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RHAGLEN Y GYNHADLEDD CONFERENCE PROGRAMME
LLYFRGELL GENEDLAETHOL CYMRU
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF WALES
ABERYSTWYTH
14–16/09/2015
Mewn cydweithrediad â / In collaboration with:CyfnewidfaLênCymru/WalesLiteratureExchange
ac/andAmgueddfaCeredigionMuseum
Prifddarlith/Keynote:YrAthro/ProfessorMichaelCronin(DublinCityUniversity)Cyfweliad:YrawdurBasgaiddKirmenUribemewnsgwrsgydaNedThomas
Interview:BasquewriterKirmenUribeinconversationwithNedThomas
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Rhwydwaith / Network: LLGCWPA
Cyfrinair WiFi Password: pFvdE2kDX
Hashnod trydar / twitter Hashtag:#MinTrav
Amgueddfa Ceredigion Museum
TerraceRd,Aberystwyth,DyfedSY232AQ
Conference Dinner
PierBrasserie
TheRoyalPier,MarineTerrace,AberystwythSY232AZ.
Ffôn/Tel:01970636123
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Dydd Llun, 14 Medi 2015 Monday, 14 September 2015
11.00 Cofrestru o flaen y DRWM, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru
Registration in front of the DRWM, National Library of Wales
12.30 Cinio/Lunch
13.40 DRWM– Croeso / Welcome Address
14.00 DRWM – Panel 1a: Belgian Refugees in Wales
JohnAlban:‘BelgianRefugeesandSwansea’sBelgianCommunity’
CaterinaVerdickt:‘BelgianartistsfindingrefugeinWalesduringtheGreatWar’
RhianDavies:‘Soir héroïque:BelgianrefugeemusiciansinWales’
Ystafell y Cyngor / Council Chamber – Panel 1b: Women Travellers
AlisonMartin:‘AWelsh"Assembly":CompilationandAdaptationinPriscilla
Wakefield'sFamily Tour(1804)’
KathrynWalchester:‘ThePicturesqueandtheBeastly;Walesinthejournalsof
Lady’sCompanionsElizaandMillicentBant(1806,1808)’
SilviaPelicier-Ortín:‘AMinorityinSearchofIdentity:TravelWritingandthe
RepresentationofBritish-JewishWomeninLindaGrant’sThe Cast Iron Shore
andWhen I Lived in Modern Times’
15.30 Te/TeaBreak
16.00 DRWM – Panel 2a: Iberian Travellers
DavidMiranda-Barreiro:‘“EverythingStaystheSame”:JulioCambaTravellingSpain’
BárbaraÁlvarezFernández:‘Everything but the squeal:Aportraitofpresentday
Galicia’
EnriqueSantosUnamuno:‘GalicianNationalIdentityandExtraterritorialityin
Diarios dun nómada(1993)byXavierQueipo:aGeoliteraryandCartographic
Approach’
Ystafell y Cyngor / Council Chamber – Panel 2b: Literary Travellers
RuthOldman:‘TheChivalrousNation:TravelandIdeologicalExchangeinSir Gawain
and the Green Knight’
AmyL.Klemm:‘TraversingAcrossImaginedLands:MagicRealismand“Minority”
Culture’
MarijaBergam:‘“Alanguageofwetstonesandmists”:ACaribbeanPoetasTraveller
throughEnglandandWales’
17.30 Swper/Dinner
19.00 DRWM
Sgwrs rhwng Kirmen Uribe a Ned Thomas
A Talk with Kirmen Uribe and Ned Thomas
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Dydd Mawrth, 15 Medi 2015 Tuesday, 15 September 2015
10.00 DRWM – Panel 3: Involuntary Travellers
GaborGelleri:‘Exilemeetsminority:chevalierLaTocnaye’s“promenades”’
ArddunArwyn:‘GermanPrisonersofWarinWales’
11.00 Coffi/CoffeeBreak
11.30 DRWM – Panel 4a: Western Travellers
EimearKennedy:‘ComplexEncounters:Irish-languagetravelwritersandthecultural
“other”’
JulieWatt:‘HighlandersinWestAfrica’
DianaLuft:‘Identity?Politics:WilliamGriffith’sAfricanAdventure’
Ystafell y Cyngor / Council Chamber – Panel 4b: Minorities of the Imaginary
JessicaReid:‘“Folk”celebration?ThomasSt.Serfe’s“ThePrinceofTartaria,his
VoyagetoCowperinFife”’
ChristopherMcMillan:‘A Discription,A journeyandaProphecy:Scottophobiain
EnglishLiterature,1626-1763’
LornaMcBean:‘WhiteManWriting:LanguageofColonisationinthewritingsof
WilliamLithgow(1582-1645)’
13.00 Cinio/Lunch
14.00 DRWM – Panel 5a: Purposeful Travellers
MarionLöffler:‘GermanScholarsinWales,c.1840–c.1880:FriedrichCarlMeyer’
AdamN.Coward:‘RamblesandStudiesoftheUnitedStatesConsulinsouthWales’
Ystafell y Cyngor / Council Chamber – Panel 5b: Travellers and Commodities
GwynGriffiths:‘YrYmwelwyddTymhoroloLydaw’
Anna-LouDijkstra:“‘GuidebookGazes”:WalesThroughDutch,GermanandFrench
Eyes,1990-2010’
MelindaSzarvas:‘Immobiletravel:The“postcard-literature”inYugoslavia’
15.30 Te/TeaBreak
16.00 DRWM– Prif Ddarlith / Keynote Lecture: Michael Cronin
‘Minority Reports: Travel, Language and the Politics of Microspection’
19.30 Cinio’rGynhadledd/ConferenceDinner:PierBrasserie
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Dydd Mercher, 16 Medi 2015 Wednesday, 16 September 2015
9.30 Amgueddfa Ceredigion Museum
Arddangosfa‘EwrOlwg:CymrudrwyLygaidYmwelwyroEwrop,1750–2015’
Exhibition‘EuroVisions:WalesthroughtheEyesofEuropeanVisitors,1750–2015’
10.00 Panel 6: Travellers and Material Culture
RobertLewis:‘WelshLanguageandBilingualProvisioninTourisminWales’
JacquiAnsell:‘DifferenceandDecorum:AddressingDressinPublishedTravelogues’
11.00 DychwelydiLyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru/ReturntotheNational Library of
Wales
12.00 DRWM Panel 7: Curious Travellers
ElizabethEdwards:‘“[B]leakanddesolateasanythingIhaveseeninScotland”:Mary
Bruntononthehometour’
Mary-AnnConstantine:‘“Tofindoutallitsbeauties,amanmusttravelonfoot”:
CatherineHutton’sexplorationsofWales’
13.00 Casgliadau / Closing Remarks
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Dydd Llun, 14 Medi 2015 Monday, 14 September 2015
11.00 Cofrestru yng Nghyntedd Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru
Registration in the Foyer of the National Library of Wales
12.30 Cinio/Lunch
13.40 DRWM – Croeso / Welcome Address
14.00 DRWM
Panel 1a:
Belgian Refugees in Wales
Ystafell y Cyngor / Council Chamber
Panel 1b:
Women Travellers
Panel 1a: Belgian Refugees in Wales Cadair / Chair: Robert Evans
Belgian Refugees and Swansea’s Belgian Community
FollowingtheoutbreakoftheGreatWar,GreatBritainreceivedthelargestinfluxofrefugees
initshistory,asover250,000Belgiansarrived,havingfledfromtheadvanceoftheGerman
army across their homeland. It was an exodus which has been described as ‘a migration
phenomenonwithoutpreviousprecedentinthemodernhistoryofEuropeoutsidetheBalkan
peninsula’. The arriving refugees were dispersed across the whole of the United Kingdom,
includingmanypartsofWales.ReliefforthemwascoordinatedbythecentralWarRefugees
Committee in London, but was actually delivered by local committees, of which there were
over2,500acrossthecountry.
