Proceedings of the Arts and Humanities
Postgraduate Conference
Volume 6, Summer Issue, 2015
The Self and the Other
Swansea University Research Institute for Arts and Humanities and
Development and Training Services @ APECS.
Proceedings of the Arts and Humanities Postgraduate Conference
Swansea University
Volume 6, Summer 2015: The Self and the Other
Edited by Jed Chandler, Sadiq Altamimi Almaged, Nicholas Mataya,
Géraldine Smits and Laura May Webb
ISSN 2044-2475
i
Introduction
It gives me great pleasure to introduce the sixth edition of our researchers’ journal,
which this year comprises a selection of papers presented at our annual conference on 10th
October 2014, The Self and The Other. Our contributors have approached this theme from a
variety of perspectives which reflect the range of academic disciplines represented as well
as the diversity of human constructs of identity and alterity.
The first four papers examine the processes of literary alienation. The first of these,
Kathy Chamberlain’s study of the representation of disability, examines the moral
contamination which is associated with physical disability or deformity in a range of
mediums from Shakespeare’s Richard III to the musical Wicked!’s Nessarose. Chamberlain’s
article raises troubling questions. There are disabled characters, but are there also
characters who happen to have a disability? It seems not: the disability is there for a
reason, specifically to cue a particular response from the reader or viewer and to represent
the Other.
Shareena Hamzah also analyses the processes of demonisation of the Other in
‘Monstrous Bodies and Desire’. Her discussion focuses on Jeanette Winterson’s The Daylight
Gate’, a novel based on the 1612 Pendle witch trials, where two men and eight women were
hanged. She focuses on the fabrication of the monstrous as a projection of desire and
fantasy onto the social outcast.
The Other, she argues, is the unacknowledged self,
externalised, anathematised and condemned as iniquitous.
Géraldine Smits’ contribution also examines the manipulation of cultural
associations by an author to guide her readers through a narrative. In ‘Revisiting the Grimm
Brothers: Skewing Archetypes and Stereotypes in Fairytales’, Smits describes the strategy by
which she incorporates the familiar fairy tale plots and architecture of archetypes such as
hero, beautiful maiden, wolf and beast into a new work.
Drawing on six of the Grimms’
fairy tales, Smits’ creation promises to be at once original and familiar, as is evidenced by an
intriguing extract from her work.
The next paper, ‘The Representation of Poverty in British Politics’, returns to the
theme of creating an abjected, demonised other through linguistic manipulation, this time
ii
from the perspective of detailed discourse analysis. Sadiq Almaged analyses the language
used by British politicians to refer to the poor, and the ways in which implications of
criminality and disease are embedded into their references. Political discourse, it would
seem, is actively engaged in the lexical fashioning of a marginalised ‘outgroup’ as a
potentially dangerous constituent on the periphery of society
Our next paper again also takes as its focus the portrayal of an identified group in
the media. Benjamin Jones examines the ways in which ‘Welsh English’ has been used to
characterise and distinguish its users with particular reference to their representation in
fantasy, science fiction and videogaming. Welsh people have a long history of exploitation
as ready literary stereotypes, at least since the twelfth century, and by the sixteenth century
were a stock motif for the clown or comedian. There is also something of the other
inherent in the Welsh, it would seem, an association which Tolkien took advantage of in his
representation of the Elves and their language in The Lord of the Rings. Jones’ analysis of the
new representations of Welsh English speakers demonstrates the continuing evolution of
the appropriation of the Welsh English dialect to connote an Other, variant identity.
But how do Welsh people see themselves? Sophie Williams’ scholarly analysis of
‘[t]he ‘Self’ and the ‘Other’ in Welsh and Basque National Identity’ reveals the complexity of
national identity in a ‘stateless nation’ which lacks sovereign status and fully independent
state structures. Is a person Welsh and British or Welsh or British? And if a person has dual
identity, is this a stable or labile identification? And how do they know what nationality
they are? Nationality is perhaps both a formative and an elective process in a stateless
nation: people’s identifications are shaped by the national identity others ascribe to them
and by the nationality they feel themselves to be and choose to identify with. There is
overlap, ambivalence and sometimes conflict between a person’s national identities, as
Williams’ respondents identify.
The ‘others’ in Laura Webb’s study, ‘The Sins of the Father(land): Redefining
Postmemory in Contemporary Argentine Narrative’, have surely suffered the most absolute
alienation from their histories and their identities conceivable. They are the children of the
victims, the slaughtered and the ‘disappeared’ of the last Argentine dictatorship. How can
a generation divorced from their identity re-establish their collective and individual
subjectivity, and how might they relate a history from which they are excluded? Webb
iii
examines the testimonio narratives: accounts which create a holistic truth from patchwork
of sources and a selfhood from a generational dislocation of identity.
It is rumoured that University students watch a lot of television. Masoud Amer’s
study of ‘[t]he Societal Impact of Satellite Television Watching on Libyan Undergraduate
Students’ would certainly appear to corroborate that hypothesis. His study investigates the
viewing habits of a sample of Libyan students, and raises salient issues about the potential
effects of their viewing choices. The overwhelmingly Western – particularly the American provenance and the cultural orientation of the programmes they view is perhaps more
surprise, and more of a concern. To what extent does the global infusion of Western media
etiolate other cultures’ values and self-perception? Does a mismatch between the ideals of
the ‘American dream’ and those of a different ideology give rise to alienation or frustration
among its recipients? And, above all, is the domination of Western media a form of cultural
domination? These are the questions Amer’s research investigates in this paper, and the
conclusions are indeed troubling.
Nicholas Mataya’s paper introduces a refreshingly irenic element into the discourse
of self and other in his discussion of the ‘Strange Case of’ Eugippius of Noricum’s Eugippii
Commemoratorium Vitae Sancti Severini, a memorial of the life of Saint Severinus.
Eugippius (c. 410–482 CE) was writing at a time when Christianity was riven by dispute
about the question of the existence of a holy trinity and identity of Christ. Two parties, the
Nicene and Arian adherents, were in bitter conflict. Nicene orthodoxy demonised the
Arians, and Eugippius was of the Nicene party. There would seem to be all the makings of an
irreconcilable difference of views. However, for Severenus - as Eugippius represents him - it
would appear that virtue does not necessarily sort with religious partisanship.
This
interesting study of tolerance and collaboration across a religious divide speaks cogently to
our age of interfaith tensions.
Shadhan Rogani’s article focuses on an issue of particular interest to people living in
a multicultural and multilingual society: how well can people communicate with each
other? In her work, she addresses the problem of measuring a person’s productive
knowledge of a language. A good test of productive knowledge evaluates not what you
know about a language, or words you can recognise, but words which you have at your
command, ready to communicate with.
The difference between ‘knowing’ and
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communicating in a language can be profound: a student can pass an English language
exam and have relatively poor communicative skills in that language. The objective of
Roghani’s research is to produce a feasible, reliable and valid test to generate accurate and
meaningful results.
