pre-departure query three (Cannadine, "The Eighteenth Century")

The third of the four pre-departure questions refers to Cannadine, "The Eighteenth Century: Class Without Class Struggle." Cannadine's title is an inversion of E. P. Thompson's view of the 18th-century (the long eighteenth century dates from the Glorious Revolution, 1688-89 to the Great Reform Act of 1832; in Cannadine's version, it dates to 1776). But in this chapter (as in most of his chapters) he notes that there are 3 models at play of what English and British society looked like (both then and by historians now):

• a two-class, polarized model ("us" versus "them," "rich" vs. "poor," "patricians" vs. "plebeians");
  
• a three-layer model (elite-middle-lower; "landowning sort," "middling sort," "labouring sort");
  
• and a hiearchical, layered, continuous chain model (from a Great Chain of Being in which people are ranked between and even within a myriad of stations). (Cannadine introduces them in the opposite order.)
  

Your job is to come up with an understanding of which model William Hogarth used and which group or rank or class he valued most. (The following picture is The Four Times of Day Plate I, Morning, 1738; the church the one woman appears to be going to is still in Covent Garden; there also appear to be a number of drunks--in the morning?)

I ask you to look at Hogarth

1. because his paintings and engravings are easily available on the web; and
   
2. because Cannadine does not give you too many examples of what happened within the 18th century (and I certainly don't expect that you all have had a class on 18th-Century Britain).
   

Cannadine is correct to note that England was one of the most urbanized countries in 18th-century Europe: London housed perhaps 10% of the English. But, compared to 19th and 20th century Britain, this was a rural, agricultural country. And landed values remained dominant. "A nobleman, a gentleman, a yeoman; the distinction of these, that is a good interst of the nation, and a great one!": thus said, Oliver Cromwell in a speech in 1654. His 18th-century descendants would understand the values embraced in that. One distinction that Cannadine does not make much of is the contemporary distinction between the landed interest (the gentry, the "acre-ostracracy"--to use the title of a 19th-century book) and the new, monied interest (the latter centered mainly in "the City"--London).

Again, the assignment for this chapter is to read it, decipher what the three models of class are, then examine several paintings or engravings by Hogarth, and tell what model you think he is using in two of them, why you think this is the model, and which group he tends to support. Hogarth prints are available at:

• William Hogarth and 18th-Century Print Culture
• Web Gallery of Art
• William Hogarth--Gallery
  

pre-departure query two (alternative)

For the second of the four pre-departure questions (you should already have read, Cannadine, "Chapter One, Introduction: Beyond Class - Forward to Class?"), I have two options:

• Marx discusses class "in itself" and "for itself" (summarized in Rise and Fall of Class in Britain, 1999, pp. 2-4). What does Marx mean? Give two examples [either "in itself" and "for itself" from either history or private life; or either "in itself" or "for itself" from both history and private life, or....] of what he means. That is, can you describe an example from history that shows class "in itself" at work or as a factor, one from history that shows class "for itself," one from your own life or that of your family that shows class "in itself," or from your own life/family that shows class "for itself." Those drawn from British history would be nice, but not necessary.
  
• Alternately, Cannadine gives several reasons why historians have become less interested in class explanations since 1980. Explain three of them in your own words and then state which reason you find most compelling and why.
  

newton as roger ebert

Three of our crew–Leah, Cole, and Andrew–need credit for EIU 4170G (History on Film, 3 c.h.). Partially to accommodate them, and partially because it is the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, I asked everyone to view Amazing Grace (about William Wilberforce and the attempt to end the slave trade from the 1780s onwards). (If you weren’t able to view it, Harlaxton has it on order and it may be on DVD in the UK by the time we arrive.)

I just viewed The History Boys (2006) and, if you are able to do so, please view this film this week. (It was in London as a play last year, but even Keanu Reeves' people couldn't get that intellectual a seat, so what chance was there for me?) It is about some grammar school boys in the early 1980s who have passed their A-levels with flying colors and are pegged to apply to Oxford and Cambridge. It is their 7th term, since abolished in favor of a more “secondary modern” style of education which is not unlike the U.S. high schools. The term-long period of swotting (studying hard, cramming) for the exams was focused almost entirely on the field they want to go into (in this case, history). Not only are there a number of references to Oxbridge (combined term for both prestigious universities) and the college system within the universities (and some beautiful footage of both towards the end shot at these locations), but the grammar school system was also traditionally a way of bringing working class and lower middle class children (often boys) up to a level competitive with students of an upper class background who had gone to the elite “public” (prestigious private) schools. So a bit of class, a bit of discussion of what history is, a bit of preparation for Cambridge, even a bit of English history: what’s not to like? I should warn you: the "boys" in the movie are healthy 18-year old men, so the subject and language of sex does arise (this is not your grandmother’s Masterpiece Theater). But for our class on class, our study of the British in Britain, this is highly recommended (even the extra features are recommended).