Some700oftheseBelgianrefugeescametoSwansea,mainlyin1914and1915,wherethey
united with a large, pre-existing Belgian community, mainly composed of the families of
metal-workers, the first ofwhomhad arrived in the town in the late 1840s, when they had
broughttheirexpertise,gainedinthezincworksofBelgium,tohelpdevelopSwansea’sown
newly-establishedspelterindustry.
ThewelcomeandsupportwhichtheBelgianrefugeesreceivedinSwanseaweregenerally
verypositive,especiallywhencomparedwiththesometimesadverseexperiencesofrefugees
inotherpartsoftheUnitedKingdom.TheenergiesanddedicationofSwanseaCorporation–
andespeciallyoftheSwanseaBelgianRefugeeCommittee–madealargecontributiontothis
success, but, as a visiting Belgian minister pointed out in 1916, the people of Swansea
themselves also played their own vital part in ensuring that these less fortunate souls
received a good welcome. As a consequence, links between Swansea and Belgium were
maintained post-war and were re-affirmed during the Second World War, when an even
largercontingentofBelgianrefugeesreturnedtothetown.
JohnAlban
UniversityofEastAnglia
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Belgian artists finding refuge in Wales during the Great War
Theoutbreakof thewar inAugust1914broughtanenormous influxofBelgianrefugeeson
the move. Hundreds of thousands Belgians arrived in Britain, among them hundreds of
architects and artists. The Belgians were warmly welcomed since Britain felt partly
responsiblefortheagonyoftheBelgianpopulation.IntheUKtheBelgianswerehoused,cared
forandemployed.TheBritishculturalsocietyofferedmanyopportunitiesfortheexiles,not
only the people themselves were cared for, also the reconstruction of Belgium has been
prepared and researched by many British and Belgian architects. A conference for this
purposeonlywasheldin1915inordertopreparetherebuildingofBelgium.Apartfromthis
urbanization aspect many artists and architects stayed in Britain during the war and
interactedwithsociety.
Onemustrealizethatbecauseofthescatteringeventsofthewaralogicalwellconducted
cultural policy is lacking, although the situation was very different in Wales. Yet, these
refugeescameaboardinBritainandweredispatchedalloverthecountry.Somethrived,some
merelysurvived. Inthemanydocuments,archives,personal letters andartefacts significant
cases can be found, and these cases can be used to illustrate the larger mechanisms and
schemesofanexiledartisticcommunity.
Thispaperhoweverwill focusontheeffectsof thismigrationontheBelgianartistswho
were involved in interior architecture. An interesting example is the one of Valerius de
Sadeleer and his daughter Elisabeth who by invitation of the Davies sisters of Aberystwyth
madeRhydyfelin theirhomeforseveralyearsduringtheGreatWar.Whentheyreturnedto
Belgium in1922 they named, as a token ofrecognition, their new home inTiegem ‘Tynlon’
aftertheirWelshhome.MoreimportantElisabethandherfatherworkedinthenewArtsand
Crafts centre in Aberystwyth. They were commissioned to do so by the Davies sisters, who
were very keen on injecting Aberystwyth’s cultural life with renowned continental artists.
ElisabethtrainedintapestryweavingintheWilliamMorristradition.WhenbackinBelgium
hertapestryfirmgrewtobeoneofthemostimportantinthecountryintheinter-warperiod.
CaterinaVerdickt
AntwerpUniversity
Soir héroïque: Belgian refugee musicians in Wales
In October 1914, Gwendoline and Margaret Davies – heiress grand-daughters of the
nineteenth-centuryindustrialistDavidDavies,Llandinam–assistedaselectgroupofBelgian
refugeestosettleinPowysandCeredigionwiththeaimofraisingculturalstandardsinWales.
AmajorretrospectiveexhibitionofartworksproducedduringtheirtimeherebyValeriusDe
Saedeleer,GeorgeMinne,EdgarGevaertandGustavevandeWoestijnewasheldatNational
MuseumCardiffandtheMuseumofFineArtsinGhentin2002.
Theexhibitioncataloguealludesto‘severalwell-knownmusiciansfromBrussels’whoalso
came to Mid Wales, but who were they and why had their narrative disappeared? This
discrepancy was the spur to my research and a remarkable story has emerged of the
distinguished singers, instrumentalists and composers whoheld prominent positions at the
Brussels Conservatoire, Royal Palace and Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie before forming a
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concert-partytotourWalesinaidoftheBelgianReliefFund,1914-16.EugèneGuillaumeand
Nicolas Laoureux wrote and premièred music in Aberystwyth while Joseph Jongen’s
Crépuscule au Lac Ogwenwas inspiredbyaholidayinSnowdonia.DavidvandeWoestijne–
Gustave’sson–wasborninLlandinamandgrewuptobecomealeadingBelgiancomposerof
thenextgeneration.
Developed as part of Gregynog Festival 2014: War, featured during Welsh Government’s
commemorativeprogrammeCymru’n Cofio | Wales Remembers 1914-1918andarevelationto
culturalcommentatorswhenfirstunveiledataBrusselspressconference in June2014, this
presentationdrawsonuncataloguedsourcesinWalesandBelgiumtoretellthestoryofthese
forgottenrefugeesandrestorethemandtheirrepertoiretorightfulattention.
RhianDavies
ArtisticDirector,
GregynogFestival
Panel 1b: Women Travellers Cadair / Chair: Ruth Oldman
A Welsh "Assembly": Compilation and Adaptation in Priscilla Wakefield's
Family Tour (1804) Priscilla Wakefield,a leading Britishauthor of children's educational non-fictioninthe early
nineteenth century, produced her best-selling Family Tour through the British Empire ...
Adapted to the Amusement and Instruction of Youthin1804.Thisaccountofthetopographyof
the British Isles (the "Empire" of the title) did not, however, reconstruct ajourney she had
herselfundertaken.Rather, itwasa"sketch,having theairofareal tour [...] containing the
prominent features of the subject"that was an unashamed compilation and adaptation of
existingliterature,wovenselectivelybyWakefieldintoherwork.Focusingspecificallyonthe
pages devoted to Wales, I shall be exploring how she transposed anintriguingrange of
material–fromRichardWarner'sWalk through Wales(1800)toThomasWarton'spoemThe
Grave of King Arthur (1777) – into a narrative that sought to be informative as well as
imaginatively engaging. My interest, though, is not solely in the dialogic relations between
thesetextsandtheirculturalre-evaluationoftheapparently'peripheral'territoryofWales.I
am also interested in thevery politics ofWakefield's intertextuality. Her literary dexterity
enabledherasanapparent'minority'figure–amiddle-agedQuakerwomanessentiallyliving
by her pen – touse travel literature as a highly successful form of knowledge-making for a
juvenileaudience,despiterarelyleavingtheboundsofherhome.
AlisonMartin
UniversityofReading
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The Picturesque and the Beastly; Wales in the journals of Lady’s Companions
Eliza and Millicent Bant (1806, 1808)
Recentscholarship in the fieldof travelwritingstudiesand inRomanticismhasestablished
that the late eighteenth century saw a transformation in the representation of Wales in
writingbyEnglishtravellers;changing from,asSarahPrescotthasargued, ‘abackwardand
uncivilised land to a place venerated for its ancient bardic culture and sublime landscapes’
(2014, 108; Constantine, 2008; Lichtenwalner, 2008). This paper considers the manuscript
journals of sisters Millicent and Eliza Bant, companions to Lady Wilson, from their tour of
WalesinthefirstdecadeofthenineteenthcenturyandsuggeststhatwhilsttheBantsistersdo
employ newly-established Romantic formulations of landscapes in their accounts of Wales,
these compete with other complex discourses. In the journals a number of unexpected and
contradictoryperspectivesonWalesandtheWelshareproposedbyMillicentandElizaBant;
Wales is simultaneously ‘beastly’ and ‘picturesque’, a place of industry and of nature for
example.