The final article in this year’s proceedings, by Shan Morgain, explores three aspects
of the othering of Charlotte Guest: on ethnic, economic and gender grounds. To do so, the
article focuses on the Mabinogi, the first prose tales extant in Britain and firstly published in
their entirety between1838-1849 by Charlotte Guest. Morgain’s works shows Guest’s
marked fidelity to Welsh traditions, arguing that it has received insufficient public credit to
date. The article also outlines the economic tensions in Welsh labour generating funds for
Guest – ‘as the wife of a leading ironmaster – for her project, especially in comparison to the
voluntary support for her precursor William Pughe. Finally, Morgain’s article argues that
literary epithets used to describe Guest, such as ‘charm’, ‘beauties’, ‘ad usum filioli’ and
‘bowdlerisation’, can be viewed as gendered hostility towards her. The analysis reveals the
complex ambivalence that Guest embodied as a formidable achiever, yet dutiful Victorian
wife and mother.
Jed Chandler
v
Contents
From Hyde to Hook: Disability and Villainy in Popular Culture
Monstrous Bodies and Desire in Jeanette Winterson’s The
Daylight Gate
Kathy Chamberlain
1
Shareena Hamzah
8
Revisiting the Grimm Brothers: Skewing Archetypes and
Stereotypes in Fairytales
Géraldine Smits
20
The Representation of Poverty in British Politics
Sadiq Altamimi
Almaged
26
Benjamin A. Jones
40
Sophie Williams
56
Use of Language Variety as a Tool to Characterise, Stereotype
and Depict Otherness: a Brief Investigation of Welsh English in
Recent Fantasy and Sci-fi Videogame Texts.
The ‘Self’ and the ‘Other’ in Welsh and Basque National
Identity
The Sins of the Father(land): Redefining Postmemory in
Contemporary Argentine Narrative
The Extent of Nicene Orthodox Hostility to Arianism in the
Balkans: The Strange Case of Eugippius’ Commemoratorium
Constructing a New Category Generation Task to Measure
Learners' Productive Vocabulary Size
The Societal Impact of Satellite Television Watching on Libyan
Undergraduate Students
Othering a Guest: Ethnic, Economic and Gendered
Complexities of a Giant Lady
74
Laura May Webb
Nicholas Mataya
82
Shadhan Roghani
89
Masoud A. M. Amer
104
Shan Morgain
121
1
From Hyde to Hook: Disability and Villainy in Popular Culture
Kathy Chamberlain
Swansea University: Department of English Language and Literature
Abstract
This paper will investigate the fascination with disability and villainy present in numerous
characters found in popular culture. The evil, disabled individual is a long-standing trope across
entertainment mediums, from Treasure Island’s Long John Silver to the musical Wicked!’s
Nessarose.
The stereotype inspires a chicken or egg/cause and effect debate concerning which comes first
– impairment or immorality. In characters like J. M. Barrie’s Captain Hook this is particularly
ambiguous, as he is already a violent pirate when he loses his hand. However, in others the link
between bitterness and vengeful action is evident. The impact of disability always manifests
somehow, even without vengeance, as it does in the film Unbreakable when Elijah Price’s
obsession with finding his opposite fuels him to orchestrate several fatal accidents.
Other depictions of characters with disabilities will be considered and alongside these the
question of why disabled characters can never simply be characters. With very few exceptions,
they are resigned to roles as the bitter bringers of doom or vulnerable Tiny Tims. Their
disabilities must always starkly define them. The perceived ‘otherness’ of disability is keenly felt
in these two-dimensional portrayals, with ignorance a possible factor.
Through examination of disabled characters from film, television, theatre and literature, this
paper will seek to posit an answer to explain the interest in and prevalence of the damaged
disabled person across these mediums.
From Hyde to Hook: Disability and Villainy in Popular Culture
This paper will discuss the link between disability and villainy in popular culture, spanning
several centuries. I will consider fictional characters in various mediums, from the long-standing TV
trope of the Evil Cripple to Victorian literature. I will consider depictions of these evil disabled
characters and what these might tell us about societal perceptions of disability – and indeed if these
have changed over time.
For the purpose of the discussion, I feel it is important to establish a basic definition of
disability. Oxford Dictionaries defines disability as: ‘A physical or mental condition that limits a
person’s movements, senses, or activities’ and ‘A disadvantage or handicap, especially one imposed
or recognized by the law’.1 Modern definitions sometimes have disability encompass deformity. This
1
‘Disability.’ Oxford Dictionaries. <http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/disability> [Accessed 7
Oct. 2014.
2
is important when considering some of our characters, such as Mr. Hyde in The Strange Case of Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.2 Physical deformity does not necessitate disability, but there is a strong link
between the two and therefore attitudes towards one can be telling of attitudes towards the other.
I would now like to look at characters. Popular culture is saturated with disabled characters,
many of them easily recognisable to most consumers. The wide range can be made apparent even
by listing a few: from Shakespeare’s Richard III, to Mr. Hyde, to Captain Hook, Doctor Who’s Davros
and the musical Wicked!’s Nessarose.
Where better to begin than in the sixteenth century, with Shakespeare? Richard III 3 is a key
text for finding representation of disability in a theatrical context. Katherine Williams writes that:
Richard foregrounds his deformed figure in ways that advance his political power, appealing to
bodily deformity and the impotence he claims it entails to obscure his shrewd political
maneuvers. Understanding the powerful ends to which Richard uses his disability allows us to
think about disabled identity in the Renaissance as a complex negotiation of discourses of
4
deformity and monstrosity.
She also notes that ‘critics read Richard's relation to his body through the lens of a premodern notion of disability that construes bodily deformity as the visible sign of moral evil.’5
Richard III is thus relevant to our topic in two key ways: he demonstrates a relationship in
popular consciousness between physicality and morality and he exemplifies not quite the Evil
Cripple, but certainly a manipulative one, utilising the ignorance most possess of his realities to
scheme unnoticed.
Another slippery character is that of Mr. Hyde in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Those who encounter him cannot even offer a decent description of him. The character of Enfield
recalls: ‘I never saw a man I so disliked, and yet I scarce know why. He must be deformed
somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of deformity, although I couldn’t specify the point.’6
In this description, physical deformity and moral evil are impossible to distinguish from one
another. There is something so unabashedly disturbing about Hyde that despite not remembering
any actual deformity, Enfield decides that he ‘must be’ deformed because of the feeling Hyde instills
in him. This suggests that, three hundred years after Richard III, physicality and personality remain
2
J.M Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Tales of Terror (London: Penguin Books, 2003).
W. Shakespeare, Richard III, ed. by J. Jowett, (Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2008).
4
Katherine Schaap Williams, ‘Enabling Richard: The Rhetoric of Disability in Richard III’, Disability Studies Quarterly,
29, 4 (2009), <http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/997/1181> [Accessed 7 Oct. 2014].
5
Ibid.
6
Stevenson, p. 10.
3
3
inextricably linked in some minds. Sociological and psychological theory of the day (the novella was
published in 1886) could shed some light on Robert Louis Stevenson’s depiction of the character.
