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SUMMARY:Becoming a Viking:Processes of Identification with the Remote Past
  - Dr Marc Scully\, Loughborough University
DTSTART:20151110T130000Z
DTEND:20151110T140000Z
UID:TALK61048@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Johanna M Lukate
DESCRIPTION:Becoming a Viking: Processes of Identification with the Remote
  Past\nMarc Scully\, Loughborough University\nIn her recent address to the
  Conservative Party conference\, the Home Secretary Teresa May poured scor
 n on the description of Britain as “by definition\, a country of immigra
 nts”\, claiming that\, in comparison to ‘New World’ and other Europe
 an nations\, Britain has\, “until recently\, always been a country of re
 markable population stability”. \n\nThis paper will explore some of the 
 discourses and assumptions alluded to by May\, by interrogating how indivi
 duals position themselves in relation to narratives of historical migratio
 n. Condor’s (2006\, 2011) analysis of English and British identity has s
 uggested that when invoking historical context to contemporary diversity\,
  two potential discourses are available: the first emphasises continuity o
 f diversity\, and constructs Britain as a nation of migrants\; the second 
 represents recent migration as a qualitatively new phenomenon and construc
 ts Britain as historically relatively homogenous. Older historical groups 
 such as Anglo-Saxons\, Vikings and Normans are thus positioned as ‘migra
 nts’ within the first discourse\, but are indigenised within the second 
 as ethnically similar peoples who can be categorised as English/British. \
 n\nOf concern to social psychology is how this immigration/indigenism dial
 etic occurs at the individual level\, and how individuals construct ‘usa
 ble pasts’ to inform present-day identities. Within the increasing publi
 c interest in ‘applied genetic history’(Sommer\, 2012)\, information a
 bout their own genetic background has become more accessible to members of
  the public. This information can then be incorporated by individuals with
 in their own family narratives of migration\, indigenism and ethnicity\, w
 hich can in turn be situated within broader narratives of local\, regional
  and national history and identity.\n\nAs a means of exploring these dynam
 ics\, this paper draws on data from the Impact of Diasporas on the Making 
 of Britain\, an interdisciplinary research programme funded by the Leverhu
 lme Trust\, which examines the legacies of migration to and from Britain i
 n the First Millennium AD. In collaboration with colleagues examining the 
 genetic legacy of the Vikings in Northern England\, I interviewed Yorkshir
 e-based participants in this study.  This paper presents the results of a 
 discursive analysis of these interviews focussing on how participants cons
 tructed immigration\, indigenism and ethnicity in the context of ‘applie
 d genetic history’. It demonstrates that discourses of historical immigr
 ation and indigenism are used interchangeably\, with participants situatin
 g their own family pasts as being both migratory and deeply rooted within 
 specific localities. 
LOCATION:Ground Floor Lecture Theatre\, Department of Psychology\, Downing
  Site
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