The Bant sisters form part of, what James Clifford has suggested is, ‘a host of servants,
helpers,companions,guides,andbearers[who]havebeenexcludedfromtheroleofproper
travellersbecauseoftheirraceandclass;andbecausetheirsseemedtobeadependentstatus’
(Clifford,1997,33).Itisthis‘dependentstatus’,whichIsuggestisattherootoftheinteresting
interstitial narratorial position through which both their employer, Lady Wilson and the
Welsh become objects of the travelling authors’ gaze. Furthermore, this in-between status
results inarenderingof thecompanions’proximityto theorganisationandpracticalitiesof
travelanddrawsattentiontothechallengesstillencounteredintheearlynineteenthcentury
bythetravellingpartydespiteWales’semergenttouristinfrastructure.
KathrynWalchester
LiverpoolJohnMooresUniversity
A Minority in Search of Identity: Travel Writing and the Representation of
British-Jewish Women in Linda Grant’s The Cast Iron Shore and When I
Lived in Modern Times
When thinking about marginalised people, diasporic collectives, or individuals relegated to
theperiphery,theJewishpeopleforgeaheadastheyhavetraditionallybeendefinedbytheir
minoritystatuswherevertheyhavesettled(Cheyette,2014;GoldbergandKopelowitz,2012).
However, the present-day literary panorama has observed that “Jewish literature is
flourishing[…]-theresurgenceofapeoplestillstrivingtobeheard”(BerkmanandStarkman,
1998:1).Intheirattempttounveilthemechanismsthatrelegatethemtothisminorposition,
many British-Jewish writers have recently created works shaped by the transnational and
diasporicnaturethatcharacterisestravelwriting.Thistrend isevenmorenoticeable in the
case of women, as they “participate as ʻothersʼ in several traditions at once” (Baskin, 1994:
21),asJews,immigrantsandwomen.
Among the increasing British-Jewish female voices problematising their identity, Linda
Grant’s creations deserve pride of place as they show the mechanisms through which the
relationship between self and place may open new alternatives for the (re)construction of
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their liminal identities. Inthispaper,The Cast Iron Shore (1996)andWhen I Lived in Modern
Times (2000) will be analysed and, although the dissimilarities between the travels
representedwillbepointedout─The Cast Iron ShoreechoesthevastJewishmigrationtothe
USwhileWhen I Lived in Modern Times showsthereturnto Israelafter theHolocaust─,my
main hypothesis is that both use the journey as a device guiding the narrative, a motif
representing the necessary breaking of boundaries for the characters to negotiate their
identities, and a metaphor to claim for a renewed outlook on the role of Jewish women in
society. By applying theories on the formation of Jewish identity and femininity alongside
ideasontravelwriting,and justasGoldbergarguesthat Jewsalwaysexperiment“withnew
waysofʻputtingtogetherʼJudaismandJewishcommunality”(2012:2),Iwouldconcludethat
Grant’sworksprovethattravelwritingisausefultoolto“puttogether”thepiecesconforming
contemporaryJewishfemaleidentities.
Works Cited Baskin,Judith.R.1994.Women of the Word: Jewish Women and Jewish Writing.Detroit:WayneStateUniversityPress.Berkman,MarshaLeeandElaineMarcusStarkman.1998.Contemporary Jewish Stories: Here I Am from around the World.PhiladelphiaandJerusalem:TheJewishPublicationSociety.Grant,Linda.1996.The Cast Iron Shore.London:GrantaBooks.――.2000.When I Lived in Modern Times.London:GrantaBooks.Cheyette,Bryan.2014.Diasporas of the Mind: Jewish and Postcolonial Writing and the Nightmare of History.NewHavenandLondon:YaleUniversityPress.Goldberg,StevenM.CohenandEzraKopelowitz(eds).2012.Dynamic Belonging: Contemporary Jewish Collective Identities.NewYorkandOxford:BerghahnBooks.
SilviaPelicier-Ortín
UniversityofZaragoza
15.30 Te/TeaBreak
16.00 DRWM
Panel 2a:
Iberian Travellers
Ystafell y Cyngor / Council Chamber
Panel 2b:
Literary Travellers
Panel 2a: Iberian Travellers Cadair / Chair: Phil Davies
‘Everything Stays the Same’: Julio Camba Travelling Spain WhereastheGalicianbutMadridbasedjournalistJulioCamba(1882-1962)acquiredalong-
lasting fameasatravelwriter thankstohischroniclesabout foreigncountriespublished in
the Spanish press and subsequently compiled in a series of volumes (Londres; Alemania; Un
año en el otro mundo; Aventuras de una peseta; La ciudad automática), La rana viajera [The
Travelling Frog](1920)gatherssomeofthearticleshewroteaboutSpain.Inthispaper,Iwill
examine Camba’s domestic travel writing, which not only provides an excellent insight into
significant social and political issues at the time (with references to the rise of peripheral
nationalisms, Regeneracionismo and the corrupted nature of Spanish politics), but also
highlightsthesimilaritiesbetweentheRestorationperiodandpresent-daySpain.Throughhis
characteristichumorousstyleandthesubversionofprevioustropesoftravelwriting,Camba
createsananti-RomanticrepresentationofSpanishsocietythatcombinescriticismofSpain’s
economicstagnationandnationaldecaywithacentralistviewofthecountry.Hismockeryof
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Spanishpoliticians,hisscorntowardsGalicianandBasquelanguagesandhisparodictakeon
Catalonia’sclaimsforautonomyshedlightontheformationofSpanishcentralistnationalism
inthedecadepriortotheCivilWaranditspersistenceincurrentSpain.
DavidMiranda-Barreiro
BangorUniversity
Everything but the squeal: A portrait of present day Galicia According to social identity theories (Hogan, 2009: 8) a group or nation can be defined
throughwhattheinhabitantsthinkofthemselvesandwhatothersconsiderrepresentativeof
thatgroup(i.e.in-groupandout-groupcategories).
ThispaperanalysestheimageofGaliciaanditspeopleinthetravelbookEverything but the
Squeal. Eating the Hole Hog in Northern Spain(Farrar,StrausandGiroux,2008),bytheBritish
journalistandwriterJohnBarlow.BorninBritainbutlivinginACoruñaformorethantwenty
years, he sets out to consume every bit of the pig that is eaten in his pork-loving adopted
home.Overthecourseofayear,Barlowcrisscrossestheregion,butthefoodquestismerelya
windowontothepeoplewhomakeit.Hefocusesoncertainvalues,traditionsandbeliefsthat
bind the population together: language, sense of humor, lack of self-steem, emigration.
However, in spite of these shared bonds, we consider this ancient culture at risk of
disappearing.Thisthreathasbeenclearoverthelastdecades,whenpeopleflewabackward
countrysideinsearchofeconomicprogress,leavingbehindtheirlanguage,homes,handicrafts
andtrades.
