Folk Heroes, The Imagined Past and The National Future

Folkheroes, the Imagined Past, and the National Future: An Exhibit presents a limited array of tales and items associated with four major national and folk heroes from across the former British empire: Boudica, Queen of the Iceni, England; Dulla Bhatti, India; Nanny of the Maroons, Jamaica; Daniel O'Connell of Ireland. These figures are unbounded by temporal limitations. Their origins range from the 1st century CE to the 18th and the periods in which they are represented come forward into the present, grounding the project in the heightened relevancy of discussions surrounding national identity and the belief that public history practice should center the idea that modern observers are not separate from the flows of history. The exhibit has evolved from my undergraduate research on the use of historical, mythologized figures like Boudica and King Arthur to solidify British national identity and imagery in the late Victorian and Early Edwardian eras. Through these works, I developed a set of characteristics I believed unified the figures and facilitated their successful use as a national icon. These are: balancing the remote and the relatable; creative freedom for cultural creators and consumers; state involvement with the promotion of the figure as a national icon; and an attempt to preserve the potency of the figure for new generations. I sought to test these frames through the lens of a more geographically and culturally diverse set of 'heroes.'