Kulturwissenschaft Past Paper 24/25 PDF

Kulturwissenschaft Prof Akademischer Rat Dr. Eva-Maria Orth Year 24/25 Exam Exam Datum @4. Februar 2025 10:15 → 11:45 Place Carl-Zeiß-Straße 3 → SR 384 Status In Bearbeitung...

Kulturwissenschaft Prof Akademischer Rat Dr. Eva-Maria Orth Year 24/25 Exam Exam Datum @4. Februar 2025 10:15 → 11:45 Place Carl-Zeiß-Straße 3 → SR 384 Status In Bearbeitung Degree Bachelor “There is not anything natural about nationality. One is not born British, one becomes British.” → John Storey, ‘Becoming British’, 19) @14. Januar 2025 → videos about the sports anthems ❓ Fragen Klausur Vocabulary/Terms 📎 high culture vertical and horizontal relations imagined community embodiment The meaning of ‘culture’ and the history of cultural studies 1 Kulturwissenschaft 1  drei wertfreie und drei werthaltige Verwendungen von dem Begriff ‘Kultur’ lat. ‘colere’ = ‘pflegen’ ‘Kultur’ lässt sich mittlerweile als Suffix an jedwede mit einer gewissen Systematik verfolgte menschliche Tätigkeit anhängen Assmann → culture is everything wertfreie Verwendungen werthaltige Verwendungen Pflege → ‘Kultur’ lässt sich mittlerweile als Suffix an jedwede mit einer gewissen Systematik verfolgte menschliche Tätigkeit anhängen + alles was einen gewissen Grad an entwickelter Vielfalt und innerer Ausdifferenzierung aufweist geographische & politische Großgebilde/nationale Eigenart → Nationen mit unterschiedlichen historischen historischen Entwicklungen, deren Einheit durch bestimmte Sprachen, Mentalitäten, Kunst- und Lebensformen gebildet ist = was das alles zusammenhält: mit ‘Kultur’ ausgedrückt und wird eher von außen wahrgenommen (unterschiedliche Bilder von unterschiedlichen Standpunkten) → wurde in Frage gestellt und sei eine Fiktion/Essentialisierung von ‘Wesen’ Kultur als Universalbegriff→ Bernhard Waldenfels: unter Kultur lässt sich alles zusammenfassen, was Menschen aus sich und den Dingen machen + was ihnen dabei widerfährt (z.B. Kunststile, soziale Einrichtungen, symbolische Bedeutungen, …) Kultur = “auf gewisse Weise alles” - Aristoteles alles was Menschen anrühren (auch Natur/Naturwissenschaften) ⇒ Kultur, damit ist auch ALLES Gegenstand der Forschung (ein inklusiver und relativierender Blick → “Es ist der ethnographische Blick, der dabei von der Untersuchung exotisch fremder Kulturen auf das Eigene zurückgelenkt wird und dieses produktiv verfremdet.” (S. 14)) ABER GEFAHR: könnte Beliebigkeit + Indifferenz entstehen https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/9308e89a-1abb-4559-9a39-56c7a583 f516/575cea1f-c351-49d0-b8d4-0d4bb0d64f2c/Assmann_neu.pdf 1. Which six senses of culture does Assmann discuss? 2. Assmann points to a major difference between the six concepts of culture. What is it? 3. Where does the word 'culture' come from? 4. Which English word today reminds of this original sense of 'culture'? 5. In its second sense, 'culture' is used for geographical and political entities (such as nations). What is typically regarded as constitutive for such entities? Kulturwissenschaft 2  6. We have come to think of (other) national cultures as homogenous and fixed, but is this actually the case? 7. Assmann says that the idea of, for example, a nation as a fixed cultural unit has come under attack, has been exposed as a fiction. What do you think contributes to such a fiction of, for example, a homogenous Germanness or Britishness, or of the West as a cultural unit? 8. "Essentialisierung durch Zuschreibung eines Wesens" – essentialization through the attribution of a character – does this make sense to you? Can you think of examples? How is a character attributed to a nation or a region? 9. The third sense of culture, which Assmann explains, is the ethnographic concept of culture. What is culture in this sense? 10. The first normative concept of culture explained by Assmann is "high culture". Which part of society is 'high culture' associated with? 11. "Hochkultur" – what does the 'height' implied here refer to? 12. Is high culture still as significant as it used to be? Why not? 13. Can you give examples of "Hochkultur" today? 14. The second normative concept is culture as civilization. What does this refer to and what is its opposite? 15. The last concept, which Assmann explains, is that of culture as a counter-world. Who is this associated with and what is characteristic of this understanding of culture? 1. Where in the anglophone world did cultural studies first emerge? 2. Stuart Hall wrote an influential paper on the beginning and development of cultural studies. What is its title? 3. Aleida Assmann mentions a few people who stand for the beginning of cultural studies in Britain. What are their names? Select one or more: 1. Edward Thompson 2. Richard Hoggart 3. R. Leavis 4. Stephen Greenblatt 5. Clifford Geertz 6. Lawrence Grossberg 7. Raymond Williams 8. Stuart Hall 4. Who was Stuart Hall's teacher at university? 5. What is the title of F. R. Leavis' most influential book? 6. Hall, Williams, Hoggart and Thompson were critical of F. R. Leavis because (select one or more): a. Leavis' concept of a bourgeois culture excluded people from their background (colonies, working-class) b. Leavis represented an elitist concept of culture c. for Leavis culture implied 'high culture' Kulturwissenschaft 3  d. Leavis was a Marxist e. they were Marxists 7. The Birmingham School (select one or more): a. found great resonance in the US and Canada b. directly responded to current social change c. had no interest in the connection between culture and politics d. regarded culture as the arena of fights for power, money, recognition and prestige e. regarded culture as the embalmed heritage of a national tradition f. wanted to preserve the canon g. studied industrial mass culture h. were influenced by Marx, Foucault and Gramsci i. established a canon of 19th century literature 8. Who in the 1970s and 1980s reacted with enthusiasm to the broader definition of culture that was initiated by cultural studies (inclusion of popular culture)? 9. Why, according to Assmann, were the 1980s and 1990s a period of unrest? High Culture https://prod-files-secure. https://prod-files-secur https://prod-files-secure. s3.us-west-2.amazonaw e.s3.us-west-2.amazo s3.us-west-2.amazonaw s.com/9308e89a-1abb-4 naws.com/9308e89a-1 s.com/9308e89a-1abb-4 559-9a39-56c7a583f51 abb-4559-9a39-56c7a 559-9a39-56c7a583f51 6/c08df50b-2309-4b1e- 583f516/91b2a37a-cec 6/871d9347-a147-4253- 9d64-6c69037858bd/20 d-406b-8583-b3f0c57 8393-8eccdf7926c8/Hig 18Daenekindt_High_Cultu f31ed/Leavis__Mass_Ci h_Culture_moodle.pdf re_BlackwellEncyclopedi vilisation_and_Minority_ aofSociology.pdf Culture.pdf Worksheet Questions: 1. What, according to Daenekindt, is generally understood as ‘high culture’ What is its opposite? high culture refers to traditionally esteemed cultural forms, such as visual arts, opera, classical music, and literature, seen as intellectually valuable and conducive to personal growth → particularly valuable and worthy of appreciation high culture = “forms of culture, such as visual arts, opera, classical music, and literature” the opposite → the mass produced popular culture (popular music, blockbuster films, …) 2. According to Daenekindt, Horkheimer and Adorno “argue that mass-produced popular culture erodes the capacity for individual thinking, generates conformity, and cripples innovation and intellectual reflection”. Are you familiar with this kind of criticism? Can you give examples for forms of popular culture which could be the subject of such criticism today? spotify/streaming platforms (content recommendations are often tailored to individual preferences through algorithms that prioritize similarity and predictability; filter bubbles) → music in general (like in France the ‘chanson’ is regarded as ‘high culture’) Kulturwissenschaft 4  (cheap) forms of television formates film (not alone as such but blockbuster movies) 3. How do sociologists look at ‘high’ culture? they argue that the distinction between high and popular culture is socially constructed, not inherently superior, and shaped by symbolic production—the process of assigning value based on power and ideology rather than aesthetics with fuzzy boundaries they desacralises high culture a sociological perspective seeks to desacralise high culture by demonstrating the socially constructed nature of the high culture category scholars from the Birmingham School argued that the inferior position of popular culture ensues from issues of power and ideology, rather than aesthetic value per se (Hall) 4. Daenekindt speaks of a ‘cultural hierarchy’. What is situated at its top? What is at its bottom? high culture is situated at the top, while mass produced popular culture occupies the bottom high culture: This hierarchy values cultural forms like classical music, literature, opera, and fine