BárbaraÁlvarezFernández
UniversidadedeVigo
Galician National Identity and Extraterritoriality in Diarios dun nómada
(1993) by Xavier Queipo: a Geoliterary and Cartographic Approach This paper combines theories and methodologies from Comparative Literature, Spatial
HumanitiesandDigitalHumanities(CartographyandCriticalGIS,specifically),asdeveloped
by authors such as Franco Moretti, Barbara Piatti and Ian N. Gregory. More precisely, this
paperwillprovideareadingof thetextDiarios dun nómada,atraveloguepublished in1993
bytheGalicianauthorXavierQueipo,indigitalandcartographicterms.Inordertodothis,the
firststepwillbetogeoreferencethelocationslinked(sometimeswithgreatprecision)tothe
different entries of the text. The expected result is the visualisation of a very wide
geographical and textual configuration, a literally geosymbolic Atlantic space. Starting from
thispoint,thepaperwillcarryoutageoliteraryandqualitativeanalysisoftheculturalissues
and items mentioned in those entries: authors, literary works, emotions and subjective
judgementsaboutspacesandlocations…Themainlinesofthisanalysiswillbetravelwriting,
mobilitiesandthetravelogueasgenre,thesymbolicmakingofGaliciannationalidentityand
theimportanceof(extra)territorialityandlinguisticdiversityinXavierQueipo’swork.
EnriqueSantosUnamuno
UniversidaddeExtremadura
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Panel 2b: Literary Travellers Cadair / Chair: Lorna MacBean
The Chivalrous Nation: Travel and Ideological Exchange in Sir Gawain and
the Green Knight TheMiddleAgessawalliterativepoetictraditionflourishacrosstheBritishIsles,thoughnot
in a singular, unified form. Variations in the form erupted depending upon geographical,
cultural, and political variables and many texts reveal a sense of strong regional pride. The
theme of nationalism also became prominent as the British Isles began to define which
geographicalareaswerepartsofitsnation.Whilesomescholarsbelievethesetwotakescan
bemutuallyexclusive,IarguethattheAlliterativeRevivalisnotstrictlyindicativeofregional
and local literaryprideorof thematicnationalistic fervor.Rather, thepoetryof thisRevival
contributesmanyvoicestoanoverarchingnationalnarrativethroughthealliterativestyle.
This presentation intends to examine Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, one of the most
defining examples of the alliterative resurgence, and the instances of travel and ideological
exchangepresentedinthepoem.WritteninaNorthMidlandsdialect,severalmomentsinthe
poem provide commentary on relations between the royal court of Richard II and the
provincesoftheNorthWestMidlands.Whilethepoemrevealsmomentsofregionalpride,I
intendtoarguethatthroughtheuseofthealliterativestyleandtherhetoricalexecutionofSir
Gawain’s final punishment, this poem reveals a commentary on the overarching English
nationalidentity,givingvoicetominoritygroups.SirGawain’stravelsleadhimthroughWales
and North West England, allowing him to experience these traditions and lifestyles which
differ from the royal tradition he is used to. By examining the poetic style, language, and
certain key scenes in which ideological exchange occurs between minority and majority
cultures, thispresentationwilldemonstratehowtheregionalpridepresented inSirGawain
andtheGreenKnightcontributestoacommentaryonhowthecourtshouldtreatitsminority
groupsandgentry.
RuthOldman
IndianaUniversityofPennsylvania
Traversing Across Imagined Lands: Magic Realism and ‘Minority’ Culture
While in some ways Magic Realism has become a ubiquitous term, to describe various
contemporaryworks,yetacertainambiguitysurrounds it. Iwillbe focusingonthreemagic
realist novels within British Commonwealth writing. These works are structured around
multiple layers of reality. Like many modernist movements, however, magic realism rejects
nineteenth-centurypositivism,theprivilegingofscienceandempiricism,returninginsteadto
mythologies,folkloreandmysticism.Thisinnowayrepresentsanabandonmentofhistory;in
fact, the representation of historical conflict is central to magic realist prose, and I would
arguethatincontemporaryliteraturemagicrealismpresentsawayofrestoringahistorical
dimension to the post-modern novel. The disconcerting multiplicity of realities in magic
realism emphasizes rather than denies the historical dimension of these narratives. The
exploration of the quotidian in early magic realism increasingly gives way to the
representation of conflict, which is often but not exclusively generated by a crisis of
national/cultural identityresulting fromtheoverlapofseveral layersofhistoryandculture
withinagivengeographicarea.
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In this paper I will be exploring Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Peter
Carey’s The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith, and Richard Flanagan’s Death of a River Guide. All
threeworksexploretravel,both inrealandalso imagined,magical,ordystopian lands.The
centralcharactersoftheworksaredealingwithafeelingofdisplacementfromtheirhomes,
families,andcountries.Theymustlearntousetheir‘minority’statusinordertochallengethe
hegemonicstructuresatworkintheirlives.Languageplaysanequallyimportantroleineach
work, and in conjunctionwith travel, I will attempt to show the importance that bothhave
within the genre of Magic Realism, and in particular, the works from Rushdie, Carey, and
Flanagan.
AmyL.Klemm
IndianaUniversityofPennsylvania
“A language of wet stones and mists”: A Caribbean Poet as Traveller through
England and Wales Mypaperexamines severalpoems inwhichDerekWalcottwritesaboutEnglandandWales
fromtheautobiographicviewpointofthetravellingCaribbeanpoet.ThereadingIproposeis
partofalargerprojectonrepresentationsofEuropeinWalcott’spoetry,butintheirfocuson
EnglandandWalesthesepoemscrystalisetwoparticularlycomplexandsuggestive,yetvery
different,responsestothemanifoldofplace,historyandlanguageevokedbythelandscapes
hemovesthrough.
DeleuzeandGuattari’sconceptoflittérature mineureallowsmetospeakaboutWalcottasa
“minoritywriter”.HispositionasaWest Indianpoetmeanshe isbothoutsidethe imperial,
majority culture and, of necessity, in its language, which he has reterritorialised in his long
endeavour to use it for articulating a post-colonial, specifically Caribbean poetics. In their
engagement with Welsh and English “Elsewhere”, his poems inevitably participate in the
transvaluation of the relationship between centre and periphery (or peripheries), which
markedthemostsignificantpoetrywritteninEnglishafterWWII.
In discussing “English” poems from Midsummer (1984) I will argue that, while there is
somerecognitionofvitalbondswithEngland,Walcott’svoyageneverbecomesareturntothe
wellspringofhis identity,as somecritics seemto imply.HisrepresentationofEnglandalso
qualifiestheviewofWalcottasacosmopolitanpoet,equallyathomeindifferentplaces.Ithen
proceed to discuss Walcott’s “Wales” (The Fortunate Traveller, 1981) as an instance of
ÉdouardGlissant’srelation.WalesfascinatesWalcottbothbecauseofitsstratifiedhistoryand
longpoetic tradition–boththingsthat theCaribbeanmanifestly lacks–and becauseof the
correspondencesbetweenitandWalcott’s islands.Thesequickenhis imaginationandallow
for a productive identification that ultimately complicates and deepens his encounter with
Europe.
MarijaBergam
UniversityofGeneva
17.30 Swper/Dinner
19.00 DRWM
Sgwrs rhwng Kirmen Uribe a Ned Thomas
A Talk with Kirmen Uribe and Ned Thomas
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Dydd Mawrth, 15 Medi 2015 Tuesday, 15 September 2015
10.00 DRWM Panel 3: Involuntary Travellers
Panel 3: Involuntary Travellers Cadair / Chair: Kathryn Jones
Exile meets minority: chevalier La Tocnaye’s "promenades" French travel literature doesn't express much interest in discovering the "other nations" of the
BritishIslesuntilthelastdecadeoftheAncienRégime.Mostearlierexamplesareeithercasesof
“mind travel” (Coulon’s guide from 1654), cases of involuntary travel (La Boullaye le Gouz in
Ireland), or remain exceptional (Jouvin de Rochefort’s 1670 guide). From the 1780ies, linked
partly to the emergence of the Ossian reference, Celtic cultures grow in importance, and the
practiceofthe“tourdestroisroyaumes”becomesfashionable.
