Tuesday 16 August 2022

RAI Book Launch: Social Anthropologies of the Welsh, 29th July 2022

 

Book Launch: Social Anthropologies of the Welsh

Social Anthropologies of the Welsh: Past and Present

with editors
Prof W. John Morgan (Cardiff University)
Dr Fiona Bowie (Oxford University)

contributors
Dr Elaine Forde (Swansea University)
Prof Chris Hann (Max Planck Institute of Social Anthropology)
Dr Rhys Dafydd Jones (Aberystwyth University)
Prof Huw Pryce (Bangor University)


It can now be watched here  


Asking the perennial question, 'Who are the Welsh?', this collection illustrates the history of anthropology in Wales and its distinctive contributions to this debate. Its essays range from the ethnographic insights of Gerald of Wales in the twelfth century, to analyses of the multicultural Wales of today. Contributors discuss the legacy of Iorwerth Peate, co-founder of the Welsh Folk Museum of St Fagans (now the National Museum of History), and the schools of research pioneering community studies of Welsh rural life in the second half of the twentieth century. Writings on the changing nature of family relations in de-industrialized settings such as the 1950s 'new' town of Cwmbrân and a contemporary Welsh public-housing estate provide new insights, while research on shifting patterns of religious adherence re-examine what has often been seen as a defining characteristic of Welsh society. Case studies on the challenges faced by European immigrants in Wales post Brexit and the Welsh diaspora in Patagonia add a global dimension.The interdisciplinary nature of anthropology as practised in Wales brings both a richness and openness born of collaboration. Revealing both the startling variety and continuity of Welsh life and identity, certain themes consistently emerge: connections with place and the natural world as a way of being Welsh, the complex meanings of language in identity formation and the role of kinship in giving a sense of belonging to the Welsh nation.



Tuesday 17 May 2022

Origins

 I succumbed to the temptation to send off my DNA for profile analysis with Ancestry.com. No surprises but it is nice to know that our family stories of origins and names are reasonably accurate (72% Scots - I wonder whether that would earn me a Scottish passport in an independent Scotland?). I was surprised that the (supposed) French Huguenots were not better represented (Sellons) but perhaps their DNA was not typical of their regions either and it was quite a long time ago. Following mitochondrial DNA links back, ie. the maternal line, I have arrived 8 generations back to Hampshire - no searching of records yet,  just good family information and an interest in past relations. That would account for the small 'English' bit.