A Freudian interpretation of Jekyll and Hyde might split the two personalities into different
components of personality itself – Hyde representing the id, or instinctual drives. In other words,
base, primitive desires. Hyde’s violent nature and his brief – although increasingly frequent –
appearances could be seen as the result of traditional Victorian repression on Jekyll’s part. He is
completely void of morality and the implied physical deformity marks him out thus for the world to
see. He is developmentally stunted, inside and out.
Turning away from more adult issues, a look at children’s literature at the turn of the
twentieth century provides the colourful character of Captain Hook,7 who in contrast to Hyde, does
not appear evil because of his disability - his missing hand. For the most part he seems to get on with
daily pirateering life, which he had been doing long before gaining his hook. Pursued by the hungry
crocodile that maimed him, he is forever warned of its presence by the ticking clock in its stomach.
This is more of a comedic device than a statement on disability, particularly since Hook would be a
man of poor character regardless.
Yet character and disability are regularly twinned, inspiring a chicken or egg type argument
over which comes first: impairment or immorality? Disabled characters are frequently driven by
their injuries to commit evil acts. In the film Unbreakable,8 (released in 2000), the character Elijah
Price orchestrates multiple fatal disasters, all as part of his quest to find the man who cannot be
injured. Born with osteogenesis imperfecta, he is so vulnerable to broken bones that growing up the
other children nicknamed him Mr. Glass. Obsessed with comic books, he decides that because he
cannot be the hero his destiny is to be a supervillain. He also decides that his opposite – an
invulnerable person – must exist. Thus he engineers disasters in order to discover this person,
believing these to be necessary evils in order to satisfy his need to be right.
Travelling back to the 1970s, Doctor Who’ s 9 Davros is a scientist and wheelchair user. There
is no clear link between his disability and his creating the Daleks, but one could tentatively surmise
that the former reinforced his survival instincts because he despised his own vulnerability; he would
later wipe out all perceived ‘weak’ emotions when perfecting the Daleks, perhaps projecting his own
desire for strength on to them.
7
J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan (New York: Random House for Young Readers. 2011).
Unbreakable, written and dir. by M. Night Shyamalan (Touchstone Pictures, 2000).
9
Doctor Who (London: BBC, 1963-1989) Television.
8
4
Arguably, the production of the Daleks could also be a result of Davros’ ego and intellectual
goals. In a 2008 episode, having completed another genetic programming experiment, he crows:
‘Imagine, a single, simple Dalek succeeding where Emperors and Time Lords had failed. […] Each of
them grown from a cell of my own body. New Daleks. True Daleks. I have my children Doctor.’10
Davros is undeniably evil and disabled, but the reasons for his immorality remain debatable.
As noted by Elijah Price, comic book origin stories feature individuals suffering impairments
and transforming into supervillains as a result of consequences from the impact disability has on
their lives. Batman stories offer examples such as Harvey Dent, the promising lawyer disfigured by
an acid attack that leaves half of his face scarred. This begins his transformation into the villain Two
Face, a mentally unstable character who decides the fate of his targets with a coin toss. In fact he
comes to make all of his decisions this way, echoing his loss of free will in becoming a victim. Two
Face is obsessed with duality and the character was inspired by Jekyll and Hyde.
It has been theorised that his insanity manifests as multiple personality disorder and
ultimately this is his impairment, not his physical scars. He is a volatile character. Although
psychological effects of disfigurement are often apparent, which we will shortly see in another
unpredictable character, Two Face’s obvious mental illness renders him an almost tragic villain. His
vulnerability is not amusing, does not mark him out as pathetic, but rather creeps into our psyches,
grasping for sympathy.
There are several Spiderman villains pushed to dark deeds by injury. Peter Parker’s
association with radical scientific advancements provides ample opportunity for accidental (or
deliberate) exposure to mysterious serums that alter genetic make-up and turn men into superstrong lizards – and halfway back again.
Above I have discussed instances of disability being combined with the supernormal. It is at
times regarded as more keenly abnormal. Disability can prompt curiosity and in this climate we can
find characters viewed more as spectacles than people. In the 1980 film The Elephant Man11, John
Merrick is discovered in a Victorian freak show. Throughout the film Merrick is observed with
curiosity but also sympathy. He does not become a villain, withstanding taunts and attacks to retain
his humanity, which he emphasises with his cries for mercy: ‘I am not an elephant! I am not an
animal! I am a human being!’
10
11
R. T. Davies, ‘The Stolen Earth’, Doctor Who.
The Elephant Man, dir. by D. Lynch (Brooksfilms, 1980).
5
Also no stranger to freak shows, making his living in them at times, is Gaston Leroux’s Erik –
or the phantom of the opera.12 Born with a deformed, skull-like head, he is shown no love from his
mother and faces discrimination from birth. He seduces Christine, a young soprano, with his
beautiful singing voice, but horrifies her when she unmasks him. When she tries to leave he
threatens to harm her love interest. It is only after she kisses him that he finds his humanity and lets
her go, informing her he has never been kissed before. Erik is the villain of the story but clearly not
evil, redeeming himself near its end.
It is important to stress that there are a plethora of characters with disabilities who are not
evil. There is the occasional strong, lead character – such as Ironside.13 The original television series
aired between 1967 and 1975 and featured Ironside as a crime-solving paraplegic. Focusing more on
intellect than athleticism, the series was arguably a positive step in directing attention on the
abilities of disabled individuals, despite the role being played by an actor without mobility problems.
The 2013 remake14 caused controversy for this reason. It was cancelled after only a few shows aired,
pointing us to the worrying question of whether there is a market for leading disabled characters
living and coping well with their impairments.
There seems to be much sympathy to be found for some characters, in heart warming
dramas where they suffer an injury then learn to enjoy their lives again or in stories in which they
are resigned to being objects of pity – Tiny Tims. In A Christmas Carol,15 Tiny Tim elicits sympathy not
only from the reader but from Ebenezer Scrooge, the central character and the meanest man in
town. Thus Tim performs a function, but otherwise has no character of his own.
Whichever way you examine it, disabled characters are never just characters. The disability
is always a device or the reason behind a dramatic plot, or comes in to play with backstory.
Characters never walk on to the screen with a cane and live their lives without mention of it. Their
afflictions are damaging plot-changers or excuses to explore other issues, always gimmicks and
never simply basic realities. The disabled character – a term I hate to use – is always made to seem
very other through this unique aspect of their life. Although I hate to use the term, I have repeatedly
done so throughout this paper. I feel it impossible to highlight the plight of characters with
disabilities without doing so as this is the label they are given and therefore the term makes the
most sense when attempting to identify characters living with various ailments – which are not
12
G. Leroux, The Phantom of the Opera (London: Penguin Books, 1995).
Ironside (NBC. Los Angeles, 1967-1975). Television
14
Ibid.
15
C. Dickens, A Christmas Carol (New York: Global Classics, 2014)
13
6
always impairments and, even when they are, obviously do not render the individual one hundred
percent disabled.