arts as prestigious or intellectually enriching. These forms of culture are traditionally associated with Bildung (a German concept denoting personal and intellectual cultivation) and are viewed as symbols of refinement and sophistication popular, mass-produced cultural forms, such as reality television, mainstream pop music, blockbuster movies, … → often viewed as less intellectually challenging or “serious,” associated with immediate gratification rather than depth and reflection. the hierarchy is not stable but changes all the time (like Shakespear → first regarded as lower culture but that clearly changed) 5. This cultural hierarchy is not stable but subject to change. Give your own examples for cultural products whose position in the cultural hierarchy has changed over time. (Be specific!) “the position of cultural products in the cultural hierarchy changes over time” (example: Shakespear) Over time, cultural forms can move up or down in this hierarchy based on shifts in taste, power, and social perception graffiti and street art (like Banksy) graphic novels jazz music (more radical) art forms (like cubism) Bob Dylan and his Nobel Price in Literature (”for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”) 6. Does the cultural hierarchy correspond to a social hierarchy? Explain! yes, because of education for example corolation between the ‘lower-class’ and the consumption of high(er) culture → “cultural consumption is socially patterned, as lower classes are vastly underrepresented in the audience for high culture” the appreciation and consumption of high culture requires cultural resources that are largely distributed among members of the higher classes certain forms of culture are labeled high culture because the higher classes consume them Kulturwissenschaft 5  but also the social groups determine that not only class but also the cultural outsiders or insiders determine that culture = a status marker and a key mechanism in the construction and reproduction of social inequality 7. Give examples for culture as a status marker (the display of cultural products) art collection fashion furniture 8. Who determines the position of cultural products and practices in the cultural hierarchy? Who decides what is to be regarded as ‘high’ culture? the distinction between high and popular culture need to be embedded in dominant institutions, such as the state, the educational system, and the media media cultural (and state) institutions educational system → plays a particular influential role by including/excluding certain forms of culture in curricula and, in this way, signaling which forms of culture are worth pursuing and appropriating and how? → through funding, generations, media coverage, … example: someone who sneaked in a painting into a prestigious art museum and that was not discovered at first, but once the museum found out it sparked a debate and they frowned upon this 9. Is it correct that “that cultural hierarchies have decayed, resulting in cultural pluralism in which the term high culture has lost its meaning”? Explain! there is a pluralisation of the form but the technical things remain the same/empirical research continues to demonstrate the relevance of high culture category cultural hierarchies and the high culture category remain relevant and crucial for understanding the social implications of cultural consumption and production 10. F.R. Leavis does not use the term ‘high culture’. He speaks of ‘minority culture’. What does he mean by this? What is its function? (Quote relevant passages from the text). the concept of "minority culture" as a counterpoint to the growing impact of mass produced popular culture refers to a small group of intellectually and culturally sophisticated individuals who are responsible for maintaining and advancing the highest standards of cultural and literary excellence → this minority is not defined by social class or economic status, but rather by their intellectual capacity and commitment to preserving and developing cultural values and the vast majority cannot respond that the judgement/are unable to appreciate because they lack the ability → “only a few are capable of unprompted, first-hand judgement” (S. 12) “still a small minority, though a larger one […] are capable of endorsing such first-hand judgment by genuine personal response” (S. 12) “the minority […] constitute the consciousness of the race” (S. 12) ("In any period it is upon a very small minority that the discerning appreciation of art and literature depends... Upon this minority depends our power of profiting by the finest human Kulturwissenschaft 6  experience of the past; they keep alive the subtlest and most perishable parts of tradition." (p. 12)) function: Cultural Preservation: To maintain and transmit the best that has been thought and said in literature and culture. Resistance to Mass Culture: To serve as a bulwark against what Leavis saw as the degrading effects of mass culture and industrialization on society's cultural standards Cultural Continuity: To ensure the continuity of cultural traditions and values across generations "Upon this minority depends our power of profiting by the finest human experience of the past; they keep alive the subtlest and most perishable parts of tradition. Upon them depend the implicit standards that order the finer living of an age, the sense that this is worth more than that, this rather than that is the direction in which to go, that the centre is here rather than there." (p.13) 11. Leavis says that today [i.e. at the time of publication] “culture is at a crisis”. What is this crisis? (Quote relevant passages from the text) the rise of mass produced popular culture, which he sees as eroding traditional values and diminishing the quality of artistic and intellectual life → ”The machine, in the first place, has brought about change in habit and the circumstances of life at a rate for which we have no parallel.” (p. 13) → “There we see in detail how the automobile (to take one instance) has, in a few years, radically affected religion, broken up the family, and revolutionised social custom. Change has been so catastrophic that the generations find it hard to adjust themselves to each other, and parents are helpless to deal with their children. (p. 13) → “When we consider, for instance, the processes of mass-production and standardisation in the form represented by the Press, it becomes obviously of sinister significance that they should be accompanied by process of levelling-down.” (p. 14) → “It applies even more disastrously to the films: more disastrously, because the films have a so much more potent influence. They provide now the main form of recreation in the civilised world; and they involve surrender, under conditions of hypnotic receptivity, to the cheapest emotional appeals, appeals the more insidious because they are associated with a compellingly vivid illusion of actual life. It would be difficult to dispute that the result must be serous damage to the ‘standard of living’ (to use the phrase as before.” (p. 14) “there seems every reason to believe that the average cultivated person of a century ago was a very much more competent reader than his modern representative.” (p. 15) The meaning of ‘culture’ and the history of cultural studies 2 https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.am https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.am azonaws.com/9308e89a-1abb-4559-9a39 azonaws.com/9308e89a-1abb-4559-9a39 -56c7a583f516/bf8bcfd9-60c0-4b08-975 -56c7a583f516/31d7bea4-d539-4cfc-ba4 8-c1fcc1c55085/Williams_Culture_is_Ordin 9-6212258d7394/Williams_WS2425_Mood ary_neu.pdf le.pdf https://juerongqiu.home.blog/2020/09/06/culture-is-ordinary/ Kulturwissenschaft 7  https://learnwithrahim.com/analysis-of-culture-in-raymond-williamss-the-analysis-of-culture/ 1. How does Williams explain ‘culture’? “culture is ordinary” = present in every human society and belongs to everyone (does not use a ethnically view), that means that culture is not something exclusive or elite, but rather a fundamental aspect of every human society Culture is both collective and individual - which means culture encompasses the common, everyday experiences and meanings shared by all members of a (human) society every human society has its own unique shape, purposes, and meanings, which are expressed through institutions, arts, and learning culture has 2 meanings: the known meanings and observations, which its member are trained to; the new observations and meanings, which are offered and tested culture is both traditional ans creative two senses: a whole way of live the arts and learning he insists on both 2. Which two “senses of culture” or attitudes does Williams reject (“that I know but refuse to learn”)? (the teashop thing) Culture as the outward and emphatically