The scope and principal arguments of the research in this thesis are as follows. This thesis is centered on exploring the identities and sense of belonging of Muslims in Britain. There is a strand of academic research which claims that Muslims in Britain are withdrawn from mainstream Britain because they live in segregated ethnic enclaves, participate in non-mainstream religions, and politically organize themselves via ethnically and religiously homogenous networks. This thesis attempts to go beyond such existing research and advance our understanding of the identities and sense of belonging of Muslims in Britain. Accordingly, the research questions that guide the thesis are: <b>1. What is the strength and relative importance of British identity for Muslims in Britain and what are its drivers? 2. What does ‘belonging to Britain’ mean to Muslims in Britain? 3. What do the identities, British, Pakistani, and Muslim mean to Muslims in Britain, and how easy do they find it to integrate these identities?</b> These questions are dealt with in three main empirical chapters, with the use of a multi-methods approach, combining survey data, cognitive survey methodology interviews, and in-depth qualitative interviews. The first empirical chapter presents regression results, from the Citizenship Survey and Ethnic Minority British Election Study, which confirm the strength of British identity for Muslims and present the various drivers that motivate it. These quantitative findings however do not tell us much about what ‘belonging to Britain’ really means for Muslims. The second empirical chapter delves further into this the concept. I ‘question’ the survey question ‘How strongly do you belong to Britain?’ through 30 cognitive interviews that are used to evaluate survey methodology. This exercise displays two key meanings of the question on belonging to Britain: a ‘cultural’ feeling (at ease) and an ‘affective’ feeling (feel attached). Most respondents interpreted the question as ‘cultural’, reflecting upon the practices, ethical values, and lifestyle that characterises a country. The third empirical chapter takes a look at the identities of Muslims, their national, ethnic, and religious identities through 61 qualitative in-depth interviews. The findings from the structured and unstructured identity questions help to understand the way Muslims in Britain relate to their British, Pakistani, and Muslim identities. The results from the structured identity question took a categorical view of identity as opposed to the themes that emerged from the unstructured identity questions and took a dimensional view of identity. These themes generated a six-group typology of identity with the groups: cultural, unambiguous, emotional, emergent, ambivalent, and none of the above. It was found that identities were not simply additive but were emergent and creative with processes of fusion and mesh. There were some tensions and contradictions in Muslims trying to integrate their different aspects of identity.

L'œuvre de Walter Scott (1771–1832), James Hogg (1770–1835) et Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) est traversée par une tension qui dénaturalise l'Écosse historique et politique pour la recréer en fiction, posant la scotticité comme une construction problématique qui appelle sans cesse de nouvelles définitions, afin d'en retrouver le sens ou d'en faire son domaine à soi. La figuration des enjeux nationaux se fait à travers le thème des diverses rébellions jacobites au cours du XVIIIème siècle, mais l'Histoire est subordonnée aux enjeux littéraires et politiques du présent des auteurs. Walter Scott pose en littérature les bases d'une conciliation viable de "l'être" écossais avec la domination du pouvoir britannique, là où Hogg réagit en cherchant dans un passé plus lointain la source inépuisable (et au premier chef, fictionnelle) d'une Écosse mythique insaisissable. Stevenson, quant à lui, hérite de ce dilemme et choisit, en fiction comme dans la réalité, la fuite et l'exil pour pouvoir exister librement dans un monde dégagé du poids d'un passé par trop lourd à porter. / A tension runs through the Scottish-themed novels of Walter Scott (1771–1832), James Hogg (1770–1835) and Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894), denaturalizing historical and political Scotland to recreate it fictionally, as a problematic construct constantly calling for new definitions, so as to find new meaning for it, or to reappropriate it as one's own. The representation of national interests is effected through the running theme of the various Jacobite rebellions during the eighteenth century and their not-so-immediate consequences, but history is subordinated to the literary and political stakes of the authors' present. W. Scott literarily posits the basis for a viable conciliation of the "Scottish self" with the rule of the British state. Hogg responds to this by looking for the source of an inexhaustible, evanescent and, primarily, fictional Scotland in a more distant past. Stevenson, as for him, inherits this quandary and ultimately chooses, in fiction as in real life, to escape and exile himself so as to live freely in a world detached of an all-too-heavy past.

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Embedded in debates concerning Britishness and citizenship, this thesis considers the influence of the dualistic tradition on citizenship theory and highlights the exclusionary nature of citizenship as founded in this paradigm. Working within this dualistic paradigm means that the lives and practices of being a citizen are not captured, creating an exclusionary cycle whereby the concept excludes the lives of many citizens, and many individuals are excluded from being a citizen as defined by the concept. This thesis used participatory, visual and online methods to explore belonging and exclusion with young people around England. Informed strongly by the field research, this thesis analyses citizenship as defined through dualistic and embodied paradigms and considers the potential of an embodied concept of citizenship for engaging young people.

