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Five swans over Littleport: fenland folklore and popular memory, c. 1810-1978

Wood, Andy

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Authors



Contributors

John H. Arnold
Editor

Matthew Hilton
Editor

Jan Rüger
Editor

Abstract

This chapter uses fenland folklore as a way of thinking about the importance of the local. It argues against grand narratives of globalization, to suggest instead that for many working people in the past it was in the context of the small community that social relations were made real and popular culture was felt and sensed. The piece therefore offers a corrective to current—elitist and statist—emphases upon ‘Big History’ and suggests instead that, if social historians are to understand the lived experience of working people in the past, it is necessary to return to local worlds and small communities.

Citation

Wood, A. (2017). Five swans over Littleport: fenland folklore and popular memory, c. 1810-1978. In J. H. Arnold, M. Hilton, & J. Rüger (Eds.), History after Hobsbawm : writing the past for the twenty-first century (225-241). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198768784.003.0012

Online Publication Date Nov 2, 2017
Publication Date Nov 2, 2017
Deposit Date Jan 22, 2018
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Publisher Oxford University Press
Pages 225-241
Book Title History after Hobsbawm : writing the past for the twenty-first century.
Chapter Number 12
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198768784.003.0012

Files

Accepted Book Chapter (496 Kb)
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Copyright Statement
Wood, Andy (2017). Five swans over Littleport: fenland folklore and popular memory, c. 1810-1978. In History after Hobsbawm: Writing the Past for the Twenty-First Century. Arnold, John H., Hilton, Matthew & Rüger, Jan Oxford: Oxford University Press. 225-241 reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198768784.003.0012




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