visible sign of a special kind of people, cultivated people - culture defined by trivial differences between social classes. He means a separation of culture. Some people insisted that culture is their trivial differences of behaviour (like (table) manners, forms of politeness) and their trivial variations of speech habits (like specific usage of received pronunciation/the accent - some regional accents have lower prestige). But those superficial behaviours and speech patterns are “not culture” because true culture is much more than these trivial affections, culture is sth. more significant and belongs to a broader community. the first sense → culture in a special sense: the outward and emphatically visible sign of a special kind of people, cultivated people; they were not particularly learned; the practiced few arts; their trivial differences of behaviour, their trivial variations of speech habit (p. 7) The second sense → men who are intellectuals (were or wanted to be writers or scholars) but now work in advertisement (are advertising men, publicity boys) and they are using their skills to exploit ordinary people for profit (p. 8) an interest in learning or the arts is simple, pleasant and natural (p. 8) a desire to know what is best, and to do what is good, is the whole positive nature of man (p. 8) The second sense of culture that Williams refuses is the sense that dismisses or mocks any serious interest in arts ans learning - the argots, a anti-cultural attitude. He mentions the “do- gooders”, “highbrows”, “superior prigs” (p. 7) → terms used to describe people interested in culture. 3. Williams mentions “two serious influences” that he encountered in Cambridge. Which are they? Marxism + the teaching of Leavis 4. Which Marxist positions does Williams not agree with and why? Marxists claimed that culture was controlled by the upper class, restricting access for the masses. Williams partially agrees, noting educational opportunities were limited for the poor. Kulturwissenschaft 8  However, he disagrees with characterising working people as “ignorant masses”. to say that working people are excluded from English culture is nonsense a great part of the English way of life, and of its arts and learning, is not bourgeois there is a distinct working-class way of life […] this way of life, with its emphases of neighbourhood, mutual obligation, and common betterment, as expressed in the great working-class political and industrial institutions, is in fact best basis for any future English society A second Marxist position he completely disagrees with is that Marxists claim that culture is dying and the masses are ignorant. Based on his own experiences his disagrees. “The Marxist interpretation of culture can never be accepted while it retains […] this directive element, this insistence that if you honestly want socialism you must write, think, learn in certain prescribed ways.“ Williams also rejected that advocating for a different system of production should dictate cultural practices, including new forms of art and learning. 5. What is F.R. Leavis’ diagnosis of English culture (“his version of what is wrong with English culture”)? An old, valuable agricultural England, with a tradition culture of great values has been replaced by a modern, organized, industrial state. This state’s modern institutions cheapen human responses and threaten art and literature. Education is the only defence against this cultural decline and will at least keep certain things alive (making art and literature into desperate survivors and witnesses […] while a new mechanised vulgarity sweeps into the centres of power”, p. 10). 6. What is Williams’s response to Leavis? Williams strongly disagrees with those who dismiss these improvements of industrialisation as merely mechanical or external progress. He argues that they brought real improvements in life quality, freedom, and personal autonomy (social and political changes). Any cultural critique that denies the value of industrial society is irrelevant, working-people would never give this up because they gained power and benefits from it. The meaning of ‘culture’ and the history of cultural studies 3 https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.am https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.am azonaws.com/9308e89a-1abb-4559-9a39 azonaws.com/9308e89a-1abb-4559-9a39 -56c7a583f516/9c4c130f-5ae7-417a-a5ec -56c7a583f516/cbb5a537-5cbc-4915-94f -b67673b54946/Emergence_of_Cultural_S 5-51edc4343c18/Stuart_Hall_WS2425.pdf tudies.pdf 1. Hall says that cultural studies are interdisciplinary. What does this mean? Cultural studies is not a fixed discipline but rather an adaptive practice/has an interdisciplinary character that responds to its specific context. It has its roots in the humanities and the social sciences but is diverse and an evolving field. (p. 11) 2. What, according to Hall, was the attitude of the humanities towards cultural studies when they first emerged? Kulturwissenschaft 9  The humanities were initially/originally hostile to this new field and cultural studies practitioners often had to leave traditional humanities departments to persue their work. This hostility emerged from the humanities’ self-perception as a cohesive integrated field of study. 3. In his essay, Hall says (p. 12): "I want to question the self-presentation of the humanities as an ongoing, integral, integrated exercise. For those of us in cultural studies, the humanities have never been or can no longer be that integral formation." What is he critical of here regarding the humanities? Hall wants to question the self-presentation of the humanities (as ongoing, integral, integrated) (p. 12) Hall is critical of the humanities’ self-perception as a cohesive integrated field of study, but those in cultural studies saw the humanities as fragmented and no longer unified because they exclude the cultural studies. They pretend to be sth. they are not. 4. When, according to Stuart Hall, did cultural studies "really" begin? Cultural Studies emerged in the 1950s as a part of a broader political and intellectual movement and as a response to the significant social and cultural changes in post-World War II in Britain. The field of cultural studies was initially developed outside traditional academic circles because of the real-life settings they were coming from. cultural studies began with the debate about nature of social and cultural change in post-war Britain (p. 12) post-war Britain: It’s the break-up of traditional culture, new forms of affluence and consumer society, mass media and merging mass society 5. What is the first New Left? a movement the cultural studies in the 1950s with Richard Hoggart, Raymond Williams, Edward P. Thompson → on the margins of British academic life (their books) 6. What, according to Hall, were the humanities in the English context dealing with? And who was their "archetypal" figure"? F.R. Leavis = the archetypal figure Leavis saw himself committed to: tending the health of the language and the national culture; nurturing the refined sensibilities of a small company of scholars culture and cultural life were - according to Leavis - in the keeping of a particular literary elite Leavis adopted a conservative position and was driven to an elitist educational program cultural studies distanced itself from his conservative cultural values Hall: humanities indebted to the Arnoldian project “What they were handling in literary work and history were the histories and touchstones of the national culture, transmitted to a select number of people.” (p. 13) he means Shakespeare for example or Alexander Pope these touchstones are the “traditional” writings → to keep the literary elite Kulturwissenschaft 10  7. Hall says, that when cultural studies began in the 1960s and 1970s it undertook the task of 'unmasking' the humanities. He says (p. 15): "When cultural studies began its work in the 1960s and '70s, it had, therefore, to undertake the task of unmasking what it considered to be the unstated presuppositions of the humanist tradition itself. It had to try to bring to light the ideological assumptions underpinning the practice, to expose the educational program (which was the unnamed part of its project), and to try to conduct an ideological critique of the way the humanities and the arts presented themselves as parts of disinterested knowledge. It had, that is, to undertake a work of demystification to bring into the open the regulative nature and role the humanities were playing in relation to the national culture." Explain what Hall says in this paragraph! He says that we should critically examine and “unmask” the unstated assumptions of the traditional humanist approach to culture and education. to expose the educational program He aimed to expose the ideological assumptions of how the humanities and arts presented themselves as “disinterested knowledge” (because they hide their true nature). “Work of demystification” has to be done to reveal the regulative role the humanities were playing in shaping national culture. → through education (like in university), by determining what should be read, preserved, presented in the museum they (the humanities) use objectivity as a weapon contemporary cultural forms did not constitute a serious object of contemplation in the academic world interdisciplinary influences: sociology, humanities, anthropology 8. What contributed to the development of cultural studies in the late 60s and 70s? The translations of European works (Frankfurt school) in the 60s and 70s, especially by New Left Review, because they were crucial in providing theoretical foundations for cultural studies. 