As discussed, there are numerous stereotypes about characters with disabilities, or ‘disabled
characters’. I do not wish to replace disability stereotypes with the stereotype of the ignorant
writer. Writers use their own pain and experience when creating their characters and this cannot be
discarded. Indeed there are many authors with disabilities. Kaite O’Reilly champions their
importance, writing:
Since Aristotle, characters with disabilities have appeared in western drama and impairment has
long been used in fiction as a metaphor for mortality, evil, pity – the human condition. However,
few of the writers have been disabled themselves, and although I don't believe you have to
experience something in order to write about it (I'm a female playwright who writes male
characters), a selection that favours books written by non-disabled writers misses far too
16
much.
Drawing to a conclusion, I would like to ask: are disability and villainy linked today in the
same ways they were in Shakespeare’s time? And if so, what does that say about society? I think we
are moving away from two-dimensional depictions of disfigured, disabled villains. However, I believe
the disabled character remains for the most part a stock character, not a rounded individual.
Characters with disabilities are largely devices to create inspirational or action-packed plotlines.
Having spent time trying to think of a fully developed character with a disability, I eventually had to
settle on Dr. Gregory House – from the TV show House17. Impatient and abrasive, characters who
have known him from before he became disabled do inform the viewer throughout several series
that House has always been that way, it is not merely a result of his injury. House was also abused by
his father, which had a significant impact on his character development.
Of course, not all impairments are as dramatic as House’s muscle death. Disabilities are a lot
more common than you might expect if you look to popular culture to inform you. Disabled people
are consistently underrepresented across all mediums, which begs the question: why is this? Are
disabled characters hidden away like dirty secrets, or is there a less sinister explanation? Are nondisabled people too afraid to consider their own mortality? Or are disabled characters simply not
sexy enough for the modern popular culture consumer? Are they only desired as predictable bad
guys? There are no conclusive answers, but hopefully this paper has provoked in the reader some
thoughts about these issues.
16
K. O’Reilly, ‘Left out: the authors who know disability from inside’, The Guardian,
<http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/jul/11/authors-disability-personal-experience>. [Accessed 07
Oct. 2015].
17
House, (Los Angeles: Fox, 2004-2012) Television.
7
Works Cited
Print
Barrie, J.M. Peter Pan (New York: Random House for Young Readers, 2011)
Dickens, C., A Christmas Carol, (New York: Global Classics. 2014)
Leroux, G., The Phantom of the Opera, (London: Penguin Books, 1995)
Shakespeare, William, Richard III, ed. by J. Jowett, (Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2008).
Stevenson, J.M, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Tales of Terror (London:
Penguin Books, 2003)
Online
‘Disability.’ Oxford Dictionaries, <http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/disability>
[Accessed 7 Oct. 2014]
O’Reilly, K., ‘Left out: the authors who know disability from inside’, The Guardian,
<http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/jul/11/authors-disability-personalexperience> [Accessed 07 Oct. 2015]
Schaap Williams, K.,Enabling Richard: The Rhetoric of Disability in Richard III. Disability Studies
Quarterly, 29, 4 (2009), <http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/997/1181> [ Accessed 7 Oct. 2014}
Film
Davies, R. T. Doctor Who: The Stolen Earth, dir. by. G. Harper (BBC. 28 June 2008). Television
Doctor Who (London: BBC, 1963-1989).Television
House (Los Angeles: Fox, 2004-2012).Television
Ironside (NBC. Los Angeles,1967-1975). Television
Ironside (NBC. Los Angeles, 2013-2014). Television
Unbreakable, written and dir. by M. Night Shyamalan (Touchstone Pictures, 2000)
8
Monstrous Bodies and Desire in Jeanette Winterson’s The Daylight Gate
Shareena Hamzah
Swansea University: Department of English Language and Literature
Abstract
This paper focuses on how bodies and desire are connected to notions of the monstrous in
Jeanette Winterson’s novel The Daylight Gate. Her work in general deals with the theme of
fluid sexualities, reconceptualising psychic, physical, biological, cultural and social norms in a
dissident sense. Set in untamed Lancashire, The Daylight Gate is a fictionalisation of the Pendle
witch trial of 1612. It explores the religious background of the time and seeks to show how
th
witchcraft thrived in the 17 century. The theoretical concepts of the queer the monstrous are
employed in this study. The theoretical formulations on sexuality, bodies and desire by Mary
Ruso, Rosi Braidotti, Margrit Shildrick, and Judith Butler are the central tools used in this
paper’s analysis of the novel. This paper argues that these theorists contribute to the
negotiation and reconstruction of the bodies and desire which are linked to the monstrous.
Through the physical, psychological, emotional and cultural monstrous, this paper illustrates
the construction and conceptualisation of the self and the others as uncivilised, disgusting and
mysterious. It draws out how bodies are constructed as monstrous and how this relates to
desire, humiliation and mystery through the representations of self and others. Finally, by
applying the theoretical concepts of the monstrous through the image of various queer bodies
in the novel, it demonstrates that what is different is coded as monstrous and abnormal, a
concept that challenges the conventional meaning of monster. This in turn, relates to the
bodies and desire – self/others and horror/fascination.
KEYWORDS: Jeanette Winterson, Sexuality, Bodies and Desire, Monstrosity and the Monstrous,
Self and Others, Queer Theory
Introduction
Strong texts work along the borders of our minds and alter what already exists. They could not
18
do this if they merely reflected what already exists.
Jeanette Winterson is an award-winning, contemporary British writer, who is an influential
figure in English-language literature. She manages with great literary style to include numerous
branches of philosophy, concepts of spirituality, and deep intellectual issues in a way that connects
strongly with the average reader. Although she writes in numerous genres, her books regularly
revisit themes of love, history, desire, pleasure, sex, and gender polarities. Her most recent major
work, The Daylight Gate, is a fictional retelling of the Pendle witch trial of 1612. Winterson
challenges the general norm of identity, sexuality and gender; this focus of attention obvious not
only in her previous novels, but can also be traced in her latest novel The Daylight Gate. One object
that is prominent in all her works is the body and its parts. The Daylight Gate is based on a historical
18
Jeanette Winterson, Art Objects: Essays on Ecstasy and Effrontery (New York: Vintage: 1996), p. 26.
9
incident and is a mixture of fantasy and mystery. The story describes the plight of a group of paupers
– [wo]men19 accused of evil practices. The novel tells the story about a group of unfortunates being
treated badly due to their deprived circumstances, regardless of their ability to support themselves,
psychologically, emotionally, physically and culturally. Religion and those in power have come along
as a monster that governs with power thus oppressing this unfortunate society to the lowest level of
life.
