Searching for my English Culture

On occasion, I've been asked to talk about my culture and what might make it unique to other cultures around the world. Sadly I've always been at a loss, because most of the culture of the country I was born in has been lost over time. In fact anything I could tell you about I'd probably find it has been appropriated. Indeed, some years ago it was decided that our national dish was no longer fish and chips, but curry. Yet potatoes are not native to us and curry, of course, comes from Asia.

You're either confused right now or you've guessed I'm from England, or the UK or Britain, if you prefer. May as well add some more confusion to our identity. 😉 Don't worry, it doesn't bother me and I'll get around to telling you why, but first allow me to delve into history a little so we can see how the English got to this point.

I'll go back about 2600 years, which should be far enough to get an idea of the pattern. Around this time, the Iron ages, the country was pretty much inhabited by the Celtic Bretons. It's not clear how they arrived, but they seem to have been colonialists rather than invaders; although I'm unsure where you'd draw the line there. The Europeans called themselves colonists of the Americas, but I'm not sure the natives saw them that way.

^{Image courtesy of @barge}

Then in 55 BC the first attempts at invasion by the Romans started with Julius Caesar. They weren't successful until 43 AD when the first city was finally conquered. For the next 360+ years, battles ensued across Britain (which was actually the section of land now called England) as the Romans extended their reach. Hadrian built a wall from 139-140 AD to mark the border and keep them out of Scotland, then by 209 AD the British forces were practically fighting to keep them behind the wall and out of Britain.

By 314 AD Christianity had been taken on across the Roman Empire and this religion would go on to oppress or assimilate much of the old beliefs, traditions and cultures that existed across Europe. It would become our new cultural identity for many years and still is to many to this day.

By about AD 400 while the Romans were trying to keep back invasions of Picts and Scots from the north, the Anglo Saxons were encroaching in the weakening south. In desperation, help was requested from Rome and they were told they were on their own. So in 410 the last of the Romans withdrew and left Britain to try and defend itself, leaving some Roman genetics and culture behind in those who called it home over the years.

Anglo Saxons is actually a term for three groups of Germanic tribes invading around this time; the Jutes, Angles and Saxons. They came not just to conquer, but to settle and farm.. They were also, apparently, invited by the northern tribes to help them conquer those pesky British, but they failed to leave and instead took over, making themselves at home like the Romans did before them.

After the Anglo Saxons had made themselves comfortable for a few hundred years, the Vikings decided it was their turn next so they invaded and colonised from 793-1285. Unfortunately, they couldn't rest on their laurels (is that a Roman saying?) because in 1066 the Normans were wanting a piece of England, followed by the Danish. Then the French had a go until eventually I think Britain just accepted that we had an open door policy to whomever was travelling that way. We even welcomed the French aristocracy when they were fleeing from some angry French revolutionaries.

So somewhere along the way the culture of England got lost in the past, although there may be some clues with the Cornish people who managed to keep most of the invasions at bay, today seeing the English as invaders and not liking Cornwall being referred to as part of England.

I may as well face it, I'm a mongrel, but it doesn't worry me because I believe that there is a lot of positive that has come from this history and much of it revolves around what has been retained and the open mindedness to other cultures and beliefs which has developed over time.

Now I know that nowhere has reached perfection when it comes to not discriminating, but I'm going to try and look at the positives for this.

What we have retained as culture over the years has likely been the best of what was introduced by those who settled in Britain. They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery, so if we admired the culture enough to take it on, is it a bad thing?

Growing up I could walk down the main street and there were take outs and eat ins from various cultures. You could guarantee Chinese, Indian and Italian even in small towns, then in the cities you could also experience Mexican, Thai and foods from various other cultures, depending on the migrant demographic. The only thing I rarely saw was sushi. Perhaps Britain doesn't appeal to the Japanese all that much, or it was just easier for them to go to America to experience western culture.

Our local post office was owned by a Pakistani family, who would always recognise and greet my father and myself by name and even recognised me years later, when I was in the area visiting my parents. I didn't even live in a particularly diverse area, but still saw so many different cultures and ethnicities around me.

In school I was pretty naive, so when our teacher read us a book about racism in 1960s US, it was the first I'd even heard of its existence. I recall being relieved that it was in the past and we no longer behaved that way towards those who look a bit different to ourselves. That shows just how rarely I came across racism. When I realised it did still exist, it confounded me. I could look around my classroom and among all of us “white” people, we had blondes, light brown hair, dark brown hair, black hair and redheads. Even our skin tones were different. How can you judge what is too different looking when we're obviously so mixed already? That melting pot Blue Mink sang about was already well under way, as far as I could see.

I believe that many Brits actually think that way. There will always be the occasional ones who don't, but I was proud to be a part of a mixed nation which welcomes other people and cultures. As we approached the turn of the century, attitudes did start to become more xenophobic as the Polish were accused of stealing our jobs and yes, islamophobia started to rear its head. Media was often at the centre of stirring this up.

I still believe that left to naturally evolve, not clinging onto one culture can lead to acceptance and respect of all cultures. When you grow up with diversity surrounding you as the norm, then as long as it's not commented on, you know no different.

The idea of cultural appropriation is fairly new and if I'm entirely honest, I don't really understand it. I acknowledge that this is likely down to my own lack of cultural identity. It's in my nature to share knowledge and experiences; it's how we used to survive. So when I first heard, here in Australia, that some aboriginal tribes don't like you to share their knowledge on native plants, it was something of a shock to me. Don't get me wrong, while I don't comprehend it, realise it's their prerogative.

Perhaps for those who don't like others appropriating what they see as their culture, it's akin to having their identity stolen. It's certainly happened often enough throughout history, when people have been stopped from speaking their own language or practising their traditions. For some this is still recent enough to be in living memory, for me it's way to far in the past to have any connection.

I respect the importance of culture and it's place in creating a feeling of belonging. I love learning about culture and believe it's important that it be kept. However, I also realise that we are continually evolving, so whether we like it or not, culture will change and some parts will be relegated to history. This isn't necessarily a bad thing and sometimes it can actually be a good thing. There are archaic traditions that I'm glad to see left in the past.

I'd love to hear your take on culture. Do you have a long standing traditional culture? Have you had to fight to keep it alive? Do you have dual ancestry which brings you two different cultures and if so do they sometimes clash or do they blend well?