'It's true, I'm English... I'm not lying': essentialized and precarious English identities

This article explores relationships between Englishness and racialization in order to consider the potential for English identities that are progressive in anti-essentialist or multicultural terms. The article draws on data from interviews in which people from a South London area talk about Englishn...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ethnic and racial studies 2014-07, Vol.37 (8), p.1448-1466
Main Author: Leddy-Owen, Charles
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Ancestry
Cultural Pluralism
Deception
Englishness
Ethnic Identity
Identity
London, England
Multiculturalism
National identity
Participant observation
performativity
Race
Racial identity
Signs
White people
whiteness
Whites
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Summary:This article explores relationships between Englishness and racialization in order to consider the potential for English identities that are progressive in anti-essentialist or multicultural terms. The article draws on data from interviews in which people from a South London area talk about Englishness. I will examine how English identities are understood by participants who are white and participants who are not white. While white participants experience Englishness as a taken-for-granted identity, for participants who are not white English identities are a more calculated, precarious performance. I will then examine discussions of 'who can be English'. While most participants argue that 'anyone can be English' in principle, this is not necessarily the case in practice. It will be suggested that talk of Englishness is particularly constrained by relationships between Englishness, whiteness and ancestry, but that for those who experience Englishness as precarious there are signs that this is not necessarily the case.
ISSN:0141-9870
1466-4356
DOI:10.1080/01419870.2012.705010