Empire and National Identities: The Case of Scotland

1998 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 215-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. MacKenzie
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
British Empire ◽  
National Identities ◽  
Cultural Identities ◽  
British Imperialism ◽  
British Identity ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Ethnic History

The modern historiography of the origins of British national identities seems riven with contradictions and paradoxes. First there is a major chronological problem. Is the forging of Britishness to be located in the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth or nineteenth centuries? Second, there is a difficulty in the compilation of such identities. Are they to be found in negative reactions to the perceived contemporary identities of others or in positive, if mythic, readings of ethnic history? Third, can there be a British identity at all when the cultural identities of what may be called the sub-nationalisms or sub-ethnicities of the United Kingdom seem to be forged at exactly the same time? And fourth, did the formation of the British Empire and the vast expansion of British imperialism in the nineteenth century tend towards the confirmation of the identity of Greater Britain or of the Welsh, Irish, English and Scottish elements that made it up?

Catalogue of Tamil manuscripts in the Library of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine

1990 ◽  
Vol 122 (2) ◽  
pp. 359-369
Author(s):  
S. Gunasingam
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
South Asia ◽  
History Of Medicine ◽  
British Empire ◽  
South Asian ◽  
African Countries ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
History Of

Since the time South Asia, together with other Asian and African countries, became an integral part of the British Empire, the significance of manuscripts, published works and other artefacts, relating to those regions has stimulated continued appreciation in the United Kingdom, albeit with varying degrees of interest. It is interesting to note that the factors which have contributed in one way or another to the collecting of South Asian I material for British institutions vary in their nature, and thus illuminate the attitudes of different periods. During the entire nineteenth century, the collectors were primarily administrators; for most of the first half of the twentieth century, it was the interest and the needs of British universities that led to the accumulation of substantial holdings in many academic or specialist libraries.

scholarly journals British “imperial federalism” in the vision of Canadian “loyalists” at the end of XIX century

2019 ◽  
pp. 73-82
Author(s):  
Mykhailo Zapototskyi
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
British Empire ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The Future ◽  
Close Relationship

The article is devoted to the vision of the Canadian political elites of British “imperial federalism” concept, which resonated with the British Empire in the second half of the nineteenth century. This concept appeared in the circles of British politicians and public figures and, in the long run, should become a federal alliance between the colonies and the United Kingdom. Canada, which at that time was a full-fledged state entity, offered its own vision on this issue. The Canadian political elites, most of whom were supporters of a close relationship with the United Kingdom (the so-called “loyalists”), expressed broad support for the British Crown and a close alliance with Britain. In this article the author draws attention to the concept of “imperial federalism” and its origins, highlights the views of Canada’s major political figures who have expressed their thoughts about the imperial federation, and focuses on discussions about the vision of the future alliance of Canadian politicians. Separately analyzed are the colonial conferences of the late nineteenth century, which became the platform for solving colonial problems. They gave the opportunity to the Canadian “loyalists” to express their own position on the activity mechanism of the Imperial Federation in the future. The emergence of the idea of federalization of the British colonial system in the second half of the nineteenth century became a reaction to the outdated colonial system of the United Kingdom, which required updating and optimization of its work. This idea was geopolitical in its nature, because it was the result of the loss of a dominant position in the world colonial system by the United Kingdom and a desire to reclaim its former positions. The Canadian Loyalists’ vision of the concept of British “imperial federalism” is a clear example of Canadian politicians’ attitudes toward Britain at the end of the 19th century. It was to endorse the British idea by making its own adjustments to the future imperial federal system of the British Empire. The very concept of “imperial federalism” did not find its realization throughout the political debate, and its alternative was the imperial conferences that were held throughout the XX century. It was imperial conferences that served as a platform for solving common colonial problems and facilitated closer ties between the Metropolia and the colonies.

scholarly journals A struggle in the peripheries: a few remarks on devolution in the UK

