can follow the continued development and use of the planning document.

Adam Smith Would Be Spinning in His Grave

The Forum ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Carnes
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
White Collar ◽  
Gender Issues ◽  
Lower Income ◽  
The People ◽  
The Us ◽  
Female Politicians ◽  
Hard Evidence ◽  
Do So

AbstractPoliticians in the US tend to be vastly better off than the people they represent. But why, and does it matter? In the last decade, scholar of US politics have revived an old line of inquiry into the causes and consequences of government by the privileged, or what I call white-collar government. This article briefly reviews what scholars have learned, and what we still need to know. Most research to date has focused on the effects of government by the privileged; just as the shortage of female politicians seems to bias policy on gender issues, the shortage of politicians from lower-income and working-class backgrounds appears to tilt economic policy in favor of the more conservative positions typically favored by more affluent Americans. Why, then, do so few lower-income and working-class Americans go on to become politicians? On this point, scholars have more hunches than hard evidence.

scholarly journals Protecting the Environment and People from Climate Change through Climate Change Litigation

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodore Okonkwo
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Research Problem ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Legal Rights ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
The People ◽  
The Us ◽  
Change Impact ◽  
The Uk

Climate change litigation seeks to apply legal rights in order to affect the outcomes that would either mitigate, reduce or can even result in improved alternation to climate change. This article intends to identify and analyse the ways through which the environment and the people are protected from rapid changes in climate through the means of climate change litigation. Protection of the environment as well as people by climate change litigation can be witnessed in various nations throughout the globe particularly Australia, the US, Canada and the UK. The research problem examined in this article shows that the courts are becoming a critical climate change front where climate change conflicts are resolved. The research objectives are to help understand how climate change has impacted human health and the environment and how the courts have stepped into the arena to restrain activities that cause climate change impact. The methodology adopted in this article is both doctrinal and theoretical drawing upon primary and secondary sources of information. The key findings and implications to theory and practice of this article is that it is a medium to foster the jurisprudence of the role of climate change regime through judicial intervention in protecting the environment and people from climate change through climate change litigation.

Valuing and strengthening community

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Mckenzie
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Distinct Group ◽  
The People ◽  
The Social ◽  
Advanced Capitalism ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Way

This chapter explores how there is a growing and distinct group of people in the UK who are faring badly in this period of advanced capitalism. As inequality rises and the gap between the top and the bottom of society widens, their lives are becoming more precarious. The people struggling the most are the working class, but unlike in previous generations, they have little in the way of self- or state-organised stability, from trade unions, political parties, or from identities connected to their employment. It is this group of people at the bottom of society who have been harmed the most by capitalist economics and who have traditionally relied on ‘the social’, whether in their employment or in their communities, to thrive.

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