Popular Culture and IdentityRemembering British History in 2015

  1. Elizabeth Woodward-Smith 1
  1. 1 Universidade da Coruña
    info

    Universidade da Coruña

    La Coruña, España

    ROR https://ror.org/01qckj285

Revista:
Oceánide

ISSN: 1989-6328

Ano de publicación: 2016

Número: 8

Tipo: Artigo

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Outras publicacións en: Oceánide

Resumo

Commemorative historical events provide an insight for researchers into how communities see themselves and their history, and how their identity is displayed. However, such events can involve controversy because memory and identity are highly subjective, and other participants, or interested parties, may have different views about what should be commemorated, why and how. Added to this, technology and the media intervene in the process of assigning meaning to memories of the past, sparking debates about appropriateness. Expressing one’s identification with a cause requires awareness and active choice, often between opposing alternatives. By attending commemorations of historical dates, we are choosing to be identified with a particular event or cause. Through national or local symbols, we assume attitudes, and mark our relationship with the Other. This article will examine cultural and historical commemorations which took place in the UK in 2015. The reburial of a king five hundred years after his death and the bicentenary of a crucial battle will be studied, in the context of other commemorations, in order to highlight what these events reveal about identity and popular culture. The theoretical framework draws from memory studies, cultural studies, and social science, together with discourse analysis of relevant media sources. It would seem reasonable to suppose that events commemorated after a lapse of several centuries should not cause controversy, but, as this article will demonstrate, this is not always the case.

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Fonte de datos: Dialnet