...and finally, can the forceful reassertion of absolute ethnic identities really work whilst living in a multicultural society? Roger Scruton (a lectuerer at the University of Cambridge) wrote an article in the Daily Mail on the 6 March 2001 on 'Britishness' where he attempts to find semiotic closure and ethnic absolutism by trying to contruct an unshakeable definition of what it is to be English. He urges the 'British people' to not lose sight of the history, culture and loyalty that are theirs. He conclues the article by saying that 'people come here, not because we are a multicultural mish mash like the former Yugoslavia, but because we have centuries-old constituion, a record of law-abiding government and a tradition of freedom and toleration'.
But there is a good reason why people like Scruton are continuously trying to suggest semiotic closure/ethnic absolutism of the English/British as a distinct and fixed race, because it is something that cannot be concluded with one answer - Britishness cannot be closed; it is continuously debated; continually changing and continually written about, and this article is evidence of this fact.
Copyright to Domestic Goblin.
(This post is dedicated to Patricia Coyle (1954 - 2010) and John James (1939 - 2018): the best lecturers in the land)