9. Hall speaks of a "crisis of the system of higher education" in Britain (p. 18f.). He sees it related to a "profound crisis of national identity" (p. 21). How does Halls explain this crisis of national identity? Which factors contribute to it? And what is the function of the humanities in this crisis? The “crisis of the system of education” and the “profund crisis of national identity” There was a debate to introduce a national curriculum focused particularly on literature and history (debate whether there should be a national curriculum). In literature there was emphasis on “literary language” and its impact on effective English speaking, whereas in history there was a push to return to a more traditional, nationalistic view of British history, as opposed to a more global perspective. what should be taught in literature and history erosion and decline of the UK as a nation state ‘threats’ from: its regions (from within), Europe, America, Japan (from the outside), and from its own population, from the ‘others’ One factor was Thatcherism, which attempted to redefine who could be considered “truely English”, resulting in the exclusion of many groups. This exclusionary process left only a small group of people who fit Thatcherism’s definition of “English”, comparable to the small group of intellectuals who followed Leavis. The crisis of identity was linked to: global migration, cultural fragmentation, the rise of marginalised groups demanding representation and cultural power and increasing ethnic diversity in English society. → social change as the threat of the national culture Kulturwissenschaft 11  a hierarchical tradition culture blown apart by world migration, fragmentation, the rise of the margins the struggles of the margins to come into representation humanities = the last bastion on a defensive operation 10. What, according to Hall, is the function of cultural studies in the face of this crisis? To help people understand and resist cultural and social changes in post-war Britain and to find new theoretical techniques and positions that can be applied to understand the larger historical/political project facing the humanities. National identity and national culture https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.am https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.am azonaws.com/9308e89a-1abb-4559-9a39 azonaws.com/9308e89a-1abb-4559-9a39 -56c7a583f516/18da50c9-851e-42ca-885 -56c7a583f516/fdcbd9c5-27c5-4152-ac5 2-c829a8eeb846/Storey_Becoming_Britis a-53c675a5d5cf/Storey_ws2425.pdf h_neu.pdf 1. When, according to Storey, did 'Britain' become a name of the nation? 1707 (early 18th century) by the Act of Union that United England and Scotland but versions of the term were already used by the Greeks and the Romans 2. How was Britain ‘invented’? officially by the Act of Union 1707 that united England and Scotland 3. When did the name change to "United Kingdom"? between 1801 and 1921 when Ireland was added 4. Which event led to the name "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"? the Division of (Southern) Ireland in 1921: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 5. Which two factors, according to Storey, contributed to a “shared sense of Britishness”? the war/conflict with France perhaps the most significant factor in the formation of a British identity because it brought England, Wales, and Scotland together against a common enemy despite their internal differences war with France brought Britons into confrontation with an obviously hostile Other and encouraged them to define themselves collectively against it conflict with France allowed Britishness to be superimposed over a range of internal differences The building of the British Empire in North America, Africa, India, and Australia → the British Empire was an even more important factor in producing a shared sense of Britishness 6. How does Storey contradict the common assumption that identity is “something coherent and fixed”? “National identities are always a narrative of the nation becoming; as much about ‘routes’ as they are about ‘roots’. In other words, nations are never only ever invented once: invention is always followed by reinvention.” (p. 13) → national identities are narratives about who a nation Kulturwissenschaft 12  is and where it’s going, not just about its past; not only about where you come from but where you are going nations are never only ever invented once: invention is always followed by reinvention creating new symbols, new ceremonies ans new stories of historical origins examples: new national holidays, the change of the flag, invention of a new hymn, Columbus Day, Stolpersteine and Tag der deutschen Einheit in Germany, in Canada the inclusion of the indigenous history 7. What is 'national branding' "often tied up with"? nations having a ‘brand’ “National branding is often tied up with claims about maintaining supposedly ancient traditions.” (p. 13) → these appeals to (supposably)ancient history can backfire by making the nation seem backward-looking rather than innovative and future oriented Many conservative politicians talked about the “thousand-year-old Britain” for example: Kings and Queens and their architecture like castles or sth. similar; “Schleswig- Holstein. Der echte Norden” and the debate about “Welches Land ist der ‘echte Norden’?”; Bayernhymne is similar to the marketing of a company/the management of brands by companies 8. How is nature used to establish a sense of the nation? nations often seem rooted in the very nature that provides them with their geographical space What now seems like a “natural” way of viewing and connecting to the British landscape is actually the result of cultural influences over time. The connection between land and national identity is not innate or automatic - it’s shaped over time by cultural forces, especially art and literature the fit between nature and nation is made to seem natural meaning is attributed to territorial space by artists and writers E.g. eagle as a national animal/ symbol, maple leaf on Canada’s flag, Rennsteiglied, national park Why nature: timelessness (old), something everybody knows/ can relate to, rich repertoire for symbolic representation, attribute characteristics of nature and place to the nation, simplification, concreteness 9. What is the relation of ‘folk culture’ and nationalism(s)? Folk culture is seen to embody the nation’s nature/the embodiment of the nature of a nation, blurring the line between national and natural ‘discovery’ of folk cultures was an integral part of emerging European nationalisms examples: Grimms Märchen, Walter Scott: Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border 10. How does Storey explain Benedict Anderson’s ‘imagined community’? National identity is a form of identification with an imagined community. It is a imagined community because most members will never meet or know each other, yet they feel a sense of communion. a nation is imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them or even hear of them, yet in the mind of each lives the image of their communion (p. 15) Kulturwissenschaft 13  A nation consists of parts: the equal horizontal relations (relations of national belonging - supposedly based in equality) and vertical relations (relations of e.g. social class, ethnicity, gender, generation, … - relations of inequality) with its inequality for cohesion the horizontal relations must be/appear more important than the vertical ones → horizontal relations must always work to control the potential disruptive effect of vertical relations 11. What are nation-enabling media? novels, daily newspapers, radio, television, and many others (p. 15) 12. How does Storey explain ‘hegemony’? He explains it that it involves a dominant group leading by consent, presenting its interests as general national interests. This dominant group tries to make big conflicts seem like small differences - it takes unfair situations where