Adeptus ◽  
2014 ◽  
pp. 19-32
Author(s):  
Łukasz Sorokowski
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
National Identities ◽  
British Identity ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Uniform State ◽  
Cultural Minorities ◽  
Multicultural Citizenship ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Political Scene

A struggle in the peripheries: a few remarks on devolution in the UKThe paper looks at the major issues underlying devolution in the United Kingdom, i.e. a process whereby the historically diverse areas and regions constituting the seemingly uniform state have been slowly striving for independence, along with the formation of local, regional and even national identities. Hinging on the idea of ‘multicultural citizenship’, the paper seeks to analyse the ongoing public discourse centered on the gradual transfer of centralized London-based power to local and regional bodies across the UK. This discourse forms the pivotal background of devolution, overtly pointing to the idea of the so-called ‘new opening’ of the entire British political scene, clearly promoting the notion of strengthening the position of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and English regions as increasingly autonomous geographical and cultural areas as part of a weakening monolith by the name of the United Kingdom. Resting almost entirely on historic tensions between British identity and Scottish identity, it is made clear that the Scottish public debate has basically neglected the issues of the assimilation of its cultural minorities with the ‘post-devolution’ reality. The devolution discourse stems from the rancorous debates and polemics which have taken place throughout the three hundred years of the Scottish and English Union, covering several social and political contexts, including the growing demands voiced by the SNP. Indeed, it has a major impact on the formation of Scots’ national distinctiveness alongside Scotland’s gradual emergence as a separate part of the British Isles. Walka na peryferiach: kilka uwag na temat procesu dewolucji w Wielkiej BrytaniiArtykuł omawia główne zagadnienia leżące u podstaw procesu dewolucyjnego w Zjednoczonym Królestwie, tj. stopniowego uniezależniania się historycznych krain – regionów współtworzących to pozornie jednolite państwo, oraz tworzenie się w tym procesie tożsamości lokalnych, regionalnych, a nawet narodowych. Bazując na pojęciu „obywatelstwa wielokulturowego”, dokonano analizy podjętego w tym państwie ożywionego dyskursu publicznego w kwestiach związanych ze stopniowym przekazywaniem władzy skupionej centralnie – w Londynie – instytucjom lokalnym i regionalnym. Dyskurs ten stanowi istotne zaplecze procesu dewolucji, wyraźnie wskazując na ideę tzw. „nowego otwarcia” całej brytyjskiej sceny politycznej, jednoznacznie promując umacnianie pozycji Szkocji, Walii i Irlandii Północnej oraz angielskich regionów jako niezależnych obszarów geograficzno-kulturowych w ramach słabnącego monolitu państwowego Zjednoczonego Królestwa. Dyskurs dewolucyjny ma swe źródła w burzliwych debatach i polemikach toczących się w ciągu trzystu lat istnienia unii angielsko-szkockiej. Obejmuje wiele środowisk społecznych i politycznych, w tym rosnącą w siłę Szkocką Partię Narodową (SNP) i ma istotny wpływ na kształtowanie się poczucia narodowej odrębności Szkotów oraz stopniowego umacniania pozycji tego „regionu – obszaru – kraju” na Wyspach Brytyjskich. Artykuł przybliża istotę dążeń odśrodkowych na przykładzie Szkocji, której coraz bardziej wyraziste dążenia niepodległościowe – ich apogeum jest zaplanowane na wrzesień referendum niepodległościowe – oznaczać będą istotne zmiany konstytucyjne, stanowiąc poważne wyzwanie dla spójności całego Zjednoczonego Królestwa. W ten sposób uwidacznia się istotny z punktu widzenia spójności kulturowej problem przyszłości tego państwa w obliczu możliwych dalszych zmian terytorialnych.