The chevelier La Tocnaye belongs, in some respects, to this development, but also holds a
specialplace.Thisyoungaristocrat,desperatetoshakeoff theinactivityof lifeasanexile, turns
his experience into travel, in order to “survive” temporary hardship: survive financially,
intellectually, even physically. Having little money but an almost unlimited amount of time, he
decidestowalkaroundthewholeofBritain;hewilllaterundertakefurtherwalksinNorwayand
Scandinavia.
Duringhiswalks,hegrowsincreasinglycriticaloftheEnglish,andwillsystematicallysidewith
thelocalpopulation; inparticulartheScottish,withwhomhestaysforovertwoyears.Atevery
pointofhistravel,hecreatescounter-narrativestowell-knownEnglishnarrativesoftheterritory
hetravelsthrough.HepositionshimselfagainstJohnsoninScotland;reportscheerfullyaboutthe
“Twiss pots” in Ireland; and uses his travel to Norway to refute fellow traveller Mary
Wollstonecraftateverylevel:facts,writingandunderlyingideology.
This paper investigates whether this act of creating counter-narratives against a dominating
discoursecanbeseenasanactofmodernity.Wealsoinvestigatehis“programoftravel”,which
suggestsonlyexilesareinapositiontotakeontheroleoffacilitatorbetweencultures.
GaborGelleri
AberystwythUniversity
German Prisoners of War in Wales In the limited canon of research on Wales during the Second World War, German POWs as
European travellers to Wales are mentioned, although there is no in depth analysis of their
experience.Althoughtheir‘travels’toWaleswerenotvoluntary,thewritingsandexperiencesof
thesePOWsprovideuswithafreshsetofperspectivesonWales,theWelshandWelshsocietyand
culture.Drawingonarangeofsources,thispaperwillanalysetheexperiencesofGermanPOWsin
Wales during, and after, the Second World War. These sources include memoirs, personal
accounts and oral history interviews. This paper will also explore prisoner attitudes to Wales
whilstoffering aunique perspective of Walesfrom theviewpoint of foreign captives. Thepaper
will seek to ascertain what impressions of Wales were left in the POW’s memories and which
perceptions of an enemy were formed? To what extent did these perceptions change over time
and with the ending of the war? In answering these questions it will be possible to assess the
degreetowhichprocessofintegrationintothelocalcommunitytooplace(andifsohow?)Insum,
this paper will make asignificant contribution to the historiography of European travel writing
andWales.
ArddunArwyn
AberystwythUniversity
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Panel 4a: Western Travellers Cadair / Chair: Carol Tully
Complex Encounters: Irish-language travel writers and the cultural ‘other’ Given that Ireland has never had a dominant position in Europe and was not involved in
leading the imperial expansion that contributed to the production of much international
travel literature from the sixteenth century onwards, it is, perhaps, not surprising that the
evolutionofIrish-languagetravelliteraturehasbeenverydifferenttothatoftravelliterature
in themajorworldlanguagessuchasEnglish,FrenchandSpanish. It isonly inmorerecent
years,forexample,thatIrish-languageliteraturehaswitnessedatransitionfromemigration
literaturetotravelliterature,withIrish-languagewritersnowrecountingjourneystheyhave
undertakenfor leisurepurposes.As aresult, itcouldalsobeanticipated that Irish-language
travelwriterswillengagedifferentlywiththepeoplesandplacesthattheyvisitthanmanyof
thetravellersfrommajorworldpowerswhocamebeforethemastheycouldempathizewith
thepeoplesofothersmallnationsandwiththosewhomayhaveexperiencedsimilarlinguistic
and cultural attrition to themselves. Thus by looking at the works of three Irish-language
travelwriters-ManchánMagan,GabrielRosenstockandCathalÓSearcaigh-thispaperaims
to explore the encounters between Irish-language travel writers and foreign peoples and
places. It will investigate the attempts made by these writers to distance themselves from
cultural, political and economic hegemony of Western powers but it will also highlight the
hugelycomplexpositioningof Irish-languagetravelwriters;notonlyaretheyspeakersof a
minoritised languagewhocomefromacountrythathas itself experiencedcolonization,but
theyarealsorelativelywealthytravellersfromadevelopedcountryinWesternEurope.This
unstable positioning can, therefore, result in encounters that are fraught with ethical
dilemmasforIrish-languagetravelwriters.
Overall, this study of Irish-language travel narratives will illustrate the often ambivalent
positionings of Western travellers who come from ‘minority’ cultures or from minority /
minoritised language backgrounds, who, despite their attempts to detach themselves from
hierarchicalencounters,oftenfinditdifficulttoescapetheasymmetricalpowerrelationsthat
have been entrenched in the encounters between Western travellers and the non-Western
‘other’forcenturies.
EimearKennedy
Queen’sUniversityBelfast
11.00 Coffi/CoffeeBreak
11.30 DRWM
Panel 4a:
Western Travellers
Ystafell y Cyngor / Council Chamber
Panel 4b:
Minorities of the Imaginary
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Highlanders in West Africa In the early nineteenth century, a group of schoolmates from Elgin in Moray staffed thestationatCapeCoastCastleontheGoldCoastofAfrica.TheywereallthesonsofPresbyterianministersandallbutoneweregraduatesofoneofAberdeen’stwouniversitiesandso they,and their fathers, were very much influencedby the teaching of James Beattie, Professor ofMoral Philosophy and Logic at Marischal College. As a proponent of the ScottishEnlightenment,Beattiewas anearlyabolitionistwhoattackedDavidHume’sracist ideologyandinfluencedthethinkingofWilliamWilberforcewhowasjustbeginninghiscareer.
TheElginmenwereobligedtoseekworkoverseasbecauseoftheHighlandClearancesand,becausetheycamefrombeyondtheHighlandline(untilrecentlyatriballandwithchieftainswhosefirstlanguagewasnotEnglish),theycouldrelatetotheindigenouspopulationofWestAfrica. The slave trade had only just been abolished and the merchants on the Gold Coastneededtofindnewexportstoreplacehumantrafficking.ThefathersoftheElginmen,aslocalchurch ministers, each one writing about his own parish, had been involved in puttingtogethertheFirstStatisticalAccountofScotland,asurveyoftheeconomyofScotlandduringandontheeveoftheAgriculturalandIndustrialRevolutions.AsimilarEnlightenmentoutlookinfluencedtheaccountsof theGoldCoast in termsof finding ‘legitimate’ tradegoods. Itwasnotanimperialistland-grab;itwasanattempttoestablishnewBritishtradelinkstoreplacethe transatlantic slave trade. One of the Elgin men, Brodie Cruikshank, secretary of themerchant company, wrote up and published his observations in a travel book entitledEighteen Years on the Gold Coast of Africa,whichisineffectastatisticalaccountofthearea.
JulieWatt
IndependentScholar
Identity? Politics: William Griffith’s African Adventure In 1892 a series of letters appeared in the Carnarvon-based newspaper Y Genedl GymreigwrittenbyamancalledWilliamGriffithtohisbrother.Theydescribetheauthor’stravelsfromKimberleyinSouthAfricatoFortSalisburyinMashonaland(present-dayHarare,Zimbabwe)intheserviceofhisworkasagoldprospectorfortheBritishSouthAfricaCompanyunderthedirectorship of Cecil Rhodes. Griffith’s account must have mustered some interest, asnewspaper advertisements indicate that he was in demand as a speaker, and the collectededitionofhisletterswaspublishedtwice.
