Trish Winter

Performing Englishness: Identity and Politics in a Contemporary Folk Resurgence - New Ethnographies Trish Winter

Marc Notes: 'Performing Englishness' examines the growth in popularity and profile of the English folk arts in the first decade of the 21st century. The authors explore how the folk resurgence speaks to a broader explosion of interest in the subject of English national and cultural identity. Biographical Note: Trish Winter is a Senior Lecturer in Film at the University of Sunderland Simon Keegan-Phipps is a Lecturer in Ethnomusicology at the University of SheffieldTable of Contents: List of figures -- Preface - using this book -- Acknowledgements -- Series editor's foreword -- 1. Introduction -- Part I. Contemporary English folk -- 2. The folk industry -- 3. The mainstreaming of English folk -- 4. An English style? -- Part II. Nation and identity -- 5. The English context -- 6. A place called England -- 7. Englishness -- 8. Conclusion -- References -- Index. Publisher Marketing: Performing Englishness looks in detail at the growth in popularity and profile of the English folk arts in the first decade of the twenty-first century. Based on original research within English folk culture, it is the only ethnographic study of its kind. By closely scrutinising various facets of this folk resurgence - discursive, musical and visual - the authors explore how it speaks to a broader explosion of interest in the subject of English national and cultural identity. How does contemporary English folk music and dance relate to ideas about England and Englishness? What kinds of English identities are expressed through the works of musicians like Seth Lakeman or Bellowhead? How does morris dancing contribute to ongoing political debates around multiculturalism, globalisation, and the devolution of the British nations? And how does the English folk scene reconcile a new-found commercial success with anti-capitalist roots? In their quest for answers to these and other questions, the authors combine the approaches of British cultural studies and ethnomusicology, drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, interviews with central figures of the resurgence and close analysis of key musical and dance texts. Their presentation of the English case contributes to debates about English identity and calls for a rethinking of concepts such as revival, indigeneity and tradition. It will be of interest to students and scholars in the field of cultural studies, ethnomusicology and related disciplines.