Reluctant Europeans? Narratives of European Integration in the City of Birmingham during the Referendum Campaigns of 2016 and 1975.

为什么1975年67%的英国选民选择留在欧洲经济共同体，而2016年51.9%的选民投票离开欧盟，这一谜题仍然悬而未决。物质解释是不够的，那些专注于国家机构或政治精英的解释也是不够的。在两次公投运动中，亲欧和反欧的倡导者都采用了各种关于国家认同的叙事结构，以证明他们的尊重立场是合理的。因此，有必要对民族主义和身份认同的演变进行审视。然而，现有的这样做的文学作品将自己限制在狭窄的和最近的时间范围内，并且只关注国家精英演员。我的项目将采用以演员为中心的、自下而上的分析方法，将伯明翰市内地方层面的叙事性企业家和叙事与临时视角结合起来，考察他们随时间的变化，以确定长期视角下关于英国和欧洲的故事讲述的连续性和变化。

The puzzle of why 67% of UK voters opt to remain in the EEC in 1975, while 51.9% voted to leave the EUin 2016 remains unresolved. Material explanations are insufficient, so too are those that focus onnational institutions or political elites. During both referendum campaigns, pro- and anti-Europeanadvocates adapted various narrative constructions of national identity to justify their respectivepositions. Thus, an examination of the evolution of nationalism and identity is necessary. Existingliterature that does so however, limits itself to narrow and recent timeframes, and focuses exclusively onnational elite actors. My project will take the novel approach of combining an actor-centred, bottom-upanalysis of narrative entrepreneurs and narratives at the local level within the city of Birmingham, with atemporal perspective which examines their change over time, to identify continuities and changes instorytelling about Britain and "Europe" in a long-term perspective.