englishness

EnglishnessA lecture by Rowena Coles

Teoria dei processi di socializzazioneProf. Raffaella Santi

a.a. 2010-2011

Problems of defining a national culture

George Orwell (Inside the Whale and Other Stories, 1957)“national characteristics are not easy to pin down” but nevertheless, nothing is causeless, and even the fact that Englishmen have bad teeth can tell one something about the realities of English life.”

David Katan (Translating Cultures,1999)“to be a member of a culture, one will need to share beliefs at every level of culture”“… cultures vary in their orientation towards expressive or instrumental communication, very much in line with their HCC or LCC orientation.The orientation is towards feelings or facts, the person or the issue. Expressive cultures are happy wearing their heart on their sleeves …, whereas instrumental cultures believe more in self-control.”

Hall’s Contexting Theory 1983

The concept of HCC (High Context Communication) and LCC (Low Context Communication) was first introduced by Edward Hall in his Theory of Contexting: (1976/1989 Beyond Culture.)Hall suggests that contexting is a fundamental aspect of culture and that members of a culture will have a shared bias, either towards communication through the text or the context.

Cultures of High Context Communicationorientation (HCC), such as the Japanese culture, tend to rely on context, relationships, feelings, circumstances and indirectness in their communicationCultures of Low Context Communicationorientation (LCC), such as Swiss-German and German rend to rely on text, facts, directness, consistency and substance. England and Italy tend to be in the middle with Italy tending more towards a HCC and England towards a LCC

HCC vs LCC

HCC places emphasis on:

i. context ii. relationship/feelingiii. indirectnessiv. flexibilityv. (social/personal)

appearancevi. circumstances

LCC places emphasis on:

i. text ii. facts iii. directness iv. consistency v. substancevi. rules

Some important values of Englishness

1. Self-control2. Fair play3. Privacy and reserve4. Independence

1. Self-control

Stiff upper lipFacts not feelingsA Game of CricketExcerpt from ‘The Remains of the Day’

newspaper reportingfacts vs. feelings

la vecchia, affidabile, indistruttibile “Columbia”la mamma affettuosala marcia funebrela stella cadutadi sette coraggiosi consumatiQualunque cosa l’abbia distrutta è stata improvvisa, fulminea e catastrofica…voce tesissima

Nasa’s oldest shuttle the oldest orbiterhuge explosionsa whooshing sounda significant blowa sweeping overhead turna loud boom a loud boomseveral white trailsthe early morning fog

An example of self-control

“Despite the horrific nature of the attacksLondon did not panic, and as the bus services resumed, a few people were able tomake their way home.” (BBC report)

Passengers on the underground network begin to evacuate. The lucky ones are in a station... (Photo: Bettina Strenske)

self-control in war-time

The Evening News reported:“Every morning, no matter how many bombshave been dropped in the night, London’s transport runs, letters are delivered, milk and bread comes to the door, confectioners gettheir supplies, and the fruiterers’ windows are filled.”

The butler’ story …

Stevens (junior): A great butler must be possessed of a dignity.Stevens (Snr): In keeping with his position. There was thisEnglish butler in India. One day he goes in the dining room, and what’s he see under the table? A tiger. Not turning a hair, hegoes straight to the living room. “Excuse me, Milord,” whispering, so as not to upset the ladies: “I’m very very sorry, Milord, thereappears to be a tiger in the dining room. Perhaps His Lordshipwill permit use of the 12-bores?”They go on drinking their tea and then, there’s three gunshots. …And when the butler’s back to refresh the teapots, he says, ascool as a cucxmber, “Dinner will be served at the usual time, Milord.”

2. Fair play

QueueingMrs TyleeSportExam behaviourSchool uniform

“An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one.”

George (György) Mikes (1912-1987) - autore umoristico ungherese di nascita, ma naturalizzato inglese

Mikes: “A man in a queue is a fair man; he isminding his own business; he lives and letslive; he gives the other fellow a chance; hepractices a duty while waiting to practise hisown rights; he does almost everything anEnglishman believes in doing.”

An episode of fair play

During the last World War, The Daily Express reported:A Messerschmitt pilot was lying on the ground some distance from his plane. Hewas approached by Mrs Betty Tylee and Miss Jean Smithson. His first question was: ‘Are you going to shoot me now?’ ‘No,’ Said MrsTylee,’We don’t do that in England. Wouldyou like a cup of tea?’

Fair play in sport

.. The English man is seen at his best the moment that another man starts throwing a ball at him. He isthen seen to be neither spiteful, nor vindictive, normean, nor querelous, nor desirous of taking unfairadvantage; he is seen to be law-abiding, and torespect the regulations which he himself generallyhas made; he takes it for granted that his adversarywill respect them likewise; he would be profoundlyshocked by any attempt to cheat; …. Vita Sackville-West

Vita Sackville-West was a novelist, poetand gardener.

Exam behaviour

School uniform

“Be it traditional, unusual, or non-existent, school uniform plays a vital partin school life ..”

The Independent 18 January 2011

A pupil in the playground at Vernon Junior School in Poynton, Cheshire.

Boys from Eton College line up on a wall to get a better view

during a visit by HM Queen Elizabeth II in June 1990.

Four primary school children in traditionalschool uniform.

3. Independence

DemocracySchool at 4“Disobedience”Old and Young independence

democracy

On 4 January 1642, King Charles I entered the House of Commons to arrest fivemembers. The MPs were so angry at this breach of parliamentary privilege thatthey slammed to doors of the chamber in the faces of the King's men. WhenCharles finally entered the House of Commons, the Speaker, William Lenthall, refused to reveal the location of the wanted men, famously saying: "May it please your Majesty, I have neither eyes to see nortongue to speak in this place but as the House is pleased todirect me, whose servant I am here."

