Wandering Imperialism: Nationalism, Hybridity, and Identity in the Matter of Britain

Abstract

This dissertation examines how the cultural and political effects of colonial subjugation and conquest shape ideological constructions of nation and empire within the Matter of Britain. Combining the theories of ethno-symbolism and imperium studies, I challenge pre-existing notions of developing nationalism as a modern phenomenon. I argue that these Arthurian texts engage in identity exploration and construction by exploring England’s imperial relations with Scotland and Wales, and in doing so, lays the foundation for a new idealized “British” (rather than English) nationalism that unifies the various peoples of the British Isles. My work takes a broad view of Arthurian romance in addressing five major texts across the late fourteenth / early fifteenth centuries: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Awntyrs off Arthur, Sir Gawain and the Carle of Carlisle, the Alliterative Morte Arthure, and Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur. I begin by examining how borderland spaces shape ethnic identity and collective cultural memory. The last part of my analysis considers how English ethnic identity is contingent on its connection to Rome as both a physical homeland and an idealized imperial space. I conclude by considering how imagined ethnic solidarity, whether in a medieval or modern context, ignores the realities of English as a culturally hybrid ethnicity.