Cornish Identity: A Passion to Exist

by Rob Burton

This book explores the Cornish Identity from a sociological perspective. Rob Burton’s PhD thesis of which this book consists was submitted to the University of Exeter in July 2000. In the intervening years debates around identity have exploded impacting upon every area of the human experiences from where and how we live to our intimate inner lives and sexuality.

As this book suggests identities, far from being essentialist and given are produced, manufactured, re-invented, borrowed, manipulated and marketed. Dr Burton’s thesis points to those who are closely involved in the identity business, the “cultural entrepreneurs”. In Cornwall they consist of a group of academics and activists who work to create the breeding ground for the claims of Cornishness, seeding the social milieu with claims of authenticity for such markers as the language and a specific and different history.

Thus, a constructed Cornish identity is shaped through interactions with the dominant culture, the English culture, and by the continued discourse within Cornwall about Cornish identity. Cornish identity, Dr Burton argues, is in part, a castle in the air, a hybridisation of a particular social process that is unique (at the moment) to those people who live within the geographical boundaries of the country named England. The modern re-creation of a Cornish identity had its genesis in the late 1970s/early 1980s and it is in this context that we can say in 2022 that the Cornish still do have a passion to exist.

Rob Burton is currently a lecturer for the School of International Communications and Education at the Communication University of Zhejiang, in Hangzhou, China. He has most recently published books on Teaching English as a Foreign Language, most notably the IELTS examination and is also the author of three novels available on Amazon

400 pages, Paperback

Published January 13, 2022

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Currently living and working in Hangzhou China. Rob works at the Communication University of Zhejiang teaching public speaking, oral English and IELTS.

He is the author of Meditations on Murder, an urban fantasy novel and The Castle of the Red-Haired Maidens, a novella based in 12th Century Scotland. His second novel, The Twelfth Rune - a Dan Brownish romp through Cornish Myths and legends is now published and available on Amazon

I have also authored a memoir under the pen name of Doctor X - it covers five years of teaching ESL in China. The Adventures of Doctor X in China (beware adult content).

I have also authored four more none fiction titles about the IELTS language tests and coming to China to teach English.

I write for a local expat English language newspaper and proofread for Nanjing University. So I keep busy.

Life is good in China.