ItistemptingtouseaccountssuchasGriffith’stoattempttoidentifyaminority-languagetravel-writing aesthetic, different from the colonialist discourse of most majority-languagetravel writing of the period. It is difficult to accept that a member of a minority culture,presumably having experienced the denigration of his own language and history, mightparticipate in the same action, and tempting to search for clues of a greater acceptance ofminoritycultures,andagreaterunderstandingoftheirplight.InthecaseofWilliamGriffith,suchasearchwouldbeinvain.ThereisnoevidencethatGriffithidentifiedwiththeAfricancultures he encountered. While he has many positive things to say about the individualAfricans he encounters, much of this is familiar rhetoric, aimed at shaming the audience athomeintobetterbehaviourbyshowingupthenaturalgoodhabitsofthenoblesavage,andisfamiliar from majority-language travel writing of the period. This lack of sympathy may bedue to the fact that although Griffith identified as Welsh, there is no indication that heconsideredthistobeaminorityidentity,oranidentityinanywayincompatiblewithhisfullparticipationinthecolonialistactivitiesoftheBritishSouthAfricaCompany.
DianaLuft
CentreforAdvancedWelshandCelticStudies
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Panel 4b: Minorities of the Imaginary: The Culture of Travel Writing across Early Modern Scotland Cadair / Chair: Linus Band-Dijkstra
‘Folk’ celebration? Thomas St. Serfe’s ‘The Prince of Tartaria, his Voyage to
Cowper in Fife’ Iwillbe lookingata little-studiedworkbytheScottishpamphleteerThomasSt.Serfe. ‘The
PrinceofTartaria’detailsthejourneyofafictiveforeignprincethroughRestorationScotland.
St.Serfedirectshisreadershiptowardsautopicversionofpost-RestorationScotlandthatis
based on his royalist beliefs. My paper will enquire into how St. Serfe makes use of
marginalised culture to reinforce the culturalhegemony in the minds ofhis readers. As the
Tartarian prince travels through Scotland, the local folk culture that he encounters and
partakes in is celebrated. However, this folk celebration is ultimately directed towards the
royalistcelebrationthatisthenarrative’sfinalscene.Iwillconsiderthetensionsbetweenthe
officialandtheunofficial,theperipheralandthehegemonicinthistext.St.Serfeimplements
theall-encompassingequalisinglaughteroffolkfestivitytore-establishastable,hierarchized
ScotlandintheimaginationsofSt.Serfe’sreaders.Mypaperwilldrawattentiontohowfolk
culturecanbe(ab)usedasameansofreproducingandreinforcingculturalhegemony.
JessicaReid
UniversityofGlasgow
A Discription, A journey and a Prophecy: Scottophobia in English Literature,
1626-1763 ThispaperwillexaminethreedescriptiveaccountsofScotland,fromthreewriters,spanning
twocenturies,eachemployingdifferentformsthatshowdevelopmentfrompoliticalinvective
to travelogue to poetry: A Discription of Scotland (disputed authorship) (1626), Edward
Ward’s(satirist,1667-1731)A Journey to Scotland(1699)andCharlesChurchill’s(poet,1732-
1764) The Prophecy of Famine: A Scots Pastoral (1763). Though separated by time and form
the texts share similar concerns, themes, ideology and Scottophobia. Themes include
descriptions of populace, topography, agricultural and technological backwardness,
barrenness,disease,culture,food,naturalresources,originsandreligion.
Moreover, the texts belong to specific political moments and comment on and reflect
shifting dynamics in the Anglo-Scottishrelationship. A Discription appears shortly after the
Union of Crowns, A journey is published prior to the Act of Union and during Scotland’s
ultimately disastrous solo colonial project in Darien, while The Prophecy of Famine affords
post-union insight intohow the English, in keeping with the previous texts, perceived their
Scottishpartnersasaminorityculture,butthroughtheadditionalframeworkofthegenerally
unwelcomeinfluxoftheperceivedminoritycultureintoEngland.
ChristopherMcMillan
UniversityofGlasgow
Page 18
White Man Writing: Language of Colonisation in the writings of William
Lithgow (1582-1645) Since Boaventura de Sousa Santos’ seminal work ‘Epistemologies of the South’, the term
‘epistemicide’hasbecomeahammerinthetoolboxofdecolonisationtheory.Thispapertakes
a linguistic approach to de Sousa Santos’s concept and applies it to the writings of William
Lithgow(1582-1645).
Writing at the beginning of the seventeenth century and in Scotland’s awakening to
colonial projects, William Lithgow’s travelogues and poetry provide a unique window into
what Dr Kirsten Sandrock has termed the ‘Scottish colonial imaginary’. Looking at how
Lithgow’srealityisconstruedinmetaphorandimagery,thispaperbeginstopiecetogethera
hermeneuticof this imaginary.Byexamining instanceswhereLithgowdictates/narratesthe
realities of marginalised people, we begin to see a familiar Western epistemology and can
begintopickaparttheparticularcognitiveinjusticeswhichLithgowpedals.
LornaMcBeanUniversityofGlasgow
13.00 Cinio/Lunch
14.00 DRWM
Panel 5a:
Purposeful Travellers
Ystafell y Cyngor / Council Chamber
Panel 5b:
Travellers and Commodities
Panel 5a: Purposeful Travellers Cadair / Chair: Rita Singer
German Scholars in Wales, c.1840–c.1880: Friedrich Carl Meyer ThispaperconsidersagroupofGerman-languagevisitorswhosepreviousconnectionswith
Wales and academic training deeply influenced their travel routes and cultural outputs,
thereby potentially subverting both the image of Wales as romantically ‘Celtic’ and the
perceived centre-periphery relationship between the Celtic countries and the British state.
Reviewing the general characteristics of this groupof travellers, among them historian and
politician Baron Christian von Bunsen, Sanskrit Professor Max Müller and publisher Georg
Saurwein, the analysis focuses on the Celtic scholar and diplomat Friedrich Carl Meyer
(†1885).
HavingwonaninternationalessaycompetitionattheWelsh-founded,but internationally
renowned,AbergavennyEisteddfodin1842,MeyertravelledWalesin1844–5,takingaroute
lessdeterminedbynotionsofthepicturesque,thesublimeorthe‘Celtic’,butbythepeoplehe
wished to visit and the libraries he desired to consult. His continued engagement with the
country’s culture and its place in British politics is apparent from his correspondence with
prominentWelshmenand-women, likeLadyAugustaHall,andthehistoriansThomasPrice
and Thomas Stephens. Appointed ‘German Secretary and Librarian’ to Prince Albert at
Windsor in1847,hecontributedtosubscriptions forcultural institutionsinWales, lectured
ontheWelshlanguageinOxfordandequippedtheroyal librarywithacanonof ‘peripheral’
Celtic literature, thus furthering an appreciation of Welsh culture atthe heart of the British
Empireatatimewhenitwasviewedwithsuspicionbythe(colonial)establishment.
MarionLöffler
CentreforAdvancedWelshandCelticStudies
Page 19
Rambles and Studies of the United States Consul in south Wales ThepurposeforWirtSikes’stimeinWaleswasprofession,notleisure.SikesservedasUnited
StatesconsultoCardifffrom1876to1883,duringwhichtimehefrequentlyenjoyed‘rambles’
throughoutsouthWales.AlreadyanotedwriterintheU.S.,Sikescontinuedhisliterarycareer
alongsidehisdiplomaticone,utilizinghisjauntstocontributearticlesonvariousWelshtopics
to American periodicals. Some of these articles were reprinted for a British readership in
1881 as Rambles and Studies in old south Wales. In the introduction to this work, Sikes
presented himself as correcting American and English ignorance concerning the region.
