REGIONAL IDENTITY

To understand regional identityTo identify some regional

stereotypesTo analyse these stereotypes through the micro elements

Regional Identity refers to the part of the United Kingdom someone is from. It could refer to a general area such a north or south

Or country such as “English” or “Scottish” or specific towns such as “London” or “Manchester.”

Regional identity is the notion that part of a person's identity is rooted not only in the country but also in the region they live in.

Regional identity is a sense of belonging similar to that of national identity but on a smaller scale or level.

Activity

Scottish – often shown as being money obsessed, won’t pay for anything, drinks a lot of alcohol, loves the outdoors, wears kilts, eats haggis, quite aggressive and violent

Welsh – Often shown as living in the middle of the countryside, comically simplistic and rugby fans. Symbols such as a leek, dragon or daffodils are associated with the country.

Irish – often shown as living in the countryside, working in rural areas such as farms, being very religious, being good at dancing and singing, very friendly but less intelligent

Essex – often shown as being glamourous but cheap, footballer’s wives, lots of partying, being quite stupid

Yorkshire – Often shown as living in rural countryside, with rolling hills and cobbled streets, being quite old fashioned

Cornwall / Somerset – Often shown as being “backwards”, living in rural areas, working on farms

Manchester / Newcastle / Liverpool – Often shown as being “chavs”, wearing fake designer labels, or tracksuits, drinking a lot, being aggressive, uneducated, criminals

London – There are 2 main stereotypes of Londoners. One is that they are often shown as being rich, posh, snobby, upper class, Hugh Grant types from central or west london.

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The other is that they often shown as being from north, east or south London, poor, common, lower class, criminalistic, violent “Kidulthood” style

North / South Divide

South England – often shown as being the centre of culture, modern, classy, clever, sunny, richer, doing middle class jobs such as managers etc

North England – often shown as being poorer, bad weather, lower class, aggressive, less culture, less clever, doing working class jobs such as builders etc

Where do these images belong?

How do you represent your region?

Label – Urban, Rural, North, South

• High unemployment rates• Factory workers• Professional jobs• Out of touch with the modern world• New technology• A quiet life• Well spoken, well educated• Bad manners• Unintelligent• Wealth• On benefits, living in council accommodation• Isolated• Busy• Snobs• Politics and government• Over-priced

In pairs sort into 4 columnsIn pairs sort into 4 columns

City slicker, country bumpkin, Northerner, Southerner City slicker, country bumpkin, Northerner, Southerner

Can you think of anymore regional stereotypes?

How can you identify regional identity?

SettingAccentsDialoguePropsMake upClass of charactersCostumes 

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Why do we Stereotype?A stereotype is “...a fixed, over generalized belief about a particular group or class of people.” (Cardwell, 1996). 

For example, someone who lives in the country side is uneducated.

One advantage of a stereotype is that it enables us to respond rapidly to situations because we may have had a similar experience before.

One disadvantage is that it makes us ignore differences between individuals; therefore we think things about people that might not be true (i.e. make generalisations).Smash a stereotype.

1.Think of an individual you know from one of the regions we have discussed2.Write down the stereotype3.Then how they subvert it.

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Fill in the grid - you have 2 mins (30 seconds a micro element)

North / Divide

• Our Friends in the North Extract– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu2

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Rural / Urban

• Doc Martin– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gfY

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• North and South– http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=pvBKdaY8Y3w– Set in Victorian Britain– Could refer to class also– Focus just on North & South

North / Divide