some people have more power than others (vertical inequalities) and makes them seem less important. Instead, it emphasises the idea that everyone belongs to the same nation (horizontal national belonging). hegemony = processes of power in which a dominant group does not merely rule by force but leads by ‘consent’ a social group presents its own particular interests as the general interests of the national formation as a whole → it turns the particular into the general; transforming potential antagonism into simple difference (p. 17) in a hegemonic situation, subordinate groups appear to actively support and subscribe to values, ideals and objectives, which incorporate them into the prevailing structures of power (p. 17) E.g. tax rises (economic principles) → everyone agrees to cut back in order to improve the economy; question about gender roles (the mothers are/were more likely to stay at home and stop working and take care of the children); 13. Which two conclusions does Storey draw from "the concept of culture as a realised signifying system"? Nations exist in the real world but they only have meaning because of culture. The way we understand and talk about nations help shaping our reality. → it is only in culture that the nations can be made to mean (p. 18) meanings cultures regulate ans organise our conduct and practices they help to set the rules, norms and conventions by which social life is ordered and governed they are what those who wish to govern and regulate the conduct and ideas of others seek to structure and shape (p. 19) The same ‘sign’ (anything that carries meaning) can have different meaning in different contexts because signs can have multiple meanings, there is often a struggle over what things mean in a culture. These meanings shape how people behave and think in a society and they help set rules and norms of social life. the performance of nationality creates the illusion of a prior substantiality nationality is performatively constructed in processes of repetition and citation (p. 20) examples: State Opening in the UK 14. How, according to Storey, are national identities ‘made’? Kulturwissenschaft 14  National identities are made through repeated actions and behaviours that seem “natural” but are actually learned = Our sense of belonging to a nation is built up over time through these repeated performances. This ‘performance’ creates the illusion of a core national self that doesn’t really exist. (p. 21) these narratives seek to draw us into place as members of a national community And national identity is shaped and maintained through a variety of cultural elements (rituals, symbols, institutions, narratives, …). These elements work together to create a shaped sense of belonging ans a collective understanding of what it means to be part of a particular nation. → institutions, rituals, ceremonies and symbols tell these stories we encounter them on: coins, stamps, flags, anthems, festivals, parades, passports, war memorials, folk songs, museums, national heroes and heroines Britain has many such stories these stories help construct a sense of what Britishness is 15. Which examples does he give for Britain? trooping the colour changing the guard the grand national the FA cup final certain rivers and mountains particular monuments the union jack the BBC the house of parliament fish and chips the highland games the notting hill carnival the Edinburgh festival the eisteddfod drinking warm bee complexity and change as key factors in understanding modern Britishness Britain has always been a hybrid nation, always mixing together different cultures and ethnicities Britishness has always been far less unified than it is imagined it has always been a diverse and pluralistic culture of cultures 16. Can you think of similar examples for other (anglophone) cultures? Germany: Oktoberfest, Soccer, Nation-enabling media: television Kulturwissenschaft 15  https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6tqb3v https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.am azonaws.com/9308e89a-1abb-4559-9a39 -56c7a583f516/7965b885-22ed-4ec4-b5f 1-f603171a8287/Antiques_Roadshow_ws2 425.pdf 1. Does the beginning (00:34- 03:13) contribute to the creation of a sense of Britishness/Englishness? Osborne House, a royal residence on the Isle of Wight, embodies several elements that evoke a strong sense of British identity: The Royal Heritage: The castle was built for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, two of the most iconic figures in British history. This royal connection immediately links the castle to the British monarchy, which is a central part of British identity. the picture of the Queen and her husband and how the house/castle is introduced to create a narrative that we/the British can relate with - “a cosy, family home” - so basically they are depicted as “ordinary” people of the upper class and not really as a royal family → getting out of the big city as a family is what the people could relate with their own family, a sense of a shared experience/a supposed similarity (like today in the US the First Lady/First Gentleman decorates the White House for Christmas just like everyone who celebrates Christmas) The Durbar Room, which was added later to the house, reflects Queen Victoria's status as Empress of India and her love for this country. This room, with its intricate Indian-inspired designs, serves as a tangible reminder of Britain's imperial past and its complex relationship with its colonies. We also see the nature again, like the sea. → English landscape garden and these came to a stand for the British landscape; nature as a typical Britishness Cultural Preservation: Osborne House is now in the hands of English Heritage, which shows how much the British care about preserving and celebrating their historical landmarks./passed through many hands = creates an idea of a long history the Union Jack choice of music → classical music which draws a parallel to the upper class/a class connotation Can (parts of) the beginning be explained by going back to Storey's "Becoming British"? The focus on Osborne House as a royal residence for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert reinforces the centrality of the monarchy in British identity → This aligns with Storey's emphasis on the role of institutions in shaping national consciousness. Imperial Legacy: The mention of Queen Victoria's fascination with India and the recreation of Indian elements in the castle reflects Britain's imperial past → This connects to Storey's discussion of how empire and colonialism contributed to the formation of British identity. Cultural Preservation: The fact that Osborne House is now in the possession of English Heritage demonstrates the ongoing effort to maintain and celebrate British history → This relates to Storey's ideas about the importance of shared cultural heritage in national identity formation. Kulturwissenschaft 16  Landscape and Nature: The depiction of the sea and surrounding nature on the Isle of Wight aligns with Storey's notion of the role of landscape in shaping national identity → The British countryside and coastline are often central to conceptions of Britishness. people across the British Empire people copied the style of the house reversal of the narrative with her servant Abdul because he teaches her Hindi so the roles are kinda reversed (but not really tho) hegemony → the visitors can experience the castle but it still remains as something royal which the ‘normal’ people cannot achieve, so there is still a hegemony Storey: “national identities are made from a complex mix of rituals, symbols and stories” → rituals here in a sense that the show is broadcasted at a specific time and weekday, symbols here like the architecture (the castle of the former RF), stories here in what is being told about the objects Hall: narrative of the nation is “told and retold in national histories, literatures, the media and popular culture”; “these provide a set of stories, images, landscapes, scenarios, historical events, national symbols and rituals which stand for, represent, the shared experiences, sorrows, and triumphs and disasters which give meaning to the nation”; “we see ourselves in our mind’s eye sharing in this narrative”; “it lends significance and importance to our humdrum existence, connecting our everyday lives with a national destiny that pre-existed us” 2. Look at the mise-en-scene – the visitors in the grounds of Osborne House. Is this significant, or perhaps even symbolic? By visiting Osborne House, these “ordinary people” are participating in a shared cultural experience that contributes to a sense of British identity. they are mostly elderly white people → there is only one demographic present, no minorities → so we are presented with a imagined community the