The sea and its relation to human life has always been a subject of fascination for historians. For the first time, this book looks at the field of Maritime History through the prism of identity, looking at how the sea has influenced the formation of identity at a national, local and individual level from the early modern age to the present. It looks at a variety of people who interacted with the sea in different ways - from merchant sailors to naval officers and, on land, from dockworkers to the civilians who participated in the sea-based festivals in the Mediterranean port city of Messina. A cultural strand runs through the volume, with chapters focussing on the cultural construction of the 'naval hero' in literature, poetry, music and art, and an appraisal of the Japanese author and journalist It? Masanori, whose works had such a profound influence on Japan's post-World War II national identity. A key focus is the ways in which the Royal Navy influenced British identity at a national and regional level, but other countries with a strong naval tradition - such as Japan, Italy and Germany - are also analysed. By bringing together a variety of themes related to identity, this book provides the first attempt to thoroughly analyse the ways in which maritime historians have engaged with the question of identity in recent years. In doing so, it provides an important and unique addition to the historiography, which will be essential reading for all scholars of maritime and naval history and those concerned with the question of identity.
Edited by:
Duncan Redford (National Museum of the Royal Navy UK)
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 216mm,
Width: 135mm,
Weight: 404g
ISBN: 9781350160071
ISBN 10: 1350160075
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 25 June 2020
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Introduction Duncan Redford Part I. Navies and National Identity: The Naval Hero and British National Identity 1707-1750 James Davey 2. It? Masanori, the Imperial Navy and Japan's Post-war National Identity Alessio Patalano 3. The Royal Navy, Sea Blindness and British National Identity Duncan Redford Part II. The Sea and Regional Identities. 4. Like the Crew of a Ship: The Sea and Identity in Modern Messina Guiseppe Restifo 5. The Bridge, the River and the Ocean Sea: Concepts of Space in the Seventeenth-Century London Maritime Community Richard J. Blakemore 6. The Small Country as a Maritime Great Power: The Case of Norway Tom Kristiansen and Roald Gjelsten 7. Regional Voices: National Causes 1930-1945 Victoria Carolan Part III. Corporate Identities in the Naval and Maritime Sector 8. The Other Side of an Amphibian's Identity: British Marines on Land, 1755-1802 Britt Zerbe 9. Untergang and the Corporate Identity of the Imperial German Navy in the World War I Mark Jones Part IV. The Sea and the Identity of the Individual Seafarer. 10. Defying Conformity: Using Tattoos to Express Individuality in the Victorian Royal Navy Cori Convertito-Farrar 11. They Thought they were Normal - and Queens too: Gay Seafarers on British Liners 1950-1985 Jo Stanley Part V. Navies and Imperial Identities. 12. From Trafalgar to Santiago: The Spanish Navy and National Identity in Nineteenth-Century Spain Carlos Alfaro Zaforteza 13. 'Of the Blood of Sea Peoples': Navalism and 'Greater Britain' 1897-1914 John C. Mitcham 14. Identifying 'Seagoing Races': Britain's Colonial Naval Volunteers and the Forging of Identity during World War II Daniel Spence
Duncan Redford is Senior Research Fellow in Modern Naval History at the National Museum of the Royal Navy (NMRN). He previously held a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellowships at the Centre for Maritime Historical Studies, University of Exeter and is the author of The Submarine: A Cultural History from the Great War to Nuclear Combat (I.B.Tauris). He is the General Editor of the History of the Royal Navy series, published by I.B.Tauris in association with the National Museum of the Royal Navy.