I will arrange a showing of one film a week in the evening @ Harlaxton, from the following (all are in the Harlaxton library):

• Pride & Prejudice (2005 version, which used Chatsworth House as Pemberley, see locations)
• Amazing Grace (2006) [on order]
• The Shooting Party (1985) or Chariots of Fire (1981)
• Gosford Park (2001) or The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)
• Scandal (1989) or Billy Elliot (2000)
  

All of these are about some period/issue in British history and all have at least a sub-theme of social class interrelations (brief synopses of these and other films on British history are available at a Modern Britain Film List webpage). I will ask the students above in particular, and all in general, to see at least two of these films, including Amazing Grace or The History Boys (you may view them before arriving at Harlaxton if you wish, of course), and to comment on same in your journals (something related to class relations, of course, and “It’s a good film about class” will not do).

what do john wayne, miles davis, fianna fail, and newton key have in common?

well, three of us have our birthday today. Fianna Fail just won the most seats in the Irish Parliament yesterday and so will form the new government. Fianna Fail's roots are in the one part of the IRA who refused to accept the Peace Treaty with Britain (which by far the majority of the Irish voted for) and continued to fight, this time agains the other part of the IRA, who were the new government and became the roots of the other Irish party, Fine Gael.

• Fianna Fail (pronounced FEEN-uh Fall) and Fine Gael (FIN-uh Gwayle) trace their roots to opposing sides in the 1922-23 civil war that followed Irish independence from Britain. Their Gaelic party names mean "Soldiers of Destiny" and "Clan of the Irish," respectively. (Fianna Fail triumphs in Irish election, By SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press Writer)
  

chronology

1916		Easter Rising. After the leaders are executed, public opinion backs independence.
1918		Sinn Fein wins 73 out of 108 Irish seats in the general election. Nationalist MPs convene Dáil Éireann in Dublin. War of Independence begins.
1921		Northern Ireland Parliament opened by King George V. Anglo-Irish Treaty creates the Irish Free State.
1922		Civil war breaks out.
1926		Fianna Fáil founded in the La Scala Theatre,O’Connell Street Dublin.
1932		First Fianna Fáil government led by Eamon De Valera elected.Oath of Allegiance abolished.
1937		New constitution enacted in the Irish Free State. The British Monarch is replaced as head of state by an elected president. The name of the state is changed to Éire (Ireland).
1938		End of British occupation of three naval bases that had been left in British hands by the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921.
1939		The Emergency - Ireland remains neutral.
1949		Ireland leaves the Commonwealth.

Anyway, happy birthday to me. We have a week. I will post a modified pre-departure question 2 (as it may have been too difficult), and a pre-departure question 3 today.

odd london

For Monday, 2 July, if not other times:

• Highgate Cemetery (includes Marx's Grave [you can't dance on it, it is too high] which is in the East Cemetery--free--along with a lot of much more 19th-century style plinths, etc.; used in horror films; great for markers of Victorian social hierarchy; Tours of the older West Cemetery are every weekday @ 2, I believe, and every hour on the weekends, for a fiver; Archway Tube, then walk or bus north)
• Jeremy Bentham Cabinet (part of his will is that his body would be kept, seated, and "If it should so happen that my personal friends and other disciples should be disposed to meet together on some day or days of the year for the purpose of commemorating the founder of the greatest happiness system of morals and legislation my executor will from time to time cause to be conveyed to the room in which they meet the said box or case with the contents therein to be stationed in such part of the room as to the assembled company shall seem meet." And so it has been since 1832. At the end of the South Cloisters of the main building of UCL; University College, London, north of Senate House)
• Abbey Road Studios (more famous than odd; 3 Abbey Road; St. John's Wood; zebra crossing out front, used for the Abbey Road album by the Beatles and countless imitators is oddly just as famous. It is a fairly busy road, so be careful if taking someone else's picture--the cars should stop for someone in the zebra crossing but the camera person outside that area is fair game; here, for example, is a Dutch chap's mijn Abbey Roadpagina)