national colours are present in the way the participants and visitors dress but also in the way they decorate the grounds and the people are queing in a line → which is quite stereotypical for the British Williams: this extraordinary decision to call certain things culture and then separate them, as with a park wall, from ordinary people” → no park wall standing between the people and the culture in the castle (a least not anymore) 3. Who are the people participating in the programme? Do you think this is significant for the creation of an 'imagined community’? it is backwards-looking Antiques Roadshow (Bonner): romanticized Englishness, overt focus on the past and on culture → “overwhelming middle-classness, its whiteness and its celebration of regions and certain kinds of achievements associated with them” Are the people in the programme representative of Britain? not really; they are only older white people, and there is not much diversity, which is what Britain actually is 4. Participants usually explain how the objects came into their possession. Does this have a function? the provenance of any (art-)historical object is important most participants inherited the objects from their family, but if asked where the family got it from all participants could not answer this question, so the provenance is quite unclear → this Kulturwissenschaft 17  would be most important for the objects with a link to the British Empire/Colonies due to a possible ‘expropriation’ → creates an idea of a long history some of the objects have a link to the royal family and are connected to the castle creates a link/relation from royalty to ‘ordinary’ people and lessens the distance between them → Construction of a ‘national family’ or that they are not that different; to care for these objects creates a sort of meaning and existence not only to the objects but also to the possessors of these objects - they have as sense of legacy that makes them feel they are part of the (British) history (reference to Stuart Hall) emphasis on tradition/continuity ‘ordinary’ people identify with the stories that are told though the nation through the experience of their ancestors construction of a ‘national’ family 5. Which parts of the programme help create a sense of Britishness or Englishness? Which stories do they tell, and which objects do they focus on? Explain! most objects mainly have sth. to do with Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert or a connection to one of the British Colonies the focus of the objects are mainly a royal or colonial link → “romantic, old-fashioned view” of the country “that has roots in past glories” (Frances Bonner, Ordinary Television: Analysing Popular TV) the parts: maybe when the tell what the object is or was used for and what link these have (so that there is a collective history behind the objects and not just a personal one and this helps to build a shared sense of identity among viewers) the canteen van: link to the WWII which stands or creates a sense of togetherness, a symbol of unity; downplays the military forces behind it; shows a positive attitude towards the second World War, because Britain won the war (this would not happen in Germany), historical reenactment; more references to the war: the painting with the ships and the camouflage bottom of them, the chair that was made by (disabled) war veterans - and also has a reference to the royal family: Princess Beatrice lost her son in the first world war, so she took some quite interest in looking after veterans, the marine binoculars Storey: “Much of the repertoire of national belonging consists of the taken-for-granted, routine practices of everyday life.“; “Michael Billig writes of what he calls ‘banal nationalism‘, referring to the many ways in which our sense of national belonging is reproduced by the endless reiteration of ‘we‘ and ‘us‘ and ‘our‘ in the discourses of everyday media.; nation-enabling media Remembering war - Remembrance Sunday 2024 King Charles III leads Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.am Watch live as King Charles leads the National Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph in central London. azonaws.com/9308e89a-1abb-4559-9a39 -56c7a583f516/972eaf64-4fc5-4c72-abd https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag9LOcnwA8Q 5-122fb21251c4/Remembrance_Sunday_2 425.pdf 1. Find Information on ‘Remembrance Sunday’ and ‘The Cenotaph’. Remembrance Sunday Kulturwissenschaft 18  is the annual commemoration of the dead of the two world wars and subsequent conflicts in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth is held on the second Sunday in November as the closest to Armistice Day (11 November) - Also called Remembrance Day and Poppy Day After World War 1, the dead were remembered by a two-minute silence on Armistice Day, at the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month, the time of the World War 1 ceasefire (1918). In 1945, it was renamed Remembrance Sunday, and has been observed on the second Sunday of November since 1956. practice of holding a two-minute silence on Armistice Day at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, the time of the World War I ceasefire, began in 1919 The silence and the wreath-laying ceremony at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, London moved to Remembrance Sunday in 1945. The Cenotaph (1919–20) empty sepulchre, or funerary monument to the dead whose bodies lie elsewhere = a symbolic tomb is symbolic because it is located (symbolicly)“at the heart of the nation” “nation-states play leading roles in the construction of heritage as they subscribe to a set of ideas that are consequently embedded through socialisation and education” (Sara McDowell: Heritage, memory Identity) “the state is usually the official arbitrator of public commemoration and, therefore, of national heritage, and as such, it assumes responsibility over planning, maintaining and funding memorial monuments, programmes and events” (Sara McDowell: Heritage, memory Identity) 2. Watch the Sky News’ coverage of Remembrance Sunday (mins. 32:25 - 1:17:10). What can we see and hear be explained with the help of what we have learned in the seminar? Remembrance Sunday is an important cultural event in the UK, reflecting Williams' view that culture is ordinary and present in every human society. It represents a shared cultural practice that belongs to everyone, not just an elite group, because it is a shared cultural identity. On this day the British nation is remembered that they went to war not divided but as a whole and just like with the Canteen Wagon from the Antique Road Show the nation is remembered of this closeness and the solidarity during that war. And also France is being mentioned as an ally during the world wars → reference to what Storey said about the war between Britain and France - England, Wales, and Scotland brought together against a common enemy despite their internal differences and the mention of a possible war → the generation of today “stands ready to defend the nation in the way the generation before them” We again have reference to the Royal Family. The King “leads” the procession and also King George V (King during WW1) like past Royal Members are mentioned as a ‘sign’ for a long history, the Royal Family as an institution. It is also mentioned by the commentator that the procession is, for most Royal Family members, very important because they themselves were in the army → they are equal to the soldiers who are like the legacy of the veterans or not that much different (?); the RF as a family like other families also the King is there on behalf of the British nation → “The King on behalf of the nation will lay the wreath on the side of the Memorial.” the active involvement of the RF Kulturwissenschaft 19  Stuart Hall: the narrative of the nation, as it is told and retold in national histories, literatures, the media, and popular culture; these provide a set of stories, images, landscapes, scenarios, historical events, national symbols, and rituals which stand for, or represent, the shared experiences, sorrows, and triumphs and disasters which give meaning to the nation; this narrative lends significance and importance to our humdrum existence, connecting our everyday lives with a national destiny that pre-existed us and will outlive us (Stuart Hall: The Question of Cultural Identity) Stuart Hall: Nothing appears more ancient, and linked to an immemorial past, than the pageantry which surrounds British monarchy and its public ceremonial manifestations; yet in its modern form it is the product of the late 19th and 20th centuries (and the commentator: “for your tomorrow we gave our today”, the young “salute for another generation”) → invention of tradition the families of the fallen soldiers are mentioned, so that