What is British Identity Anyway?
Jeremy Deller, Depeche Mode and other thoughts on art this week
This past couple of weeks I’ve been deeply engrossed in fine-tuning my teaching content for the Spring semester, which has led me along some fascinating research paths, and to a reignited obsession with the electronic music band Depeche Mode. More on that later.
For many years I’ve taught a history of modern and contemporary art module to American undergraduates who are in London for their study abroad programme. Last semester I started teaching a new course on modern British history, which has sparked all sorts of cross-fertilising ideas that I hope will make the two modules really rich and interesting for my students. In particular, thinking about ideas in modern British history has reaffirmed for me just how valuable and underused artworks are as historical evidence for providing insights into cultural, social, political, and economic contexts and ideas from the past. And how we might understand ourselves better today.
One of the enduring myths of Britain is its role as a civilising force in the world, a country that brought prosperity, education and peace to millions of people throughout its imperial territories. Politicians today like to wax lyrical about the British values of fairness and decency, how respect, tolerance and…
