Actualité et faits de société Licence 1 – Semestre 1 Introduction à la civilisation britannique
Lecture’s teacher: Maud Michaud @: Maud.Michaud@univ-lemans.fr
What are we going to try and explain this semester? So much happened this summer across the Channel…
Aftershock of the Brexit Referendum…
Semester Calendar 12 weeks – 1 hour/week Identity: who are the British? Geography and demographics: how do British people organize spatially and socially? Politics and institutions: how are British people represented and ruled over? The UK and the World: British people and the EU, British people and the US
What do I do if I miss a lecture? The powerpoint slides will be available on the ENT: Find a class: ACTUALITES ET FAITS DE SOCIETE CODE: NEWS
READ THE PRESS every week!
READ Contemporary Novels as often as you can!
GO TO THE CINEMA and watch films in their original language!
WATCH TV SERIES about Britain
LISTEN TO BRITISH MUSIC
BE CURIOUS about BRITAIN Go to UMTICE regularly read the press every week read contemporary novels as often as you can go to the cinema and watch films in English watch British TV shows listen to British artists
IDENTITY Who are British people?
IDENTITY Week 1: (today) A ‘United Kingdom’? Four nations in one country Week 2: (Sept, 19th) Scotland and Wales: the process of devolution Week 3: (Sept, 26th) Multiculturalism and immigration in the UK
A ‘United Kingdom’? Four Nations in One Country
What’s in a flag?
The flag reflects the historical construction of the UK 1536 England + Wales 1603 Union of the Crowns 1707 Act of Union with Scotland 1801 Act of Union with Ireland 1922 UK of GB and NI
Four Nations in One Country:
‘Team GB’ in the 2016 Rio Olympics
Euro, 2016
RUGBY SIX NATIONS Tournament The English Rose The Scottish Thistle The Irish Shamrock Prince of Wales’ feathers
BRITISH Murray or SCOTTISH Murray?
STATE vs. NATION STATE: an organised political community under one government A State is a strictly POLITICAL entity NATION: a human construct To belong to a nation means to have some feeling of common destiny with one’s compatriots, to feel a common bond with the anonymous individuals in towns and cities that they have never visited a nation: ‘an imagined community’ (Benedict Anderson) UK model vs. France/USA
BRITISHNESS SCOTTISHNESS WELSHNESS IRISHNESS ENGLISHNESS
ENGLAND: 53 mill
England’s 9 regions
SCOTLAND: 5.3 mill 3 large sub-divisions Highlands and the islands Central Lowlands (Edinburgh and Glasgow Borders
Regional languages: Scots Around 1.5 million Scottish people can speak Scots - which doesn’t mean they speak this regional language only!
Regional languages: Scottish Gaelic Around 60,000 Scottish people (1.2% of the Scottish population) can speak Scottish Gaelic, especially in the Outer Hebrides - which doesn’t mean they speak this regional language only!
Loch Coriusk on the Isle of Skye
WALES: 3 mill
The Welsh Language (20%) Map of Welsh-speaking people, 2011 Road signs in English and Welsh
NORTHERN IRELAND/ULSTER: 1.8 mill
EIRE vs. ULSTER IRELAND: mainly Catholic ULSTER/NORTHERN IRELAND: mainly Protestant Unionists, loyalists, royalists ( = pro UK) Republicans ( = pro Ireland)
Catholic and Protestant Belfast
How do you define your nationality? Identity 2011 (%) 2012 (%) Scottish and not British 29 23 More Scottish than British 33 30 Equally Scottish and British More British than Scottish 5 British and not Scottish 6