This incident lead to the English Civil War.Every year this event is commemorated during the State Opening of Parliamentwhen Black Rod tries to enter the Commons, the door is slammed in his face tosymbolise the independence of the elected House of Commons from the monarchy. This video is a dramatisation from the film 'Cromwell'.

The Black Rod

The Queen enters Parliament for the State Opening 2009. (video)

Alfred the Great (849 –899) was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.

Independence through education

Alfred established a court school for the education of his ownchildren, those of the nobility, and "a good many of lesser birth.Alfred aimed "to set to learning all the free-born young mennow in England ….”Alfred proposed that primary education be taught in English, withthose wishing to enter holy orders to continue their studies in Latin. The problem, however, was that there were few "books of wisdom" written in English. Alfred sought to remedy this bytranslating into English the books he thought "most necessary forall men to know”.

school

Going to school at four years old

The Early Learning GoalsThe early learning goals of the Foundation Stage consist of six broad areas of learning: 1. Personal, Social and Emotional DevelopmentChildren will learn to:be self-confidentknow what their own needs are tell the difference between right and wrong take an interest in thingsdress and undress themselves

The Very First Day

On your child’s first day, please bring theminto the classroom between 8.45 and 8.55 am. Help them to find their peg in the cloakroom (which will have a name label), hang their coat and then bring them into the classroom.

Disobediencefrom ‘When we were very young’

James JamesMorrison Morrison

Weatherby George DupreeTook Great

Care of his MotherThough he was only three

Jame JamesSaid to his mother

“Mother”, he said, said he,“You must never go down to the end of the town, if you don’t go

down with me”.

old and young independencepersonal anecdotes

My children flying youngMy mother’s lifeMy nephew’s university life

4. Privacy and reserve

An islandHousesHealthCommuters

Englishmen live on a island

John of Gaunt in Shakespeare’s Richard II

“This fortress built by Nature for herselfAgainst infection and the hand of war,This happy breed of men, this little world:This precious stone set in the silver sea,Which serves it in the office of a wall,Or as a moat defensive to a house.Against the envy of less happier lands;This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this

England ….”

traduzione

“Questa fortezza che la natura si è creata contro le pestilenze e la violenza della guerra, questa felice razza di uomini, questo microcosmo, questa pietra preziosa incastonata nel mare d'argento che la difende contro l'invidia di paesi meno felici, come un muro e un fossato difendono una casa; questo benedetto luogo, questa terra, questo regno, questa Inghilterra, ….”

The continent is cut off from England by fog.“This (ref. England) is not just an island, but a relatively small, very overcrowded island, and it is not hard to see how such conditionsmight produce a reserved, inhibited, privacy-obsessed, territorial… people …” (K.Fox)The best thing I know between England and France is the sea. (Jerrold D. referring to the Anglo-French Alliance.)

Privacy

“The importance of privacy informs the entireorganization of the country, form the assumptions on which laws are based, to the buildings in which the English live.” (JeremyPaxman.)

“The most hateful of all names in an Englishear is Nosy Parker” (George Orwell)

An Englishman’s house is his castle

“Hover above any English town for a few minutes, and you will see that the residentialareas consist almost entirely of rows and rows of small boxes, each with its own tinypatch of green …Nearly 70% of English people own the homesin which they live, well above the Europeanaverage.” (Kate Fox)

An Englishman’s house is his castle. (Englishsaying)

Go home, shut the door, pull up the drawbridge ….. … a disproportionate number of our mostinfluential social rules and maxims are concerned with the maintenance of privacy ... (Kate Fox)

How are you?

An English Answer

It is worth noting here that ‘How are you?’ isonly treated as a ‘real’ question among veryclose personal friends or family: everywhereelse, the automatic, ritual response is: ‘Fine, thanks.’ ‘OK, thanks.’ Oh, mustn’t grumble.’ or some equivalent, whatever your physicalor mental state . If you are terminally ill, it isacceptable to say: ‘Not bad,considering’. (Kate Fox, p.44)

commuters

Coping mechanism : denial

“It is common, and considered entirelynormal, for English commuters to make theirmorning and evening train journey with the same group of people for many years withoutever exchanging a word. The more you thinkabout it, the more utterly incredible it seems, yet everyone I spoke to confirmed the story.”(Kate Fox, p.139)

references

1. Barry B.B., Coles R., Reading and Understanding Texts, Editrice Montefeltro, 2003.

2. Ihiguro K., The Remains of the 3. Katan D., Translating Cultures, St. Jerome,19994. Milne A.A., When we were very young, Methuen 19245. Fox K., Watching the English, Hodder and Stoughton, 2004.6. Paxman J., The English: A Portrait of a People, Michael

Joseph, 1998. 7. Orwell G.,The English People, Collins, 19478. Orwell G., Inside the Whale and Other Stories, Collins 1957

references

1. Barry B.B., Coles R., Reading and Understanding Texts, Editrice Montefeltro, 2003.

2. Ishiguro K., The Remains of the Day, 1989.3. Katan D., Translating Cultures, St. Jerome,19994. Milne A.A., When we were very young, Methuen 19245. Fox K., Watching the English, Hodder and Stoughton, 2004.6. Paxman J., The English: A Portrait of a People, Michael

Joseph, 1998. 7. Orwell G.,The English People, Collins, 19478. Orwell G., Inside the Whale and Other Stories, Collins 1957