they are remembered too (?) as the ones who lost loved ones → are they trying to say that if we had been less fortunate with the time of your birth, that we could be those families mourning our brothers, husbands, and friends? the first song that is played by the marching band is “Rule Britannia!” and other songs that represent a long history of Great Britain and the British Empire → history is gathered here in the music; traditional songs are chosen because the nation knows them, through the music a tradition is created The whole procession contributes to the ‘imagined community’ because across the nation and other parts of the world people hold the two-minute silence and most wear the poppy; it creates a common history for all and images and stories we again have the British flag and other flags connected to Britain (the white and the blue Ensign) → representing the Royal Navy, the nation, and the auxiliary services attempt of representing the nation in its diversity (women, men, children, veterans/disabled people, different ethnicities and religions, the overseas terriories, members of gov., members of the anglean church, armed forces) → they stay for continuity and the institutions banal nationalism = the Cenotaph itself as a monuments and the position in the middle of a busy road hierarchical structure of the nation can be observed → the people around the square they are mostly leaders/or more ‘important’ people live reporting of other parts of the UK → contributes to the ‘imagined community’, unity of the different parts commentator uses the “we” and “us” narrative attempt at creating timelessness careful curation of the stories being told 3. Read the two quotations from Tim Edensor National Identity, Popular Culture and Everyday Life. Do they help us explain what we see in the video? Performance is a useful metaphor since it allows us to look at the ways in which identities are enacted and reproduced, informing and (re)constructing a sense of collectivity. The notion of performance also foregrounds identity as dynamic; as always in the process of production. Performance continually reconstitutes identity by rehearsing and transmitting meanings. To fix an Kulturwissenschaft 20  exact meaning of identity through enaction is almost impossible for action always takes place in different spatio-temporal contexts, yet it is necessary to transmit a sense of continuity and coherence. By extending the analysis to other theatrical concepts we can further explore the meaningful contexts within which such action takes place. Extending the spatial analysis from the previous chapter, by conceiving of symbolic sites as stages, we can explore where identity is dramatised, broadcast, shared and reproduced, how these spaces are shaped to permit particular performances, and how contesting performances orient around both spectacular and everyday sites. Moreover, by looking further at ideas about scripts and roles, stage management, choreography, directing, improvisation and reflexivity, we can investigate the parameters of performing national identity. The previous chapter has identified some of the symbolic stages upon which national identities are played out. To reiterate, these spaces include national landscapes, particular symbolic sites (monuments, historic centres and institutions), points of assembly, and the everyday landscapes of domestic and routine life. Tim Edensor. National Identity, Popular Culture and Everyday Life. Oxford/New York: Berg, 2002. 69 Still the most obvious and recognisable ways in which national identity is performed are at those national(ist) ceremonies with which we are familiar, the grand, often stately occasions when the nation and its symbolic attributes are elevated in public display. In highly specified, disciplinary performances, the cast of actors during these events – the soldiers, police, marching bands, commanders of horses, government ministers, honorary officials, members of royalty and functionaries carry out specified, pre- ordained manoeuvres, which have often been rehearsed and minutely detailed to ensure the effective conveyance of efficiency and majesty. Such ceremonies are played out to legitimate the power, historical grandeur, military might, legal process, and institutional apparatus of the nation-state. Tim Edensor. National Identity, Popular Culture and Everyday Life. Oxford/New York: Berg, 2002. 72f. Remembrance Sunday serves as a recurring performance that continually reconstitutes British national identity. The annual ceremony at the Cenotaph transmits meanings associated with national sacrifice and collective memory. The Cenotaph itself, along with other war memorials across the country, function as powerful stages for the performance of national identity. These locations become focal points for the collective act of remembrance, allowing for a shared experience that transcends individual memories. The National Service of Remembrance follows a carefully choreographed script and specific timing, with specific roles assigned to the monarch, royal family members, politicians, and representatives of various groups. This orchestrated performance reinforces a sense of Kulturwissenschaft 21  continuity and coherence in national identity. → like the order in which the Royals and the representatives of political parties and countries of the British Commonwealth lay down the wreath or even were each one of these key actors stand + the two-minute silence + even the presence of like ‘key actors’ (members of the Royal Family, politicians, military representatives, …) “To fix an exact meaning of identity through enaction is almost impossible for action always takes place in different spatio-temporal contexts, yet it is necessary to transmit a sense of continuity and coherence.” → While maintaining core elements, the ceremony of Remembrance Sunday adapts to include recognition of more recent conflicts and diverse participants, ensuring its ongoing relevance. The elements of the ‘key actors’, the precise timing and movements, and the symbolic elements combined create what Edensor describes as an "effective conveyance of efficiency and majesty.” The event's focus on remembering those who died in conflict aligns with Edensor's observation that such ceremonies elevate "the nation and its symbolic attributes." Remembrance Sunday reinforces national identity by connecting present-day Britain with its military history and sacrifices. BUT: Edensor's analysis helps explain the official, state-sanctioned aspects of Remembrance Sunday, but it may not fully capture the personal and varied meanings individuals attach to the event Edensor: importance of the body; nationalist ceremonial dramas also inculcate specifiable forms of bodily conduct and comportment: ‘incorporating rituals’ by which groups transmit ideals and reproduce memory through disciplined performance → by demanding stylised and repetitive performances from the participants ⇒ identity and memory become inscribed into the body (example: painting your face into the flag of your nation, it also works in a regional level, not only on a national level); ; for the Remembrance Sunday it is the two-minute silence (the incorporating ritual) by circumscribing the use of specific costumes, imposing a rigid order of events, including pseudo-antique carriages and artefacts to form a pageantry that is saturated with the gravitas commonly accorded to ancient rituals, such events perform timelessness, grounding nation in history, symbolising community and legitimising authority (Tim Edensor) 4. Do you know other examples (from anglophone countries) of such “grand, often stately occasions when the nation and its symbolic attributes are elevated in public display”? Trooping the Colour (UK) = annual military parade that celebrates the monarch's official birthday State Opening of Parliament (UK) = the ceremony marks the formal start of the parliamentary year, with the monarch delivering the King's Speech outlining the government's agenda Independence Day (USA) = celebrated on July 4th, this holiday commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence with parades, fireworks, and patriotic displays across the country Presidential Inauguration (USA) = held every four years, this ceremony marks the swearing-in of a new or re-elected president, featuring parades, speeches, and symbolic transfers of power Saint Patrick’s Day (IRL) Television and National culture Kulturwissenschaft 22  → Tamar Ashuri: tv programmes are crucial in the formation, maintenance and reflection of national identity, linking a national audience to a national experience and a collective past → Tim Edensor: imagining ‘us’ as ‘one’ is part of the process of nation building and there is no medium which has been able to speak to as many people in pursuit of that goal as