This paper examines how bodies are constructed as monstrous and how this relates to
desire, humiliation and mystery through the representations of self and others. Winterson uses
‘witches’ to present her [wo]men characters, in order to identify how bodies and desires are
connected to the notion of the monstrous. People are labelled based on their behaviour directed by
their inner needs and external influences or forces. This paper argues that what Winterson proposes
is to undo the singular category of monster by reconceptualising good and evil, the self and the
other, normal and abnormal, the permissible and prohibited, as uncivilised, disgusting and
mysterious20. In other words, the monstrous is uncivilised, disgusting and a mystery from the
perspective of those who are ignorant and in denial of the difference which others and the self
have internally and externally. The unfortunate [wo]men are usually presented as dangerous, a
deathly threat and changeable, just as the characters in The Daylight Gate.
The theoretical concepts of the queer and the monstrous are employed in this study. Queer
in this paper means that the readers are able to sees the invisible as perceptible and desire as
tangible to challenge the boundaries of what is the normal and what is not, which is in this case the
monstrous implicit in the self and the others. The theories of Mary Ruso, Rosi Braidotti, Margrit
Shildrick and Judith Butler on sexuality, bodies and desire are the central tools for analysis in this
paper. Russo believed in encouraging us to express our uniqueness, in other words to enrich our
sense of self in her theory of the grotesque female body21. Braidotti approaches to gender and
sexuality through an amalgamation of theories drawn from cultural studies, queer and feminist
theories,
to
question
primarily
gender
and
hierarchy.
In
contrast,
Shildrick
is
a
postmodernist/structuralist: her theory focuses on the body, and particularly the notion of the
anomalous body that relates to sex and gender. Finally, Butler accords with Foucault’s concept that
19
The term [wo]men or [fe]male are use in this study to present both women and men, as monstrosity does not
apply to a specific gender.
20
As Braidotti explains a woman’s body is ‘capable of defeating the notion of fixed bodily form, of visible,
recognisable, clear and distinct shapes as that which marks the contour of the body. She is morphologically
dubious’.`Signs of Wonder and Traces of Doubt: On Teratology and Embodied Differences', in Between Monsters,
Goddesses and Cyborgs: Feminist Confrontations with Science, Medicine and Cyberspace, ed. by Nina Lykke and Rosi
Braidotti (London: Zed Books, 1996), p. 80.
21
For further details see Russo’s The Female Grotesque: Risk, Excess and Modernity (New York: Routledge, 1994).
10
gender is culturally constructed and influenced by environmental or external forces. These theorists
contribute to negotiation and reconstruction of the bodies and desire, which will reveal the images
of the monstrous through the various queer bodies, desires and sexualities in the novel. As Braidotti
explains, a woman’s body is ‘capable of defeating the notion of fixed bodily form, of visible,
recognisable, clear and distinct shapes as that which marks the contour of the body. She is
morphologically dubious.’22
Monstrous Body and Desire
This section discusses how bodies are constructed as monstrous in The Daylight Gate,
analysing significant characters that represent the linkage between the body, desire and
monstrosity. The main focus is on the representation of female characters, especially Elizabeth
Southern (also known as Old Demdike), Alice Nutter and Janet Device, as they are connected to the
monstrous because of their bodies, identities and sexualities. In addition, male characters such as
Christopher Southworth and Tom Peeper are investigated. Winterson presents her characters in The
Daylight Gate by creating a persona with characteristics of a goddess for the reader to be able to
see the differences in each individual.
Elizabeth Southern, the most significant monster figure in the novel, is a widow whose
family had a reputation for witchcraft. Her body is presented as a monster in all forms: it is a hybrid
creature, where her sexual orientation is a mixture of desires socially coded as male and female. For
example, Elizabeth’s body is so monstrous, dangerous and different that it opposes the norm:
Then she undressed. I have never seen a more beautiful body on a man or a woman. She was
slender, full, creamy, dark, rich, open and luxurious. In her clothes she was like any other well23
formed woman, but naked she seemed like something other than, or more than human .
The monstrosity is constructed through internal and external desire or force, something that
can and cannot be seen with our naked eyes, things that happen around us. This is illustrated in
Elizabeth, whose body and appearance represent descriptively monster-like, ‘something other than’,
which mean different than a normal human form. Her naked body is hybrid and mysterious; it does
not look ‘like a goddess but like an animal and a spirit combined into human form.’24 This not only
opposes traditional female body and feminine identities, which are associated with passivity, beauty,
and purity, but is a corruption of human form and being. This relates to Braidotti’s claims that
monsters function as signposts of the production of differences. She argues that, ‘[t]he peculiarity of
22
Braidotti, p. 80.
Winterson, The Daylight Gate (Great Britain: Arrow books, 2012), p. 67
24
Ibid., p. 67.
23
11
the monster is that s/he is both same and other. The monster is neither a total stranger nor
completely familiar.’25 Thus, Elizabeth’s body functions as a signpost of greater difference from
‘normal’ human beings that can be accepted culturally and biologically. Her hybrid body contains a
mixture of characteristically female and male desire/persona. For instance, as she can perform male
and female sexual acts, she conforms to both male and female traditional identities through
manifesting desire: thus she also holds both gender identities. Her desire is monstrous desire as she
challenges the given norms of gender and sexuality. In other words, Winterson presents Elizabeth as
monstrous not only in physical appearance but also psychologically, emotionally and culturally. For
example, through her opposing sexual desires toward man and woman she can be seen as
monstrous by others (society in general); her monstrous desires for having sex with both, ‘John Dee
and Edward Keeley […]’26 at the same time, is immoral in the eyes of society and it is emotionally and
psychologically different or in other words, a monstrous acts. Further, her sexual desire for Alice
Nutter seems disgusting and inacceptable behaviour by society and also culturally irregular in the
eyes of heterosexual practice.
Shildrick has stated that what makes monsters monstrous is most often, ‘the form of their
embodiments’. This is what Winterson created deviant and unnatural to make the readers see other
than the norm, something different that actually exists. Elizabeth’s body is seemed as a deity for
others, beautiful, desired and desirable. Her beauty is so deviant that anyone who sees it will want
her and because of that wanting gaze she is consciously enjoying the desire of needing and being
needed by the self and others. She is praised by others, men and women alike. However, it is a fact
that the beauty of a flower is not going to last; thus, Winterson also created Elizabeth’s body as
monstrously disgusting. For instance, in the prison when the guard come and get the young female
for sexual pleasure, Elizabeth tries to offers herself, however: ‘She has weeping sores between her
legs […] Demdike lifts her dress and leers at time, offering him her sores’.27 Elizabeth’s monstrous
body is regarded as being as ugly and as disgusting as possible, so that no being dares come near
her, not even look at her; hence her body represents a ‘gross failure to approximate to corporeal
norms are radically excluded’.28 This is obvious in Elizabeth’s beauty, which is ‘dropping from her
body like a ragged coat [...] her skin like parchment stretched over her face’.29 Elizabeth’s beauty
slowly vanished: ‘[w]ritten on the body was disease, disfigurement, death’.30 The monstrous
25
Braidotti, p. 141.
The Daylight Gate , p. 76. Dee and Keeley were both renaissance occultists.
27
Ibid., p. 91.
28
Ibid., p. 2.
29
Ibid., p. 28.
30
Ibid., p. 128.
