Since November 2005, the foreign residents in the United Kingdom who wish to apply for British citizenship need to take a test demonstrating their basic knowledge of the language, culture and society of Great Britain. This multiple-choice test is based on the Home Office's publication Life in the United Kingdom. A Journey to Citizenship, a primer containing all the relevant information to pass the test and presumably cope with all the unfamiliar routines of the British way of life. Although the test has been criticised on account of its inaccuracies and its many questions puzzling even to the native citizens (BBC 2005; Glendinning 2006), it is mainly meant to turn naturalization from a bureaucratic procedure into a meaningful civic process of integration and growth (Home Office 2006: 3). The Official Publication, sligtly modified and revised in the second edition of 2007, represents then a synthesis of all that is considered worth knowing about British history, customs and lifestyle. Taking into account the significance of this official publication meant both as a welcoming sign and a pledge of allegiance for the immigrants in the UK, this paper sets out to investigate the image/s of Britishness that it conveys with particular attention to such crucial aspects as ethnicity and cultural identity. The analysis will attempt to outline the dialectical relationship between ‘travellers' and long-time residents, and ascertain to what extent the image of Britain as a welcoming multicultural society conveyed by media corresponds to the one accessed through this official publication. In particular, the analysis will draw on the metaphorical imagery (e.g. the ‘roots' of life-long British nationals vs. the ‘journeying' of the applicants), the interactional markers such as pronouns and forms of address (e.g. ‘you' vs ‘the immigrants'), the alternation of deontic and dynamic modality (must vs. may/will), with the aim of defining the language patterns of social and cultural identification according to the Critical Discourse Analysis framework (Fairclough 1989; Hodge, Kress 1993).
A Journey to British Citizenship: the Dialectics of Diversity and Integration in Multicultural Britain / Pennarola, Cristina. - (2009). (Intervento presentato al convegno XXIV Conferenza Nazionale di Anglistica Challenges for the 21st century: dilemmas, ambiguities, directions tenutosi a Università di Roma 3 nel 1-3 ottobre 2009).
A Journey to British Citizenship: the Dialectics of Diversity and Integration in Multicultural Britain
PENNAROLA, CRISTINA
2009
Abstract
Since November 2005, the foreign residents in the United Kingdom who wish to apply for British citizenship need to take a test demonstrating their basic knowledge of the language, culture and society of Great Britain. This multiple-choice test is based on the Home Office's publication Life in the United Kingdom. A Journey to Citizenship, a primer containing all the relevant information to pass the test and presumably cope with all the unfamiliar routines of the British way of life. Although the test has been criticised on account of its inaccuracies and its many questions puzzling even to the native citizens (BBC 2005; Glendinning 2006), it is mainly meant to turn naturalization from a bureaucratic procedure into a meaningful civic process of integration and growth (Home Office 2006: 3). The Official Publication, sligtly modified and revised in the second edition of 2007, represents then a synthesis of all that is considered worth knowing about British history, customs and lifestyle. Taking into account the significance of this official publication meant both as a welcoming sign and a pledge of allegiance for the immigrants in the UK, this paper sets out to investigate the image/s of Britishness that it conveys with particular attention to such crucial aspects as ethnicity and cultural identity. The analysis will attempt to outline the dialectical relationship between ‘travellers' and long-time residents, and ascertain to what extent the image of Britain as a welcoming multicultural society conveyed by media corresponds to the one accessed through this official publication. In particular, the analysis will draw on the metaphorical imagery (e.g. the ‘roots' of life-long British nationals vs. the ‘journeying' of the applicants), the interactional markers such as pronouns and forms of address (e.g. ‘you' vs ‘the immigrants'), the alternation of deontic and dynamic modality (must vs. may/will), with the aim of defining the language patterns of social and cultural identification according to the Critical Discourse Analysis framework (Fairclough 1989; Hodge, Kress 1993).I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