However,hisworkhadmeaningandmotivationbeyondpoliteethno-geographicalcuriosity.
Throughout his Welsh writing, Sikes was keen to compare Wales to the United States.
Whilethisaroseinpartfromhisownnationalityandadesiretomakehissubjectpalatableto
hisaudience,itwasalsomotivatedbyhisdiplomaticposition.AsconsulinCardiff,Sikeswas
responsibleforreportingonandfosteringAmerican-Welshtradeandsocialrelations,giving
himakeeninterestintheirpromotion.Thiswasheightenedbyhisstatusasconsultoa‘non-
state’nation.HeencouragestraveltoWales,aswellaspraisingofbothWelshandAmerican
goods.Inearlierwritings,Sikeshadfocusedonsocio-economicissues,particularlytheplight
ofimpoverishedwomenandtheevilsofdrink.TheseconcernsappearinhisWelshwritings,
and,particularlywith temperance,heoftenportrayedWalesasanideal.Thus,whileSikes’s
work superficially displays literary conventions which reinforce a view of Wales as
‘peripheral’,takeninwidercontexts,itconstructsWalesasaculturalandeconomic‘centre’,
motivatedbySikes’sprofessionalandsocialinterests.
AdamN.Coward
CentreforAdvancedWelshandCelticStudies
Panel 5b: Travellers and Commodities Cadair / Chair: Mary-Ann Constantine
Yr Ymwelwydd Tymhorol o Lydaw DechreuoddygwerthwyrwinwnsoLydaw,aelwidarlafargwladynSioniWinwns,ymweldâ
Phrydainmorbellynôlag1828.CyrhaeddoddeumasnacheIben-llanwym1931panoeddo
leiaf 1500 yn ymadael ag ardaloedd Rosko aKastell Paol idreulio chwe mis yn gwerthu eu
winwns unigryw ledled Prydain.Yr oedd Cymru yn bwysig yn y stori gan fod canran uchel
ohonyn nhw – o ystyried y boblogaeth – yn dod yma. Mae lle i gredu fod hyn oherwydd y
cysylltiad ieithyddol gyda gweithwyr cyffredin uniaith Lydaweg yn dod wyneb yn wyneb â
Chymry,ynarbenniggwrageddtŷ,oeddfwyneulaiynuniaithGymraeg.
Ni adawsant gorff o lenyddiaeth ar eu holau, heblaw am yr hyn â gofnodwyd mewn
cyfweliadau gyda nhw gan eraill. Ymhlith y cofnodwyr hynny mae Gwyn Griffiths a
ddechreuoddymchwilioi’whanesddiweddy70aupanoeddyfasnachdymhorolyndirwyd
tua’i therfyn. Gwnaeth lawer o’i ymchwil yn Llydaw yn gwrando ar atgofion dynion – a
menywod – oedd bellach wedi ymddeol ar ôl treulio hanner oes yn gwerthu winwns ym
Mhrydain.
DullySionisoedddychwelydi’rundrefneuddinasflwyddynarôlblwyddynaganilawer
ohonyn nhw fod yn ymwelwyr cyson a’n gwlad, rai dros hanner canrif a mwy, daethant i
adnabod eu hardaloedd yn dda a phrofi fod ganddyn nhw wybodaeth arbennig o hanes ac
arferionymannauhynny.HydynoedynachosSionisnafuonterioedyngNghymrugwelwyd
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eu bod yn gwybod llawer am Gymru a wedi dysgu rhywfaint o Gymraeg ymysg Cymry
alltud. Bu’r cyswllt iaith yn fodd i dynnu dwy garfan o’r dosbarth gweithiol at ei
gilydd.Dysgodd JeanLeRouxfu’ngwerthueiwinwnsynLlundaindipynoGymraeggyda’r
gwerthwyrllaethoGeredigion.Bugallu’rSionisigyfathrebu’nrhwyddynyGymraegynfodd
igryfhau’rmythfodyGymraega’rLlydawegbronynunionyrunfath.
GwynGriffiths
IndependentScholar
‘Guidebook Gazes’: Wales Through Dutch, German and French Eyes, 1990-
2010 Despitetheadventofdevolutionin1997,Walesisstilllargely‘invisible’overseas,andisoften
conflated with England or overlooked altogether (Hellegouarc’h-Bryce 2009; Morgan and
Pritchard2005).Guidebooksplayanimportantroleinincreasingthevisibilityofanation,as
they introduce the country to potential visitors and create images prior to travelling.
However,theyalsotendtoreinforcestereotypesandcreate‘romanticfictions’(Mahn2008).
This paper examines the representation of Wales in French, German and Dutch guidebooks
between1990and2010andconsequentlyelucidatestheculturalandpoliticalrecognitionof
Wales in these continental texts. The depiction of Wales as a distinct entity on an
administrative, or rather on a cultural and linguistic level will be discussed, as well as the
commonalitiesanddifferencesbetweentheDutch,FrenchandGermanviews.
By focussing on the guidebooks’ introductorychapters and sections about Welsh culture
and language, the paper investigates the engagement of these guidebooks with Wales as a
devolved ‘minority’. The primary material will consist of well-known series such as Marco
PoloandGuide du Routardaswellaslesser-knownprintedguidebooksinordertoprovidea
broader overview of the used discourse. On the one hand, it will be argued that the guides
increase Wales’s visibility, simply by the fact that the country has become a consumable
object of the ‘tourist gaze’. On the other hand, the guidebooks also present Wales as a
mystified Other. By examining guidebooks before and after devolution, the paper discusses
whetherWales’svisibilityas adistinctnationhas indeed increasedornot. Itwillbeargued
thatalthoughdevolutionwasamilestoneforWalesonbothanationalaswellasinternational
level,theguidebooksdonotnecessarilyreflectthis.
Anna-LouDijkstra
SwanseaUniversity
Immobile travel: The "postcard-literature” in Yugoslavia InThomasFaist’sstudypublishedin2013theculturalsituationoftheHungarianminoritiesis
comparedtothesituationofthemigrantgroups:inbothcaseswecanexaminetransnational
ties.Thisparallelreinterpretstheculturalcharacterizationoftheminorities’identity,andalso
thee/migrantresearches.
E/migration is tightly connected to travelling, however the Hungarian minorities found
themselvesinanotherstate,withoutchangingtheirlocation–becauseofapoliticaldecision.
The lack of travel and the “irregular” travel became the central topics of the literature in
Vojvodina.InmypresentationIwillpresenttheliteraryeffectsofthesedevelopments,andI
willdefineaspeciallocalliterarysolution.
During/afterthefallofYugoslaviathepassportofthenon-existentstatebecameimportant
basicsymbolinthelocalliterature–independentlyofthenationality.Thenewbureaucratic
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regulations basically influenced the possibility of travel. These circumstances established a
paradoxical image in the literature like "the arrival to nowhere" or "trip in one place". In
realitytheescapemeantthetravel.IntheliteratureoftheminoritiesinVojvodinadeveloped
a specific literary historical writer solution. By my definition this is called "postcard-
literature".Thisreferstothecomplementary(andnotonlyillustrative)relationshipbetween
theinformativetextandpicture.Intheseworkspostcardisnotonlyanimportantmotif,but
alsotheplaceofthetravel.Thepersonwhoreceivesthepostcardalsocanstartanimaginary
journey. These passages are a specific realization of the "image and geo narrative". The
followingwriterscanbementioned:VedranaRudan,DubravkaUgrešić,IldikóLovas,Nándor
Gionetc.Thenameofthesolutionrefersnot(only)totheshortnessofthetext:thesepassages
can be examined by interdisciplinary aspects. This solution is in close contact with other
literarygenres,suchasthediary,theautobiographyormemoir.