1807, 1907, 2007

I asked you to view Amazing Grace (and we may be able to view it as a DVD at Harlaxton). Britain voted to abolish the slave trade in 1807, although slavery continued after that date within the empire (and outside, like in the U.S. South, far longer, as we know). As a result there are a number of exhibitions based on the bicentenary in the metropolis and, indeed, London has announced a Abolition of the Slave Trade Bicentennial 2007. We will attempt to see the one at Westminster Hall)

• Scratch the Surface (National Gallery, not until 20 July)
  
• Portraits, People And The Abolition Of The Slave Trade (National Portrait Gallery, St Martin's Place, London, WC2H 0HE)
• The British Slave Trade: Abolition, Parliament and People (Westminster Hall, Parliament)
• Westminster and the transatlantic slave trade - Exhibition; near St James’s Park tube, City of Westminster Archives Centre, 10 St Ann’s Street, London, SW1P 2DE)
• Enslavement and the Struggle for Liberation: Commemorating the Bicentenary of the Parliamentary Abolition of the British Transatlantic Slave Trade, 25 March 1807 (British Library, ends 1 July)
• Uncomfortable Truths – the shadow of slave trading on contemporary art & design (Victoria & Albert Museum, only to 17 June)
  

bloomsday weekend

We will be in Dublin the weekend of Bloomsday.

THE date is as well known to students of English literature as the beginning of the first world war is to military historians: June 16th 1904 is Bloomsday, the 24 hours into which James Joyce compressed the wanderings of a Jewish Dubliner--a decent, lustful, advertising salesman named Leopold Bloom. He is the principal figure in Ulysses, a sprawling, difficult novel that marked the start of the modern movement in English literature. Its adoption of an original style known as stream of consciousness made it one of the seminal works of the 20th century <http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=2745294>.

James Joyce's Ulysses follows a number of characters, Molly and Leopold Bloom, for example, as they cross and re-cross Dublin, on, well, 16 July. This is both good and bad. Good because there will be a number of activities. Bad because there will be even more tourists than usual. My question is whether any of us have read Dubliners (me), Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (me), or Ulysses (me)? Or Finnegan's Wake?; although if you have read that, then you can lead the tour. If not, perhaps we will avoid things Joycean; although I think we will find that impossible.

I'm interested in showing you the following (E = costs; * = highest guidebook rating):

O'Connell Bridge (centerpiece of Dublin)

South Central

• Bank of Ireland (home of Irish Parliament until Act of Union, 1801; exhibit on "200 years"): across the street from
• Trinity College (oldest college, for years free to Catholics--provided they become Protestant!; 18th & 19th century buildings and quads), includes *
• Old Library (9th century Book of Kells; 7th century Book of Durrow; often very long lines, 8 euros) E*
• St. Stephen's Green (place for pnishment to 19th c., then a private park, then Guinness made it a public park; Georgian square, memorials to Joyce, Yeats, etc.) *
• Leinster House (from 16th c., though largely 18th/19th c. Palladian; now seat of the Dail--Parliament)
• Merrion Square (more Georgian--that is the 18th c.--square) *
• National Gallery of Ireland (esp. 17th-20th c. Irish painters) *
• National Museum of Archeology and History (esp. Road to Independence room focusing on 1916-1921; Kildaire Street)
  

Temple Bar (although I am sure you will be in this area a lot at night anyway; aren't you staying near here?) *

• Meeting House Square (so-called because used to be a Quaker Meeting House; Krystal will tell us more about Irish Quakers)
• Wall of Fame (pictures of some group called U2; and the immortal Shane McGowan; and isn't that Phil Lynott; perhaps best to see at night)
  

Northside

• Custom House (beautiful 1781 building completely rebuilt after a bit of both during the War of Independence--the Republicans burnt it to the ground in 1921; a visitors center explains all, 1 euro) E
• Dublin City Gallery (The Hugh Lane; less important, perhaps; but a great collection; I'd like to see this)
• General Post Office (built 1818; taken over by republicans during Easter Rising 1916; Pearse read statement of independence outside this; of course, successful military engagements don't work by taking over a post office and it was put down; Pearse, Connolly, etc. became martyrs when put to death--this was in the middle of WWI, which was not going well for the UK, and so they took a dim view of treason; still bullet holes in edifice)
• Parnell Square and Mountjoy Square (although now we are getting in the Joycean area; still the home of more spit-and-sawdust pubs as opposed to the more trendy Temple Bar area) *
  

