Ethics and Nationalist Populism at the British Seaside: Negotiating Character PDF
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Materializing Culture ETHICS AND NATIONALIST POPULISM AT THE BRITISH SEASIDE NEGOTIATING CHARACTER Ana Carolina Balthazar Ethics and Nationalist Populism at the British Seaside Drawing on ethnographic research at the British seaside, this book offers an original and insightful anthropological contribution to the study of contemporary Britain and nationalism. The volume focuses on people who have retired from d ifferent parts of the UK to the seaside town of Margate and nearby areas, exploring their ethical negotiations and relationships with things that ‘have history’. It considers how residents engage daily with objects, houses and places ‘with character’ and how such ordinary engagements underlie nationalist sentiments, their reaction to local art-led urban regeneration projects and the Brexit vote. The Brazilian anthropologist Ana Carolina Balthazar demonstrates that those who have reached a c omfortable financial position often look for ways to reconnect with their working-class upbringing and, while doing so, engage with the national past in a very tangible manner. Contributing to social scientific debates on class dynamics and ethics, the book provides a different perspective on nationalist populism, one which moves beyond media stereotypes and arguments made about the ‘left behind’ and ‘longing for empire’ in ‘post-industrial’ Britain. Ana Carolina Balthazar is a postdoctoral researcher at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Materializing Culture Series Editors: Daniel Miller and Paul Gilroy This provocative series focuses on the social relations involved in material practices. The study of material culture has stimulated a new body of research which brings together areas as diverse as the artwork of record sleeves, shopping, bitter conflicts over ancient monuments, digital fonts, craft skills and the political economy of con- sumption. This series demonstrates the innovative and critical edge that a material culture perspective may bring to bear upon a wide range of academic concerns. Ethics and Nationalist Populism at the British Seaside Negotiating Character Ana Carolina Balthazar https: // www . rout ledge . com/ Mater ializ ing-C ultur e/ boo k- ser ies/B LANTM C Ethics and Nationalist Populism at the British Seaside Negotiating Character Ana Carolina Balthazar First published 2021 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2021 Ana Carolina Balthazar The right of Ana Carolina Balthazar to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book ISBN: 978-0-367-62851-2 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-62857-4 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-11108-5 (ebk) Typeset in Times New Roman by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India To my grandmothers, Eliza and Olga. Contents Figures x Acknowledgements xi Introduction: An ethnographic approach to nationalist populism 1 Character and the ethics of nationalist populism: theoretical engagements 7 Ethics in anthropological debates 7 Class in Britain 10 Is ethnography a methodology? 13 Situating the research 16 The national landscape of de-industrialization and leisure 16 Administrative divisions and local history 18 Deprivation and retirement at the seaside 20 Outline of the book 23 Note 25 1 The logic of character: ‘To put the past back’ 26 Encountering character 27 Character and childhood memories 27 The Proust effect 32 Involuntary memory and the past 33 The ethics of memory 35 Relating through character 37 The different experiences of character 39 The temporality of character 41 Maintaining or ruining character 45 Character, power and class 49 Character and aesthetics 54 Notes 55 viii C ontents 2 Connections of character: The British seaside 56 Character and the ‘Made in Britain’ 57 Personal memories and the national 57 ‘Made in Britain’ and class 60 Period houses 62 Clare and Peter’s hallway 62 Lynva’s kitchen 64 Julie’s living room 66 Nationalism at home 67 Houses and social hierarchies 67 The nation in practice 70 Class and home ownership 72 Nationalism outside the home 75 Remembrance Day 75 The local History Society 78 A British town 80 Nationalism and class 82 Notes 84 3 Disconnections of character: A town undergoing regeneration 85 Local regeneration and the creative industries 85 The politics of depriving a town 88 A new art gallery in town 90 ‘It’s like a bus shelter’ 90 A discomfort with conceptual art 96 Reopening the local amusement park 97 Retirement, consumption and memory talk 100 Gentrification and the arts at the seaside 103 Character and the consumption of places 105 The limits of creative ‘diversity’ 109 Note 111 4 Intersections of character: The Brexit vote 112 The local rise of nationalist populism 112 A local hotel 112 From the rubbish in the streets to formal politics 116 How nationalist populism operates 119 The ‘legacy of empire’ argument 120 The ‘left behind’ argument 122 Avoiding the ‘post’ paradigm 125 Contents ix Brexit, time and age 129 British and other nationalities 133 Notes 137 Final considerations: The ethics of an anthropology of nationalist populism 139 A Brazilian writing about the British 139 Character and the ethics of anthropological practice 143 References 149 Index 159
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