MelindaSzarvas
UniversityofJyväskylä
15.30 Te/TeaBreak
16.00 DRWM – Prif Ddarlith / Keynote Lecture: Michael Cronin
‘Minority Reports: Travel, Language and the Politics of Microspection’
Chair: Charles Forsdick
19.30 Cinio’rGynhadledd/ConferenceDinner:PierBrasserie
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Dydd Mercher, 16 Medi 2015 Wednesday, 16 September 2015
9.30 Amgueddfa Ceredigion Museum
Arddangosfa‘EwrOlwg:CymrudrwyLygaidYmwelwyroEwrop,1750–2015’
Exhibition‘EuroVisions:WalesthroughtheEyesofEuropeanVisitors,1750–2015’
10.00 Panel 6: Travellers and Material Culture
Panel 6: Travellers and Material Culture Cadair / Chair: Heather Williams
Welsh Language and Bilingual Provision in Tourism in Wales Culture, including language, is a key differentiator between tourism destinations and thus
potentiallyanimportantassetindestinationmarketingandcreatinga‘senseofplace’.
While some visitors choose a destination primarily for its physical facilities, increasingly
touristswishtoexperienceaspectsoflocalculture(e.g.localfood,localtraditions)andmost
visitorsundertakesomeformof‘cultural’activity(e.g.attendingafestivalorvisitingacastle)
evenifthisisincidentalratherthantheirprimaryreasonforvisitingadestination.Research
suggestsapositiveshiftinattitudetowardslocalcultures(andlanguages),whichformpartof
theessentialmake-upofatraveldestination.
However, visitors may encounter difficulty in engaging with local culture for a range of
reasons,including:
Relativeinvisibilityoflocalculturesduetohistoricpoliticalhegemony Mediationoftheminoritycultureviaamajoritylanguageandworld-view Atendencyamongsometourismbusinessestothistypeofprovisionasunnecessaryand
anadditionalcost A lack of opportunities for visitors to engage meaningfully with the local culture and
languageIn the context of the Welsh Government’s strategy for a bilingual Wales, Visit Wales is
seekingtoactivelypromoteandencouragetheuseofWelshandbilingualisminthetourism
industryaswellasutilisingtheWelshlanguageinitsownmarketingcommunications. This
paperconsiderssomeoftheimplicationsandpracticalitiesofthisprovision. Withreference
to various theoretical perspectives and in the light of the experience of other bilingual
destinations,theissuesandthemesexploredinclude:
Thenatureandgrowthofculturaltourism Linguisticfunctionanddomainsofuse Industryanddestinationmarketingperspectives Skillsneeds Consumerperceptions,demandandbarriers Accessibilityofculture Consumerisation,commodificationandauthenticity
RobertLewis
TourismResearch,WelshGovernment
Page 23
Difference and Decorum: Addressing Dress in Published Travelogues Costume (as an aspect of manners and customs) was a feature that many eighteenth and
nineteenth-centuryvisitorstoWalesfeltduty-boundtocommentupon. Thedresshistorian
expects to find publishedtravelogues a mineof information, but instead they prove to be a
minefield, full of ‘false inferences and misstated facts’ (as Mary Morgan pointed out in her
account published in 1795). Recent writers have tended to steer clear of the subject of
clothingintheirdiscussionsofWelshtourism.InthispaperIwishtofocussquarelyonthe
issue of when, how and why dress is (or is not) mentioned in travelogues [c1780-1880].
Throughdefiningtermsandconceptsspecifictoclothingitishopedthatmodernreaderswill
gain deeper insights into the forms, functions and complex value systems that clothing
embodiedfortheoriginalwritersandreadersoftravelogues.Ideasofdecorum–relatingto
dressworninlife,andideasofliterarydecorum,relatingtowhenandwhydetailsofdressare
recordedintravelogues,areakeyaspectofthispaper.
Dress was often seen as a marker of difference – embodying distinctions in class and
gender, as well as national and regional identities. For many travellers what to wear - and
whatnottowear-wasasourceofanxiety.Asthenewbreedofpedestriantouristemerged,
whattocarry,andhowtocarryone’sself,becameasourceofinterestandamusementasnew
forms of clothing had to be adopted or adapted to suit the unforgiving Welsh climate and
terrain. Distinctions between dress and drapery, fashionable and folk dress, clothing and
‘costume’ will be discussed with a view to identifying avenues of further enquiry in this
expandingfieldofstudy.
JacquiAnsell
Christie'sEducation
11.00 DychwelydiLyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru/ReturntotheNational Library of
Wales
12.00 DRWM
Panel 7: Curious Travellers
Panel 7: Curious Travellers Cadair / Chair: Dafydd Johnston
‘[B]leak and desolate as anything I have seen in Scotland’: Mary Brunton on
the home tour Presenting some early findings from the ‘Curious Travellers’ research project, this paper
introduces Mary Brunton’s posthumously-published 1815 tour of England and Wales.
Brunton(1778-1818),anovelist,was fromtheOrkneyIslands,moving toEdinburghonher
marriagein1798.ShekeptthehorizonsofherScottishhomelandverymuchinviewasshe
travelled through England and Wales in 1815, using Scotland as a gauge against which to
measurethenewpeople,industries,andlandscapessheencounteredonhertour.Brunton’s
transperipheralperspectiveonthedomestictourisacentralfeatureofthistext,butit’salso
just one element of the 1815 tour’s layered and miscellaneous intellectual landscape. This
papersuggeststhatthreemajor,interconnectedthemesflowthroughthistext.First,thetour
is a space for empirical observation and the construction of knowledge (as for example in
Brunton’s descriptions of porcelain manufacturing in the Midlands). Second, it’s a space for
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aesthetic, social, and political critique, often framed in comparative terms: the virtues of
Tintern Abbey versus Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire; the relative poverties of Welsh and
Englishcottagers;theparallelproperties,physicalandmoral,ofLlangollenandtheScottish
Highlands. Finally, it’s a record of the imagination on the move, creatively braiding
topographicalreportage,ethnographicandeconomicprofiling,scientificcuriosity,andmoral
or ideological reflection by means of a highly literary register perhaps not surprising given
Brunton’scareerasanovelist.
ElizabethEdwards
CentreforAdvancedWelshandCelticStudies
‘To find out all its beauties, a man must travel on foot’: Catherine Hutton’s
explorations of Wales CatherineHutton(1756-1846)wasaBirmingham-basednovelistandprolificletter-writer,a
friend (and fellow Unitarian) of Joseph Priestley, and the daughter of Birmingham’s ‘first
historian’, the bookseller William Hutton. She was also a keen traveller within the British
Isles, and recorded her tours in letters and narratives, some published in journals like the
Monthly Magazine,otherswovenintotheplotsofhernovels.Sheisasharpobserverofsocial
conditions, and a witty commentator on the foibles of those she encounters; the fact that
(unlike many coach-bound lady tourists of her time) she was often prepared to ride on
horseback or even walk gives her accounts considerable vigour. With her father, Catherine
Hutton visited Wales several times, first in 1787 and then in the period 1796-1800: the
respective accounts of their experiences (different genders, different generations) make
interestingcomparativereading,andformthebasisofthispaper.ButtheHuttons’responses
totheWelshlandscape,languageandpeople,willalsobesituatedbothintheveryparticular
touristrelationshipthatdevelopsinthisperiodbetweentheMidlandsandWales,aswellasin
the broader context of the domestic tour’s ‘rediscovery’ of the non-English-speaking
peripheries, and the implications this has for writing the history, or histories, of different
partsofBritain.
Mary-AnnConstantine
CentreforAdvancedWelshandCelticStudies
13.00 Casgliadau / Closing Remarks
Page 25
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