Formations and Representations of British National Identity

19-20 September 2013, University of Warwick (UK)

Keynote speaker: Dr Christine Berberich, University of Portsmouth- lecture available online

With the success of Team GB at the Olympics, Andy Murray’s triumph at the US Open and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, pride in being British is as high as ever in recent memory. But with the rise of Scottish nationalism, what does it mean to be ‘British’? And how has this concept changed over time? This two day interdisciplinary conference seeks to bring together scholars of all levels who examine notions of a British national identity, c. 1500-present. The conference aims to highlight key debates from the first formations of a sense of ‘Britishness’ to modern concepts of a multi-cultural society.

Topics and questions to consider include, but are not limited to:

• Politics and policy in the formation of national identity
• The use of the Arts (art, literature, film, television and/or music) in ‘Britishness’
• Medicine and science to create national identity
• ‘Englishness’ as opposed to ‘Britishness’
• ‘British’ vs the ‘Other’ (French, American, Scottish, etc.)
• War and propaganda in identity formation
• Or, any other paper that seeks to re-examine concepts of a formation of a national identity related to the theme of this conference

We welcome panels of 3 to 4 speakers as well as individual papers. Papers will be 15 to 20 minutes in length. Abstracts should be 2-300 words in length, and the deadline is 7 April, 2013. Please submit as a .doc(x) or .pdf by e-mail to the conference convenor Collin Lieberg – C dot Lieberg at warwick dot ac dot uk
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