This thesis attends to the major question ‘how is Jewish identity created and maintained in contemporary Britain?’ To answer this question, I have done one year of ethnographic fieldwork in Britain, which included 121 interviews with Jewish people of various ages and across different religious as well as non-religious denominations. This thesis identifies four major elements informing the creation and perpetuation of Jewish identity: One, a sense of difference from the majority population creates and maintains the identity. Jews can perceive themselves to be different religiously, nationally, ethnically and/or culturally from white Christian British people. Two, trauma memory has an impact on the creation and sustenance of this identity. Vicarious group trauma, meaning trauma experienced by proxy of previous generations, can inform identity through its influence on everyday experiences. Three, community affiliation plays a role in creating and particularly reinforcing the identification. The Jewish community provides resources, social interaction and thus signalled attention, and regard; all of them respond to innate human needs that a person aims to have satisfied. Four, a group norm of continuity is important in the perpetuation of this identity within and across generations. This norm is created and sustained by its members through their focus on endogamy. Wanting to have a partner from one’s own group, have Jewish children and raise them in a Jewish lifestyle can, thereby, reinforce and maintain a sense of Jewishness (inter-) generationally. Without members marrying within the faith and having children that are raised with Judaism, it would be difficult to preserve Jewish identity in a country where the group does not constitute the majority. The thesis concludes that there are two reasons why Jews in diaspora have been able to sustain as a group and maintain their identity over time. Firstly, the multi-dimensionality of the Jewish group and respective affiliation platforms have allowed its members to create a multi-faceted meaning of being Jewish, and, secondly, continuous external challenges to the group’s security together with constant reminders of those challenges; both have prevented the group from assimilating into mainstream society.

Le cinéma mettant en scène des anglais d'origines indienne ou pakistanaise, se déroulant sur le territoire britannique et traitant de relations avec les habitants qu'ils soient anglais dits de souche, anglais issus de l'immigration ou de familles métissées est appelé British-Asian cinema. Quelle image moderne de la britannicité les films British-Asians propagent-ils? L'identité anglaise n'est pas liée à la couleur de la peau ou aux origines ethniques mais au sentiment d'être anglais et de partager une culture commune. Beaucoup de personnes issues de l'immigration se disent aujourd'hui anglaises comme cela a pu être expliqué dans le très surprenant documentaire "100% English". Ces diverses représentations transparaissent dans les médias et de façon claire et accessible dans les films. Le cinéma agit comme un moyen de propager dans le monde entier une image de la britannicité. C'est dans ce contexte de redéfinition identitaire britannique que le gouvernement de Tony Blair a misé sur le cinéma britannique et son développement dans toute sa diversité. Nous pouvons nous interroger sur ce qu'est cette représentation britannique, mais aussi anglaise, vu sous cet angle particulier du mélange culturel au cinéma. L'intégration, réussie ou non, les mariages forcés, la religion, les stéréotypes culturels britanniques et Asians sont autant d'obstacles à franchir pour affirmer une identité britannique. Certains anglais ne savent plus qui ils sont réellement, on en vient à faire des tests ADN pour évaluer son niveau d'anglicité et toute légitimité à être anglais. Il est étonnant d'observer qu'à l'inverse, ces nouveaux britanniques issus de parents indiens ou pakistanais, affichent souvent une identité britannique et anglaise claire, peut être même exacerbée et mieux définie. / Cinema staging English people of Indian or Pakistani origins, taking place in Britain, is called "British-Asian cinema". What is the modern image of Britishness that British-Asian films convey? In this respect, English identity is not linked to the color of the skin or to ethnic origins but to a common culture. Various representations appear in media and in a clear ans approachable manner in films. The cinema acts as a means to spread an image of Britishness worldwide. It is in this context of British self-defining or redefing that the government of Tony Blair gave support to the British cinema and its development in all its diversity. Analysing British representation through the lens of cinema seems quite interesting. Whether it is represented as successful integration or forced mariages, religious fanaticism, the Asian cultural stereotypes are obstacles to overcome to assert a British identity. Moreover, some English people do not know who they are, indeed they ended up making DNA tests to assess their level of Englishness and any legitimacy to be English, as it is explained in the TV documentary "100% English". It is striking to notice that on the opposite, these new British people of Indian or Pakistani parents, often show a clear British and English identity, which can sometimes be exacerbated and very accurately defined.