26
12
behaviour exhibited emotionally or physically, emerges mostly unconsciously, thus most of the time
one doesn’t understand how and why such behaviour exists in the first place.
Hence, Winterson insists that there is a boundary between the self and the other that
complicates the monstrous bodies, so that readers can understand and sees why some individuals or
social groups perform their life in certain ways which cannot be accepted in the eyes of normative
society. The fact is that these people behave monstrously usually due to external forces and a lack
of internal strength, such as the emotional and psychological capacity to control their desire. This
also relates to one of the male characters, Christopher. He has been accused as a traitor and has
always been on the run, can never be static due to the external forces such as authorities. By
showing a variety of characters, Winterson offers a constructive way of theorising the body within a
queer framework, because it is shaped by the concepts of difference. She intrudes the sexual and
gender norms in order to construct a concept of the directed toward the body and desire. Further,
monsters are ‘deeply disturbing: neither good nor evil, nor self or other. They are constantly liminal,
refusing to stay in place, transgressive and transformative. Therefore, they challenge both internal
and external order, and change the distinctions that set out the limits of the human sense of
capability’.31
Besides Elizabeth, this physical, psychological, emotional and cultural hybridism was also
shared by another character, Alice Nutter. She is a beautiful, aged woman. It seems nobody knows
her actual age, which is ‘old enough to be soon dead’.32 She made her fortune through the invention
of a dye and her knowledge of plants. On the surface, Winterson’s female characters seem powerful
and threatening33. Alice represents this characteristic perfectly. She is a single woman with a
fortune, and this has become a threat to those who are in power. Due to this, her wealth is regarded
as monstrous to herself and to the others. However, because she can support and look after herself
without depending on others, she seems different and is accused of practising witchcraft. This
unexplainable gender, identity and sexuality as well as her wealth difference has become a question
to members of society irrespective of their gender: ‘That lady is a mystery.’34 These social
perceptions gradually build into pressure on her, internally and externally. Rich as she is, that wealth
is not enough to place her in peace, but rather under pressure; thus, her wealth is considered
monstrous and at the end eats up her own life. This relates to the characteristics of the queer body
and a concept of the monstrous by challenging the boundaries of what is normal and what is not. In
31
Shildrick, Embodying the Monster, p. 4.
The Daylight Gate, p. 9.
33
Russo claims women’s bodies are in ‘everyday indicate world always dangerous, and in danger’ The Female
Grotesque , p. 60.
34
The Daylight Gate, p. 107.
32
13
other words, it opposes the norm. It further acknowledges the difference that exists in each being
through the influence of internal and external forces. For example, Alice’s ability to have such wealth
antagonises her male counterparts: for example, Roger Nowell ‘didn’t like Alice Nutter’35 and also
creates jealousy amongst her own kind: ‘How did you come by your money?’36 Because she is
different from normal women and doesn’t follow what required by the society, she thus seen as
opposing the cultural norm. Therefore, culturally, she is not acceptable in the eyes of society. They
persistently are questioning her existent:
‘I wouldn’t call her nowt, Tom, leastways not in public, but there’s many in private have things
to say about her wealth and her power, and who she favours and who she don’t – and why.
37
Why does she let Demdike live in Malkin Tower on her land?’
‘Then how did you come by your youth? Look at you, unlined and strong, and yet you are not so
38
much younger than Old Demdike and she is eighty.’
This question is voiced by all regardless of sex and identity: society thinks, ‘[t]he wealth of
such persons is often a mystery39. In other words, generally a disadvantaged being is in the shadow
of those in power; if s[he] is not in this category, s[he] then will be classified as different, dreadful,
disgusting, uncivilised and monstrous. It is not only her wealth which is disconcerting. Alice’s strong
body seems to have male extraordinary power, when she ‘whistled the powerful bird landed square
on Alice’s outstretched arm […]her long leather riding gloves were not the kind woman wore – hers
were double-stitched and heavy.’40 She also has a male characteristic when ‘She rides astride like a
man’. Again, the body is the focus of difference here: if it is different, it will be seen as mysterious
and monstrous because this peculiarity is not acceptable. As it does not belong to the subject and
location where it is supposed to belong, this body is excluded from society and seem as different.
For example, ‘[a] woman astride and a falcon following – that’s unnatural.’41 Alice has become a
threat to others regardless of their sexes and identities; as such she is easily labelled as monstrous,
abnormal and different. In addition to Alice’s male-like identity, she is also seen as physiologically
and culturally monstrous in the eyes of the others, which is because of her peculiar desires and
sexual choices. For instance, when she had sex with Christopher, ‘he divided her legs with his hands
and moved down the bed so that his tongue could reach her’42 and with the Dark Gentleman, ‘[...]
35
Ibid., p. 26.
Ibid., p.34.
37
Ibid., p. 17.
38
Ibid., p. 34.
39
Ibid., p. 52.
40
Ibid., p. 8.
41
Ibid., p. 17.
42
Ibid., p. 84.
36
14
my legs were wrapped round his waist while he had intercourse with me [...] and I enjoyed him’43, as
well as with Elizabeth: ‘She kissed me on the lips. She put her hand between my legs and stroked me
until I had nothing in my mind.’44 Her diverse sex, gender and identity opposes the norm, thus she is
categorised as monstrous by others.
Subsequently, social perception has become repression of the individual self. Thus, Alice
becomes just like an ‘ordinary’ woman, she is passive, weak emotionally, psychologically and
culturally due to internal and external forces. For example, besides being repressed externally, she is
also consumed with internal repressions. Her love towards Elizabeth and Christopher has destroyed
her emotionally, physically and psychologically, as she could not show or expresses her desire
openly, especially within conventional society. Her irrevocable love both for her lover, Elizabeth,
‘She would not let Elizabeth go. Love is as strong as death’45 and Christopher, ‘She knew that she
loved him’46is absolute: she surrenders herself to authority to distract its agents from hunting her
lover Christopher. As a result, in prison she is tortured badly. She acted in this way due to emotional,
physical and psychological sense of her desires of the other body to be safe. She allowed this
torment to herself, in order to oppose the female conservative body:
They had her naked, on her feet, her hands strapped above her head, her back toward them.
The first man rammed the metal spike of the awl into Alice’s back. He twisted it out [...] she was
47
told to bend over [...] the man with the pleasant voice began to thrash her buttocks.
These actions are indeed monstrous and only monsters can enact in such uncivilised, disgust
and immoral behaviour, first to woman and second to humanity. Also, only monsters have this evil
and unnatural behaviour; this applies to both Alice and the guards in the prison. Firstly, it applies to
Alice when she allows her body to be tortured and humiliated with no mercy. Secondly, it applies to
the men that perform the torturing and humiliation of Alice’s body. She allows her body to be
treated badly and tortured; this is indeed emotionally, physically and psychologically monstrous.
Moreover, men’s bodies are ‘sealed off’ and they are perceived as super heroic and strong
unlike women’s body. This means no penetration, and any penetration is a taboo.48 However,
Winterson challenges this ‘taboo’ edge by creating a passive and weak characteristic in one of her
43
Ibid., p. 80.