West

• Chester Beatty Library (Islamic and Far East Art; I don't know it, but it is Highly recommended); connected, I believe, to: *
• Dublin Castle (see Michael Collins the movie; this was the center of British rule from the 13th century, Lord Lieutenant, etc.; an old edifice but more modern interiors; toured this years and years ago, but I remember it as interesting even when I was much younger; 4.50 euros) E
• Four Courts (built by 1802 by same architect that did Customs House; almost totally destroyed in 1922, this time not during war of Independence against the British but in the more vicious Irish Civil War that pitted the Irish Free State army run by Michael Collins and former members of the IRA against, well, the IRA; one really should take my Irish History course!; not open unless courts are in session)
• Guinness Brewery and Storehouse (see Jeff Lange's email; I am not encouraging drinking [I hope the above suggests there is a lot in Dublin outside drinking], but this is really recommended by friends and guidebooks; 14 euros--discount if booked online) E*
• Kilmainham Gaol (Robert Emmett and Charles Steuart Parnell were inmates at one point here; but Pearse, Connolly, and others of the 1916 rising were housed here; and this is a real shrine of the Irish Nationalist viewpoint, 5 euros--2.10 with student id) E
• St. Michan's Church (Just for one reason--Roger Beck remembers seeing the mummies in the crypt, touching leathery skin and all; this one has to be included for the creepiness factor!; 3 euros--2 with student id) E
  

taxi to the terminal zone

If you are planning a weekend trip, you may want to contact the following to see if there is an inexpensive and timely way to get to airports, train or bus stations. Note: Harlaxton College (cab companies refer to it as Harlaxton Manor) runs a free shuttle to the train station and to the bus depot at Grantham at set times (they will hand us the schedule when we arrive).

• Can Cabs (01476) 575-557
• Grantham Cab (01476) 594-594
• Street Cabs (01476) 590-008
• from USA (and drop the 0 outside the region) 011 + 44
• thus, for Can Cabs 011 + 44 + 1476 + 575-557

recommended day trips from Harlaxton: York; recommended overnights for weekends: Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberystwyth, Oxford, Brighton (we will miss Trooping the Color [celebration of the Queen's Birthday] in London this year as it is 16 June [her birthday is actually in April; May Balls at Cambridge are in June; it is a different country]. (posting title courtesy of Chuck Berry via Ducks Deluxe, a pub rock band)

pre-departure query two (on Cannadine, Introduction)

For the second of the four pre-departure questions (you should already have read, Cannadine, "Chapter One, Introduction: Beyond Class - Forward to Class?"), I am basically repeating one I made last year about Marx's concepts of class "in itself" and "for itself" (summarized in Rise and Fall of Class in Britain, 1999, pp. 2-4). What does Marx mean? Give two examples [either "in itself" and "for itself" from either history or private life; or either "in itself" or "for itself" from both history and private life, or....] of what he means. That is, can you describe an example from history that shows class "in itself" at work or as a factor, one from history that shows class "for itself," one from your own life or that of your family that shows class "in itself," or from your own life/family that shows class "for itself." Those drawn from British history would be nice, but not necessary. Finally, why do you think historians have become less interested in class explanations since 1980?

• This is the first one so I'll start. In history, I might give the example of the sans culottes in the French Revolution. The sans culottes were a group of artisans and small shopkeepers who became briefly influential in the revolution in Paris, during the radical phase, 1792-94. They demanded fixed prices which helped them compete and able to earn a living. Because many of them were of this one social level (lower bourgeoisie?), they (or many of them) were objetively a class "in itself." But they also defined themselves as the sans culottes (or, "without breaches") which means that they saw themselves as without breaches and fine stockings which were the clothes of the nobility. This class consciousness meant they were to some extent a class "for itself."
  
• In my own life, my father was a junior officer when I was young, so we lived in fairly small houses. But not only did he save his money a rise through the ranks, he inherited a small ranch and stocks. So, even though I did not attend private prep schools, it was unsuprising that I attended and succeeded at a fairly elite college. Shorthand, I was from upper, or lower upper, middle class "in itself," and so my college career reflected that. As far as class "for itself," while in London in the mid-70s living with my parents, I adopted the phrase "ta" (meaning, "thank you, very much"). A British friend of my father's told him that I probably shouldn't use that slang as it was very lower class ("'kyou," pronounced "kew," was probably a bit more elevated). My father's friend, then, seems to have been aware of his class "for itself."