Cette thèse se propose d’analyser les processus de représentation de l’identité culturelle britannique en prenant comme objet d’étude une sélection des productions musicales du musicien anglais Damon Albarn. Avec le groupe Blur, Albarn émerge sur la scène britannique dans les années 1990. Le groupe est l’un des fers de lance du mouvement Britpop qui se caractérise par une imagerie et un propos associés à l’identité britannique. Cette dernière est symbolisée par la grande majorité des groupes du mouvement qui sont anglais, blancs, masculins et appartiennent au paradigme pop/rock.Cette thèse s’intéresse à l’évolution des représentations de l’identité dans la musique d’Albarn à partir des années 2000 et jusqu’aux Jeux Olympiques de Londres en 2012, dans un contexte marqué par la remise en cause du modèle multiculturaliste, la poursuite de l’élargissement de l’Union Européenne et le début des discussions sur un référendum portant sur l’éventuelle indépendance de l’Écosse. Cette période se caractérise également par une diversification des genres musicaux abordés dans les projets d’Albarn qui s’éloigne lui-même du discours identitaire exclusif de la Britpop. La thèse propose une analyse critique des productions d’Albarn qui opèrent ce glissement d’une identité Britpop exclusive à une identité inclusive et multiculturelle. Ce faisant, le travail permettra de dégager la spécificité de la musique, conçue comme un espace d’observation et d’élaboration d’une identité culturelle britannique en perpétuelle mutation. / This study analyses representations of British cultural identity in Damon Albarn's music. Albarn became a household name with Blur, an English band that was associated with the Britpop movement in the 1990s. Britpop openly articulated popular music and the question of Britishness which was defined in exclusive terms as most Britpop artists were white, male, guitar-based, English bands.By focusing on Albarn’s various musical projects after the end of Britpop, the aim is to understand how its aesthetics and politics are de-constructed. At the turn of the century, Albarn distanced himself with the exclusive rhetoric of Britpop as he started to express a more inclusive, multicultural understanding of British identity. Through three different case studies, it is contended that Albarn’s understanding of British cultural identity is predicated on specific music genres and their own sets of discourse. The study spans over a period of twelve years marked by a renewed interest in Britishness as the multicultural model in British politics is questioned, new countries join the European Union and more devolution for Scotland is discussed. The last part of the study focuses on Albarn’s involvement in the Cultural Olympiad in 2012 and serves to show how music works as a medium that allows the articulation of contrasted, and at times, contradictory representations of British cultural identity.

Embedded in debates concerning Britishness and citizenship, this thesis considers the influence of the dualistic tradition on citizenship theory and highlights the exclusionary nature of citizenship as founded in this paradigm. Working within this dualistic paradigm means that the lives and practices of being a citizen are not captured, creating an exclusionary cycle whereby the concept excludes the lives of many citizens, and many individuals are excluded from being a citizen as defined by the concept. This thesis used participatory, visual and online methods to explore belonging and exclusion with young people around England. Informed strongly by the field research, this thesis analyses citizenship as defined through dualistic and embodied paradigms and considers the potential of an embodied concept of citizenship for engaging young people.

Existing criticism that addresses the concept of Englishness in Elizabeth Gaskell’s writing is sparse and confined to a small part of her oeuvre, and, furthermore, has, in the main, placed Englishness (and England) in Gaskell’s fiction either within a Derridian paradigm of endless signifiers or in the realm of metaphor. I place Gaskell’s Englishness within its socio-historical milieu, and argue that, for Gaskell, England is primarily literal, her green and pleasant land, and that, in her writing, she envisages a slowly evolving and flatter English social system incorporating a wider selection of the English population than was the norm in the mid-nineteenth century. She wrestles with the place of the ‘other’ within English society. Indeed, as a female and as a Unitarian, Gaskell is herself ‘other,’ outside of hegemonic Englishness, and her outsider status had a marked influence on her Englishness. I argue that there are ambiguities in Gaskell’s vision for a more egalitarian Englishness. Her Englishness is couched in middle-class terms, in which, for Gaskell, the entry requirement into the ‘in group’ of Englishness (by, for example, the working classes) is middle-class acculturation, and she presents both the benefits and limitations of her liberal, middle-class perspective. Contemporary topics that inform Gaskell’s fiction include industrial change, economic liberalism, colonial expansion, political reform, and scientific debate, each of which brought issues of nationhood and identity into focus. Gaskell’s primary vehicle for producing Englishness in this historical context was through short stories and novels, although her essays and letters are also significant. I focus on four key areas which provide entry points into her constructions of Englishness: race, empire, imperial trade (especially tea, opium, and cotton), and gender/masculinity.

The dissertation takes the modern business technique/concept of brands and branding, applies them to a historic case study, the creation by James VI and I of Great Britain from 1603 to 1625, and by doing so throws new light on both. It compares two distinct approaches to branding, unidirectional and social interactionist, postulating that the latter would prove better at explaining the success of the brand Great Britain/British. The case study reveals that neither approach is supported by the evidence. Content analysis shows that there was a lack of awareness of the brand Great Britain/British and an inconsistency in its use, hence neither approach can be sustained. However, the same analysis does show that an alternative brand, England/English, existed in the same time and that this brand provides some limited support for the social interactionist view of brands and branding. The lack of success of the brand Great Britain/British during his reign does not appear to have prevented James VI and I from establishing himself as the legitimate King of England in addition to Scotland although the contribution of the brand to this was marginal at best.