Seminar № 1. Questions for analysis and discussion. Practical work

Seminar № 1

Subject: The importance of not being English

Questions for analysis and discussion

1. What are historical roots, political reasons, economic basis, and lingua-cultural peculiarities, caused national disagreements between England and Wales, England and Scotland, England and Northern Ireland? Compound facts’ files, which would reflect the differences between four parts of Great Britain as to the aspects, accounted above.

2. Do the nationalists movements in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland result from similar or different causes? Are they expressed in similar or different ways? Find evidence from the text ‘The importance of not being English’ to support your views.

3. Which of the following statements refers to Northern Ireland, which to Scotland and which to Wales? Find evidence from the text to support your choice.

a) Nationalism is mainly expressed in cultural or linguistic terms.

b) Nationalism has increased the divisions between communities, making the gaps harder to bridge.

c) Nationalism has increased as industrial power has declined, and nationalists have clear economic as well as political goals.

4. What are the differences between the English, the Scottish, the Welsh and the Irish?

5. Has your view of the problem of nationalism in the United Kingdom been modified by reading the text ‘The importance of not being English’? If so, in what way has your view changed?

5. Are there regions of our country with strong nationalist feeling? If so, what are their aspirations expressed in?

Practical work

1. Give your explanations about what the following words and combinations of words mean:

Ulster, the Province, Unionists, Loyalists, Nationalists, Sinn Fein, Planters, the Orange Order, Stormont government, lodges, Bloody Sunday, ‘middle ground’ policy, the Anglo-Irish Agreement, the ‘Downing Street Declaration’;

‘non-conformism’, a Secretary of State, Plaid Cymru, ‘Welsh-speaking Wales’, ‘Radical Wales’, ‘English Wales’, Crachach;

the Kirk, the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, the General Assembly, Moderator, the Scottish Office, the Scottish National Party, a ‘Claim of Right’.

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