OK, you aren't going to want to go on at that length (and I haven't answered the question of why I think there is a decline in interest in class), but that is the sort of thing I am looking for.

history of us; class as history

OK, now we are thinking. As Keith Thomas, a historian quoted in the Preface of Cannadine's Rise and Fall of Class in Britain (p. xii), states "History enhances our self-consciousness, enables us to see ourselves in perspecitve, and helps us towards that greater freedom and understanding which comes from self-knowledge." So the comments of five of you so far on pre-departure question one start pushing us gently into thinking about our own identities in class terms. From there we need to begin to think historically of class(es) as a process: how did x become associated with y class or sub-class?; how did such a class or sub-class begin thinking of itself as a thing (with particular markers or barriers)?

pre-departure query one (culture chest revisited)

We all should be reading Cannadine by now. I'd like to re-visit the Culture Chest we did at the dinner party at my house with a view towards exploring social class. (And, for Jeff, Allison, Andrew, this will be the first time we have heard anything about your culture chests.) That is, pick one item/subject (on the outside) and note how that relates to how others situate you with regard to class, social relations, social status. Then pick a similar (or even the same) item (on the inside) and note how this helps you situate yourself with regard to class, social relations, or social status. One paragraph should be fine. Again sign with last name and first initial.

• Thus, I might write: My British education (private school, senior year @ the American School in London; M.Phil. in Social Anthropology @ University of Cambridge) might associate me with the upper class, and certainly I associated with elite teenagers and college students @ both London and Cambridge. So my outside of my "letter" from ASL (basketball, of course, and band) would denote the elite class of the St. Johns Wood area. But, inside, my Harrods' pay-stub would denote that I worked first Summers and then a whole year while living on my own as first a "packer" employee at Harrods and then for an agency--mainly cleaning. I liked my fellow workers and adjusted my accent accordingly (dropping aitches--ask Jeff & Matthew what that means). I have a different view of the upper class having been a servant for them at different times. (Newton K)
  

we arrive with a bla(re) and depart with a brown

Tony Blair steps down as Prime Minister and leader of the Labour party on 27 June. So we arrive in the UK in the 10th and final year of Blair's government. Does this mean a new election? Well, no. (Do we all know that the people of the UK did not vote for Tony Blair--outside his constituency as Member of Parliament, MP, for Sedgefield? That PMs are selected by the Queen as the leader of the majority party of elected MPs for different constituencies? That that is how a parliamentary election works? We do now.)

But, it is fairly certain that Blair will be replaced by Gordon Brown current Chancellor of the Exchequer.

So, politics shall be a little more at the forefront than usual while we are there. Accordingly, we will discuss the parliamentary system with my friend and colleague Dr. Peter Catterall, an instructor at Queen Mary College and a Conservative elected councillor for his district, at his office at Queen Mary Monday morning, 2 July. Dr. Catterall has also arranged a visit to the Houses of Parliament for 11am on 3 July, to be guided by David Evennett MP, Member of Parliament for Bexleyheath & Crayford, and Opposition (Conservative) Whip, who talked with us last year and gave us an impromptu tour. Ask Krystal, but I found this MP (who clearly loves politics) to be fascinating. The Conservatives will probably be buzzing with excitement at the change. We are chock-a-block with student senate officers this year so--Leah, Jeffrey, Allison, Cole--I expect some good questions! (Like, what's a whip?) [Additional note: plan on packing at least one set of nice clothes; suit and tie is not necessary in Parliament (although I will have on a tie), but shorts and sandals are not acceptable.]

While we are at Queen Mary there is on 3 July @ 6:30 pm, a public lecture by Sir Michael Barber (former senior civil servant), on "Blair and Public Service Reform Delivery." OK, perhaps not your cup o' tea as they would say, but it is on our doorstep and free. (And, of course, optional.)

As noted, we have five required books for the course and I am asking that you purchase 3 of them in advance. I have linked with amazon at our syllabus website for three of them.


While @ $5.45 used the Cannadine is the most expensive, I note as alibris.com it is available for 3.43. The others were the most inexpensive editions of the books (@ 19 cents for Moll Flanders and 47 cents for Persuasion). Any edition of these works will do (for used works on amazon, "acceptable" is sometimes NOT; good is ok, very good and like new you will enjoy, but, again, any full-length version and any quality will do). Amazon shipping is $3.49 per book. Alibris shipping varies. Make sure it is a paperback as you need to pack it. But order these this week in case there are problems with delivery.