2006 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
An Cultural Study on the Formation of the Concept of Englishness in England Since the Late Eighteenth Century
| Project/Area Number |
15320036
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
ヨーロッパ語系文学
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokyo |
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Principal Investigator |
YAMAMOTO Shiro The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Professor, 総合文化研究科, 教授 (00145765)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
KIBATA Yoichi The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Professor, 総合文化研究科, 教授 (10012501)
KUSAMITSU Toshio The University of the Air, the Department of liberal arts and Science, Professor, 教養学部, 教授 (90225136)
TANJI Ai The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Professor, 総合文化研究科, 教授 (90133686)
NAKAO Masami The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Assistant Professor, 総合文化研究科, 助教授 (60207719)
HASHIMOTO Hisae The University of Hokkaido, Institute of Language and Culture Studies, Professor, 言語文化部, 教授 (00091009)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2003 – 2006
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| Keywords | Englishness / Britishness / Imperialism / Little Englandism / Cosmopolitanism / The City and the Country / Back to the Land / Postcolonial |
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| Research Abstract |
The objective of this research lies in studying the historical contexts in which the concept of Englishness was formed in late Victorian and Edward periods, and its relations with other concepts (such as Britishness and cosmopolitanism), and by doing so, elucidating what the concept of Englishness is.
What we have understood through our four-year research is that the concept of Englishness in this period can be defined as a reactionary mentality formed as a result of (1)the development of the industrial revolution since the late 18th century and its consequent phenomenon of urbanization (the development of cities), and (2)the imperialist development of the British Empire and its consequent phenomenon of racial and cultural diversification. As such, it is a culturally constructed concept with two tendencies of (1)ruralism ("Back to the Land") as a reaction to urbanization, and (2)"Little Englandism" as a reaction to imperialism.
It is also a politically constructed concept deeply involved with the development of the nation-state nationalism (the problem of the "imagined community") in the Victorian period after the formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1801. In this sense, it is closely connected with various phenomena including the creation of big dictionaries such as the OED and the DNB, the formation of the English literary canons and English literary study as a discipline, and the construction of the public statues of national heroes.
As such, the construction of the concept of Englishness must be studied in the connection with a diversity of political, economic, social and cultural movements, and that is what we, scholars of literature and history, have aimed at in this interdisciplinary group research.
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Research Products
(124 results)
