The Uses of (An)other History: A digression from Linda Colley's Britishness and Otherness: An Argument

Robyn Westcott

The Uses of (An)other History: A digression from Linda Colley's Britishness and Otherness: An Argument

Robyn Westcott

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The question that animates this paper is deceptively simple: what is brought into ï¿½playï¿½ in the conjunction of the signifiers ï¿½Britishnessï¿½ and ï¿½Othernessï¿½? Is the coupling of these two terms merely a taxonomic convenience, a way of marking out apparently fixed, mostly immutable categories such as ï¿½nationï¿½, ï¿½cultural practiceï¿½, ï¿½ethnicityï¿½ and ï¿½Empireï¿½? Or, conversely, is the opposition of ï¿½Britain-as-subjectï¿½ and its panoply of archipelagic and colonial ï¿½objectsï¿½ essentially a tactical manoeuvre driven by ongoing investments in a particular kind of narrative economy?

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	5-16
Journal	Humanities Research
Volume	XIII
Issue number	1
Publication status	Published - 2006

Cite this

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title = "The Uses of (An)other History: A digression from Linda Colley's Britishness and Otherness: An Argument",

abstract = "The question that animates this paper is deceptively simple: what is brought into {\"i}¿½play{\"i}¿½ in the conjunction of the signifiers {\"i}¿½Britishness{\"i}¿½ and {\"i}¿½Otherness{\"i}¿½? Is the coupling of these two terms merely a taxonomic convenience, a way of marking out apparently fixed, mostly immutable categories such as {\"i}¿½nation{\"i}¿½, {\"i}¿½cultural practice{\"i}¿½, {\"i}¿½ethnicity{\"i}¿½ and {\"i}¿½Empire{\"i}¿½? Or, conversely, is the opposition of {\"i}¿½Britain-as-subject{\"i}¿½ and its panoply of archipelagic and colonial {\"i}¿½objects{\"i}¿½ essentially a tactical manoeuvre driven by ongoing investments in a particular kind of narrative economy?",

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journal = "Humanities Research",

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AB - The question that animates this paper is deceptively simple: what is brought into ï¿½playï¿½ in the conjunction of the signifiers ï¿½Britishnessï¿½ and ï¿½Othernessï¿½? Is the coupling of these two terms merely a taxonomic convenience, a way of marking out apparently fixed, mostly immutable categories such as ï¿½nationï¿½, ï¿½cultural practiceï¿½, ï¿½ethnicityï¿½ and ï¿½Empireï¿½? Or, conversely, is the opposition of ï¿½Britain-as-subjectï¿½ and its panoply of archipelagic and colonial ï¿½objectsï¿½ essentially a tactical manoeuvre driven by ongoing investments in a particular kind of narrative economy?

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JF - Humanities Research

IS - 1

ER -

The Uses of (An)other History: A digression from Linda Colley's Britishness and Otherness: An Argument

Abstract

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