Abstract
If the purpose of nationalist historiography is to construct a past worthy of
the present and future then the role of heroic individuals in the course of key
historical events and developments and the construction of suitable biographies
to support the narrative is essential to the purpose. Episodes of warfare very
often provide the most heroic figures, bolstering national imagery and myth
with tales of renown as well as introducing a personal life-story element that
not only anchors the individual’s biography in a suitable national past but
also personalises it in a way that a mere retelling of events cannot. Images of
Boudicca, the renowned ‘warrior queen’ who led an army against the might of
imperial Rome in Iron-Age Britain, have been deployed in modern nationalist
projects from Victorian times through to more recent times. Not surprisingly,
the same images have sometimes been used in feminist struggles for liberation
of a different kind.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 101-120 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | Humanities research |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - 2013 |