Mr Martin Wright
Academic History
BA (Hons), Wales, 1987
M Phil, Wales, 1992
PHD Research
Working Title: Wales and Socialism, 1880-1914: Political Culture and National Identity
The period from 1880 – 1914 witnessed the emergence of the modern labour and socialist movement in Britain. There has been a great deal of work examining this phenomenon at a British level, and a considerable amount of research into the development of socialist and labour organisations on a regional level. Treatment of the relationship between socialist activists and the different national identities within the British Isles has, however, been largely neglected. This project examines the ways in which socialists dealt with the issue of Welsh national identity in the period before the Great War. Ultimately, the labour and socialist movement in Britain developed as a national force at a U.K. level. In the period before the Great War, however, socialists attempted to negotiate the cultural, ideological, structural and linguistic ramifications of attempting to build a movement on a set of islands which were home to a number of different national identities. This project examines the way in which this process evolved in Wales, and in so doing it aims to illuminate a previously neglected aspect of our cultural and political history.
Start date: 2007
First supervisor: Dr. Bill Jones
Second supervisor: Prof. Greg Benton
Publications
Paul Ward and Martin Wright, ‘Mirrors of Wales – Life Story as National Metaphor: Case Studies of R.J. Derfel (1824-1905) and Huw T. Edwards (1892-1970)’, History, Volume 95, Issue 317, January 2010, pp. 45-63.
Additional Information
Martin’s research is supported by Mantais, an initiative to increase the number of Welsh medium teachers in Higher Education. In addition to his research Martin teaches on the part one module Modern Wales. From the Autumn of 2010 he will be contributing modules on Socialism, Society and Politics in Britain, and on Labour and Socialism in modern Wales.
Martin has presented on aspects of his research at various conferences, including the North American Association for the Study of Welsh Culture and History.