Ibid., p. 68.
45
Ibid., p. 185.
46
Ibid., p. 97.
47
Ibid., p. 195.
48
Waldby, Catherine, ‘Destruction: Boundary erotics and refigurations of the heterosexual male body’ in Sexy
Bodies: The Strange Carnalities of Feminism, ed. by Elizabeth Grosz and Elspeth Probyn, London: Routledge, 1995),
pp. 266-277.
44
15
male character, Christopher Southern. He is Alice Nutter’s lover, a handsome man with eyes like
crystal. He was tortured when the authority captured him after the Gunpowder Plot. Winterson
used Christopher to present the unfortunate male body, allowing his body to be penetrated and
tortured like a freak show: ‘the men were excited by him. They turned him over and buggered him’49
Since penetration is a taboo for the male body, this action is not only monstrous but performs a
taboo action and is considered as uncivilised since it offends against the ‘sealed off’ male body.
Christopher’s body is presented as passive and easily penetrated either willingly or forcefully due to
his desire to save others and his convictions. As a result, he acted monstrously to himself. Winterson
uses Christopher’s body to confound the stereotype of the male sealed off and non-penetrated
body. His identity was stripped off, when they cut off ‘his ball’.50 This is indeed a disgrace and leaves
him passive and weak51. What Winterson illustrates is that, monstrous' acts can happen to both men
and women.
Further to that, Winterson utilised the psychic ‘resistance to normalization’52 in her
characters, especially Christopher and Alice. For example, when Christopher was captured, he was
tortured in the prison but used his psychic resistance to inflect the pain his body experiences, so ‘He
felt nothing’.53 The pain is just a ‘symbolic form, as a result, it constructed the concepts of the body
and the psychic between the real, symbolic and imaginary as self-defending. This also happened to
Alice, when she was in prison, tortured and humiliated. Besides Butler’s, this also relates to what
Shildrick points out, ‘Monsters operate primarily in the imaginary’.54 In this realm Alice experiences
a psychic awareness which she tries to relate to reality and the fantastic: She is conscious with an
environment around her but what her eyes witness is something beyond reality and arbitrary for her
state of mind to digests. As she knows what she sees, but just couldn’t make sense with it, which it is
rather mysterious. ‘A shape – I cannot call it a figure – moved. I cannot call it walked – through the
bodies’.55 It is ‘neither a total stranger nor completely familiar’.56 This kind of usage of psychic
resistant is regarded as monstrous and queer because it is against what the normal human mind can
receive. It is more disruptive intuition, the monster at the end will have to move as it cannot be in
one place, and this is rather mysterious.
49
The DayLight Gate, p. 84.
Ibid., p. 84.
51
As Teressa de Lauretis (1987) claims, ‘[w]hen a man is raped, he too is raped as a woman’, Technologies of
Gender: Essays on Theory, Film, and Fiction (Bloomington, NY: Indiana University Press, 1987), p. 37
52
For further information, see Butler, Bodies that matter: On the Discursive Limits of “Sex” (New York: Routledge,
1993), p. 87.
53
The Daylight Gate, p. 84.
54
Ibid., p. 9.
55
Ibid., p. 81.
56
Ibid., p. 141.
50
16
Regarding bodies, desire and monstrous, Winterson managed to portray that; ‘different’ is
monster and thus seen as monstrous and abnormal. This unfair perception is continued to creep into
our society. This is exactly what Winterson is doing. The re-thinking of ‘the feminine’, witches in her
novel are not a mere witch, but a representation of body, historical, political and cultural variability.
Indeed, she places those who are weak and unfortunate in focus, how they have been treated
especially when they are different. They are always the target for cultural discrimination and
humiliation. Accordingly, it directed me to the next section of this paper. The section tells how the
body consumes with monstrous desire and pleasure; analysing another two of Winterson’s
characters, Janet Device and Tom Peeper. However, some others characters are mentioned as they
are essential for justifying my claim.
Monstrous Desire and Pleasure
Braidotti states, ‘I have paid in my very body for all the metaphors and images that our
culture has deemed fit to produce of ‘Woman’.57 The norm or normal is the metaphors and
pretentious characteristics that will be accepted by the others. As a result, the body operates in the
realm of queer politics, because of economic and potential physical danger. It is obvious that women
occupy different places in society compared with men and/or people in power, a place that has
material consequences for those bodies. This can be seen in Jennet Device, a nine year old girl,
vicious, miserable, underfed and abused. She is an object for economic challenge and sexual
pleasure. As an economic challenge, she was sold for a drink by her brother who ‘took her to the
Dog to pay his drink’,58 because the femaleness of her body and her age restricted her from
displaying any capability of supporting herself. She was also sold by her biological [m]other just for a
dress: ‘At least he bought her a dress now and then’59, said Jennet [m]other to her brother. She was
treated as a ‘commodity’ by adults, especially those with power, such as her own brother, mother
and Tom Peeper. Tom sexually abused Jennet Device: he rapes ‘Jennet Device on a Saturday night
and stands in Church on Sunday morning.’60 Jennet is an object of sexual desire even though her
body is considered dreadful:’she a was sad sight, dirty and torn and bruised, her blonde hair in knots,
her skin calloused’.61 However, her female body has branded her as a desirable object; Jennet is a
girl and can still be seen as a desirable object in the eyes of an uncivilised man like Tom Peeper: ‘A
naked half-asleep child sat on his knee. She pulled her dress on over her head and ran’ as ‘Tom
57
Braidotti, `Signs of Wonder’, p. 187.
The Daylight Gate, p. 29.
59
Ibid., p. 160.
60
Ibid., p. 55.
61
Ibid., p. 121.
58
17
Peeper stood up and fastened his breeches.’62 Jennet is used as an object to satisfy t[he] monster
and abnormal sexual desire. He ‘liked his sexual conquests to be too young to fall pregnant.’63 Not
getting pregnant mean not producing: this is indeed a queer and monstrous sexuality. In addition,
his sadistic behaviour and infatuation in abusing defenceless women is considered to be abnormal
sexual desire. For example, earlier in the novel, he hits Sarah Device. He ‘undid his breeches. He had
an erection’, he tied her hands, ripped her dress and raped her. 64
In terms of desire and pleasure, prisoners in ‘the Well Dungeon’ prison are mainly women
who have been accused of being witches. Even though these prisoners are accused of having such
monstrous power, which is too disgusting for society and religion, when come to pleasure the prison
guards cannot keep their penes in their pants. Women are abused sexually: ‘The gaoler takes one or
the other for sex most days’, but they placed them in the most monstrous conditions: ‘nothing
human or not human enters this place.’65 They not only tortured them sexually but also physically,
psychologically and emotionally:
It is sunk thirty feet below ground. It has no window and no natural light, save for grille, slotted
into the floor at ground level...And better than the fat-drenched flare that drips its pig grease
onto the filthy straw and lights up...what does it light up? Misery, emaciation, rot, suffering,
rats. The prisoners are not chained. They roam around their stall. Chattox paces like a show cat,
back and forth, forth and back, muttering nobody knows what.... The place stinks. Drainage is a
channel cut into the earth under the straw. Their urine flows away, their faeces pile into a
66
corner .
