Culture, Society and Identity in Wales 1847-1914 - 30 credits (HS1865)
Module Tutor: Bill Jones
This course examines the growth of national awareness and the reformulation of notions of Welsh national identity during the years between 1847 and 1914 under the impact of profound economic, demographic, political, social and cultural changes. These themes will be illustrated by exploration, first, of the influence of nonconformity and the construct of the 'nonconformist nation', the ascendancy of the Liberal party, the ideology of the 'Gwerin', the defining of new notions of Welshness associated with some popular cultural forms like rugby and choral singing. Second, the course will explore the extent to which such developments were inclusive from a class and gender perspective, and third, challenges to traditional and newly-defined notions of Welshness posed by the rise of labour, the decline of the Welsh language, and certain aspects of popular culture.
Preliminary Reading for this module:
Russell Davies, Secret Sins: Sex Violence and Society in Carmarthenshire 1870–1914 (1996)
Trevor Herbert and Gareth Elwyn Jones ed., Wales: 1880–1914 (1988)
Angela V. John, Our Mother's Land: Chapters in Welsh Women's History 1830–1939 (1991)
Geraint H Jenkins, Language and Community in Nineteenth Century Wales (1998)
Kenneth O. Morgan, Rebirth of a Nation: Wales, 1880-1980 (1981)
Dai Smith, A Question for History (1999)