television address me in the living room as part of a nation and situate me in the rhythms of a national calendar the synchronicity of television-viewing habits ensures that particular schedules are followed by vast numbers we organise our routines around technologies of information and entertainment television is a means by which viewers in local contexts can feel part of a shared national experience it links the national public into the private lives of its citizens participation in familiar broadcast schedules informs an understanding of what it is to be a member of the nation television as part of one‘s biography: shared knowledge of the viewers and their nostalgia for television experiences that formed a part of their personal history → John Storey (’Becoming British’): it is only in culture that the nations can be made to mean Meanings [i.e.] cultures regulate and organise our conduct and practices; they help us to set rules, norms, and conventions by which social life is ordered and governed; they are what those who wish to govern and regulate the conduct and ideas of others seek to structure and shape the performance of nationality creates the illusion of a prior substantiality nationality is performatively constructed in processes of repetition and citation The nation and/at Christmas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HEMKhi0JaM Canadian flags Christmas tree with red, white, and silver ornaments → decorated in national colours Trudeau in a suit “compassion”, “hope, “love” → “universal (does he want to say that these are also true for his nation/his Canada?) “lets love our neighbours like we love ourselves” - “strength in our differences” “the true spirit of Canada” = give back and “extend a helping hand to those who have fallen on hard times. And lets share the warmth of the season with those who are spending the holidays alone this year.” “my friends” = we, the audience who he is speaking to (Christmas) traditions he mentions the Canadian Armed Forces, first responders, volunteers “form my family to yours, merry Christmas” at the end “Canada” and the Canadian flag again Kulturwissenschaft 23  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiPQKBlPKQo US American flag and flag with the Great Seal Biden wears a pin with the US flag message: we are all the same if you leave out/take away like everything material, “fellow human beings” “we look to the sky to a lone star shining brighter than all the rest, guiding us to the birth of a child” → Jesus Christ, and maybe a small reference to the stars on the US flag? “us” and “we” “love, hope, joy” = “universal” “tough times” of the past few years “America” and “Americans” (!) “the strength, the determination, the resilience has long defined America” “Americans are building again, innovating again, dreaming again” neighbours not seen as “fellow Americans” or “Democrats or Republican” → slight critique from Biden to people like Trump speaks about his family and the terrible loss he has experienced reference to past president = in 1862, President Lincoln prepared the Emancipation Proclamation; 1941, on Christmas, weeks after Pearl Harbor, Franklin D. Roosevelt hosted Winston Churchill in the White House; 1968: assassination, war and chaos, Apollo 8 circled the moon he mentions the beginning of the Bible “let there be light” → long history and also “God protect our troops” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T14HbUIhKU first thing we see are the King’s Guards/military band playing “God save the King” from/at Buckingham Palace and in the background we can see the skyline of London → Old traditions, old architecture/buildings, history of country Mary and Joseph, and the birth of Jesus message: helping those around you ans show compassion, love your neighbour; all people on this earth share the same thing - being human and living on earth scenes from the coronation in Westminster Abbey from earlier that year + we see other royal family members (but just scenes from the past year) the ‘ordinary’ people “as the backbone of the nation” climate crisis → protect our earth mentions universal values and also the Commonwealth “us”, “we”, “ourselves” children choir → some biblical song while scenes from the RF of the year are being shown Royal Army ends with a shot from Buckingham Palace again https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGprIgRC3xQ national music Kulturwissenschaft 24  effects of the pandemic crisis/threat “country remains united” hope, unity, … “the family of Barbadians, or the family of Caribbean people, we are all one family” “my friends” (just like Trudeau) the birth of Christ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3I8Pp7QIto Prime Minister wears a pin with the flag of his country we hear music he speaks from “one of the new houses in our affordable housing program” → the Bahamas as a new civilisation? family and his own family birth of Jesus is mentioned “when we come together to weather hardship, we are building our nation on more solid ground” “together, as part of one extended national family” we also see the military https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/9308e89a-1abb-4559-9a39-56c7a583 f516/54b2b9c3-ac31-4953-ac74-307177c64b4a/Christmas_ws2425_moodle.pdf 1. What do the Christmas messages have in common? they all focus on unity as a nation but also with “neighbours” (not sure if there are actual neighbours or countries as neighbours) significant use of first person plural pronouns/frequent use of first person plural pronouns and words and phrases that emphasise togetherness the head of states talk or briefly mention their own families → eye level/they are at the end just like the ‘ordinary’ people who watch the Christmas messages; ‘imagined community’ makes the leaders relatable, emphasises sameness and common experiences; humanising state bodies - we extend that to his government and his people; family as a nation (strengthens the national bond, there is a “blood connection”) “love”, “hope”, “joy” → all mention those values as “universal” (reference to common values) - they also characterise these as the “true spirit” of their nation/emphasis on shared values and character trades → reference to the nation’s characteristics or spirit („Essenzialisierung durch Zuschreibung eines Wesens“ - Assmann); stories about community appeals to viewers’ emotions (focus on pathos) Why Christmas? → maybe bc it is at the end of the year (creating like a national rhythm or national calendar), bc they are home for it is a national holiday; story of continuity and stability, sense of timelessness Kulturwissenschaft 25  emphasis on unity and community at attempt to make the differences in the nation look less important than the similarities reference to common values emphasis on common experiences not only general public is addressed but also the military forces (which should be protected by 🙄 God (naturally )) reference to the armed forces → reference to war; reference to allusion to a hostile other use of national symbolism = flags, some dressed in their nation’s colours, Christmas decorations, heads of state and heads of government in the background is a Christmas tree and Christmas decorations in general tend to be very general, no real mention of specific political agendas in order to address all people (but the Prime Minister of The Bahamas → his housing program - political agenda, acting on Christian values “giving to the poor”) referring back to the year and a hopeful new year use of nation enabling media position of the heads of state → close-up which feels like we are talking to them in a one on one communication reference to shared (ancient) traditions reference to history references to national institutions/services references to the nation‘s geography or territory or iconic places 2. Can you explain what you see and hear with the help of the texts we have discussed so far? focus on horizontal relations (Benedict Anderson’s ‘imagined community in Storey) in what is said and also in virtual representation/focus on unity/sameness in diversity → is used in order to create unity, sameness (but is not really there) hopeful and brighter future → Storey “roots and routes” (referring back AND forward) Start Hall: meanings i.e. cultures regulate and organise our conduct and practices → they help to set rules, norms and conventions by which social life is ordered and governed + they are what those who wich to govern and regulate the conduct and ideas of others seek to structure and shape acting out or displaying national identity makes it seem like nationality has always existed as something real and solid Nationality is created and maintained through repeated actions and references to cultural symbols and practices Kulturwissenschaft 26  Christmas Message PM of Canada performance: S