The Oxford History of Protestant Dissenting Traditions, Volume III

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
British Empire ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
The United States ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
History Of ◽  
Negative Identity ◽  
Constitutional Identity

The Oxford History of Protestant Dissenting Traditions, Volume III considers the Dissenting traditions of the United Kingdom, the British Empire, and the United States in the nineteenth century. It provides an overview of the historiography on Dissent while making the case for seeing Dissenters in different Anglophone connections as interconnected and conscious of their genealogical connections. The nineteenth century saw the creation of a vast Anglo-world in which Anglophone Dissent reached its apogee. Featuring contributions from a team of leading scholars, this collection presents Dissent as a political and constitutional identity, which was often only strong where a dominant Church of England existed to dissent against, but also as a cluster of distinctive attitudes to Scripture, spirituality, and culture which persisted even as they changed in different settings. The volume illustrates that in most parts of that Anglo-world the later nineteenth century was marked by a growing enthusiasm for the moral and educational activism of the state, which plays against the idea of Dissent as a static, purely negative identity.

The Command of the Sea

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David G. Morgan-Owen
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
British Isles ◽  
Royal Navy ◽  
Naval Warfare ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Late Nineteenth

The Royal Navy thought about war in a particular way in the late nineteenth century. This chapter explains how the contemporary Navy understood strategy as it pertained to protecting the United Kingdom from invasion. By examining the different approaches taken to war against France and Germany between 1885 and 1900 it shows how the Admiralty understood the defence of the British Isles in this period in largely symmetrical terms. The battle fleet remained key to naval warfare and to preventing invasion, but it did not need to be shackled to the British coastline in order to prevent a hostile power from attempting to cross the Channel.

scholarly journals No More Uncertain: The Future of the Gurkhas in the British Army

2019 ◽  
pp. 89-102
Author(s):  
Paulina Stanik
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Committee Report ◽  
British Army ◽  
British Imperialism ◽  
Military Organization ◽  
Colonial Legacy ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of

Nepalese soldiers, known as the Gurkhas, have been serving in the British Army for over 200 years and have become to be considered an integral part of this military organization. Their long history of service includes participation in the two world wars, as well as the more recent combat missions in the Middle East. However, some call the existence of their military participation a colonial legacy of British imperialism. The aim of this paper is to answer the question on the future of the Nepalese soldiers in the United Kingdom. The study is primarily based on the findings of the 1989 Defence Committee Report regarding the situation and prospects of the Brigade of the Gurkhas, which is juxtaposed with the most recent dispatches and research dealing with the British Army in general and with the Gurkhas themselves.

Home and Away. The Enlistment of Australian, Canadian, New Zealand, and South African Men in Dominion Expeditionary Forces in the United Kingdom during the Great War

Itinerario ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 45-58
Author(s):  
John Connor
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
South African ◽  
British Empire ◽  
Australian Government ◽  
South Africans ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Canadian Citizenship ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Great War

On the outbreak of war, men from the Dominions were scattered across the British Empire. As each Dominion began recruiting their expeditionary forces at home, the issue arose whether these expatriates, especially those resident in the United Kingdom, should join the British Army or be able to enlist in their Dominion's force. Canada and New Zealand allowed recruiting for the CEF and NZEF in the UK. Many Anglophone White South Africans joined a “colonial” battalion of the Royal Fusiliers. The Australian Government refused to allow Australians in the UK to join the AIF, despite the repeated requests of the Australian expatriate community. This paper examines the questions of British and sub-Imperial Dominion identities as well as the practical policy considerations raised by this issue. It argues that there is some evidence of nascent Dominion nationalism—the Canadian High Commission in London issued what became known as “a Certificate of Canadian Citizenship” to expatriates— but that Dominion Governments generally based their decisions on this issue based on cost and domestic political considerations.

Britain, Commonwealth and the End of Empire

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Holland
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
British Empire ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Due Process ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
History Of ◽  
British Commonwealth

This chapter examines the history of Great Britain, the British Commonwealth, and the end of the British Empire in the twentieth century, suggesting that the twentieth century ended in Britain as it began, with the constitutional structure of the United Kingdom a contested and vital subject of public discourse. It concludes that the transitions that characterised the Empire-Commonwealth over the twentieth century were ultimately constrained within the due process of British constitutionalism.

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