Reading \u2018Fundamental British Values\u2019 Through Children\u2019s Gothic: Imperialism, History, Pedagogy

Chloé Germaine Buckley

doi:10.1007/s10583-018-9344-z

Abstract

This paper reads the U.K. Government’s “fundamental British values” project alongside two children’s Gothic novels, Coram Boy (2000) by Jamila Gavin and City of Ghosts (2009) by Bali Rai. In 2011 the U.K. Government outlined what it described as “fundamental British values” (FBV), making it a requirement for U.K. schools to promote these values. Many critics have shown that the root of FBV lies in Islamophobia and imperialist nostalgia and suggested that the promotion of “British” values in school will exclude minority groups already under siege from racist elements in contemporary Britain. Other critics argue that the promotion of FBV reduces opportunities to explore issues of belonging, belief, and nationhood in the classroom. This article argues that the Gothic fictions of Jamila Gavin and Bali Rai offer a space in which to critically examine British history (and so, its values) in a way that is acutely relevant to these education contexts. Coram Boy and City of Ghosts use the Gothic to interrogate aspects of British history elided by the FBV project. That is, they point to Britain’s imperial and colonial history and offer a rejoinder to the Government’s insistence that “British Values” equate to democracy, respect for the rule of law and mutual respect and tolerance of those from different faiths and religions. Furthermore, Gavin’s and Rai’s use of the Gothic creates a space in which the ambiguities and contradictions inherent in FBV can be explored. However, their “gothicized” histories of Britain do not render the idea of shared values invalid. The diversity and interconnectedness of the characters offer an alternative version of identity to the patronising and arrogant FBV project, which is aimed at promoting a national identity based on sameness and assimilation. Rai and Gavin look to Britain’s past through the lens of the Gothic not only to refute nationalism and racism, but also to offer a productive alternative that gestures towards a more cosmopolitan vision of identity.

Highlights

A picture of Queen Elizabeth II; images from a Royal Wedding; a Beefeater palace guard; a London bus and a bust of Winston Churchill. These images connote stereotypical ideas of ‘‘Britishness’’ associated with the aristocracy, the capital city, military victory and, above all, whiteness. Such images adorn school displays across England in state schools required by the U.K. government to promote ‘‘fundamental British values’’ (FBV), a policy that has been in place since 2011
Jamila Gavin’s Coram Boy (2000) and Bali Rai’s City of Ghosts (2009) both use the Gothic to challenge the whitewashing of British history and, gesture towards alternative shared values and a more cosmopolitan vision of British identity
I see my analysis of the novels as the first step towards finding new uses for such postcolonial Gothic works within education, where they might promote a dialogue about cosmopolitan ideas of shared values and a recognition of the pluralistic nature of national identity

Summary

Introduction

A picture of Queen Elizabeth II; images from a Royal Wedding; a Beefeater palace guard; a London bus and a bust of Winston Churchill. As these plot descriptions suggest, the novels draw on Gothic tropes and the Gothic’s abiding themes of trauma and haunting In so doing, they undercut assumptions about British superiority inherent in the FBV project and, instead, problematise triumphalist narratives of British history favoured in current educational policy. To explore this affirmative impulse, I shall draw on the social theory of cosmopolitanism, as expounded by Kwame Anthony Appiah (2007), Robert Fine (2007) and Robert Spencer (2011) Reading these novels through this conceptual lens shows that they offer a number of alternative values; namely, they promote intercultural dialogue, productive exchanges between past and present and, celebrate British identity as being pluralistic, whilst suggesting that wider notions of human rights should underpin any sense of national affiliation. I see my analysis of the novels as the first step towards finding new uses for such postcolonial Gothic works within education, where they might promote a dialogue about cosmopolitan ideas of shared values and a recognition of the pluralistic nature of national identity

Fundamental British Values and Education in the UK

The Imperial Gothic and Whiggish History

Cosmopolitan Conclusions