With this most monstrous treatment of these women, ‘[e]very kind of disease is in these
walls’67 as these conditions attracted illness as the women lived in a dirty and most disgusting
environment. Nevertheless, when it comes to sexual need and pleasure, these women are again
regarded as an object, to satisfy men sexual desires and gratifications; for instance, the guards wash
the women ‘or at least the part that interests’ them.68 This is not only sexual but also physical,
psychological, emotional and culturally monstrous to the body and the desire of the self and the
other internally and externally. As Shildrick said, the monstrous is an important signifier of one’s self
that is indirectly constructed against what is not, thus it remains unstable69. The witches have
become a figment of other’ imaginations and their power and practice became a threat to society
62
Ibid., p. 85.
Ibid., p. 29.
64
Ibid., p. 12.
65
Ibid., p. 92.
66
Ibid., pp. 90-1.
67
Ibid., p. 93.
68
Ibid., p. 91.
69
Shildrick, Embodying the monster, p. 10 (my own emphasis).
63
18
consciously and unconsciously. The ‘other’ within these monsters refers to society, the wealthy and
the authorities. People in power will have the liberty to influence the other. This is very obvious in
The Daylight Gate.
In conclusion, regarding the relationship between [fe]male bodies, desire and the monster,
Winterson demonstrates that what is different is coded as monstrous and abnormal. Also, gender
does not assure one’s position in society; power is not always co-determinate on the sex of the
body. In other words, in the novel even though Alice, Elizabeth, Tom Pepper and Christopher have
power over others through their beauty, wealth and intellect, naturally all this will in fact eventually
faded, either volitionally or by force through the involvement of internal and external desire. From
the exterior environment, economy and power influence the subject’s development. This treatment
always influences behaviour. Furthermore, as Aristotle said: ‘Monstrosities belong to the class of
things contrary to nature’. In other words, the monstrous can be found in both woman and man.
This is exactly what Winterson is doing: re-thinking gender, sex and identity. Witches are not mere
witches, but characters that represent the body and desire from historical, political and cultural
perspectives. Winterson reveals the way the body, gender, identity and sexuality are produced and
how this is related to the monstrous of those bodies through the involvement of internal and
external forces that each human being experiences through their whole life.
Works Cited
Primary source
Winterson, Jeanette, The Daylight Gate (Great Britain: Arrow books, 2012)
Secondary sources
Braidotti, Rosi (1996) `Signs of Wonder and Traces of Doubt: On Teratology and Embodied
Differences', in Between Monsters, Goddesses and Cyborgs: Feminist Confrontations with Science,
Medicine and Cyberspace, ed. by Nina Lykke and Rosi Braidotti (London: Zed Books, 1996), pp. 13552
Butler, Judith, Bodies that matter: On the Discursive Limits of ‘Sex” (New York: Routledge, 1993)
Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome, ‘Monster Culture (Seven Theses).’ in Monster Theory: Reading Culture, ed. by
Jeffrey Jerome Cohen (Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press, 1996), pp. 2-15
De Lauretis, Teresa. ‘Technologies of Gender: Essays on Theory, Film, and Fiction (Bloomington, NY:
Indiana University Press, 1987).
19
Hall, Elizabeth, ‘The Guardian Books Review’,
<http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/aug/16/daylight-gate-jeanette-winterson-review>
[accessed 31 March 2014]
Schiefsky, Mark J. ‘Art and Nature in Ancient Mechanics’,
<http://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/3708548/Schiefsky_Art_Nature> [accessed 28 June
2014]
Russo, Mary, The Female Grotesque: Risk, Excess and Modernity (New York: Routledge, 1994)
Shildrick, Margrit, Embodying the monster (London: Sage, 2002)
‘Monsters, Marvels and Metaphysics: Beyond the Powers of Horror’ in Transformations: Thinking
Through Feminisms, ed. Ahmed, Kilby, Lury and Stacey (London: Routledge, 2000) pp.303 -315
Waldby, Catherine, ‘Destruction: Boundary erotics and refigurations of the heterosexual male body’
in Sexy Bodies: The Strange Carnalities of Feminism, ed. by Elizabeth Grosz and Elspeth Probyn,
London: Routledge, 1995), pp. 266-277
Winterson, Jeanette, “Art Objects”: Essays on Ecstasy and Effrontery (New York: Vintage: 1996)
Face to face interview, June 24 1994: <http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00nw1xh/the-lateshow-face-to-face-jeanette-winterson>.
20
Revisiting the Grimm Brothers: Skewing Archetypes and
Stereotypes in Fairytales
Géraldine Smits
Swansea University: Department of English Language and Literature
Abstract
Fairytales are full of archetypes and stereotypes. When fairytales are repurposed, their
structure may change, yet the archetypes and stereotypes which are part of their foundation
remain. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how archetypes and stereotypes allow for
fairytales to be adapted, yet still carry the same intrinsic message in new versions to be
enjoyed by today’s audience through the combination of research and creative work. The
Grimm Brothers collection of fairytales is the primary source from which information is
extrapolated to then be incorporated into the creative writing which displays the mirroring of
archetypes and stereotypes throughout the protagonist’s journey. By following a female
protagonist as she travels through six different fairytales, the reader is allowed to view the
repetition of archetypes and stereotypes such as the damsel in distress, the evil witch, as well
as the hero and the anti-hero which can be viewed from different perspectives throughout the
progression of the story. Some of the fairytales used are Red Riding Hood, The Robber
Bridegroom and Snow White. This paper aims to share a new perspective on how the
restructuring of these fairytales allows for a slight subversion of the original stories. In focusing
on the repeating and increasingly skewed archetypes and stereotypes, this paper aims to revive
and interest about the moral tales that have been a part of our history since before we were
born.
Introduction
Fairytales are full of archetypes and stereotypes that help remind us what a story is
supposed to be about, and the differing archetypes, stereotypes and stock characters guide the
reader to the message that the writer has in mind, because fairytales are full of morals.
This paper works with specific definitions for archetypes, stereotypes, stock characters and
subversion, which are as follows: an archetype is a collectively inherited unconscious idea, pattern of
thought, or image, universally present in individual psyches. An archetype is a constantly recurring
symbol or motif in the arts.70 A stereotype is a simplified and standardized conception or image
invested with special meaning and held in common by members of a group. It is an idea, trait, or
convention that has grown stale through fixed usage.71 A stock character is a character in literature,
theatre, or film of a type quickly recognized and accepted by the reader or viewer and requiring no
70
‘archetype.’ Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 08 Oct. 2014. <Dictionary.com
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/archetype>.
71
‘stereotype.’ Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 08 Oct. 2014. <Dictionary.com
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/stereotype>.
21
development by the writer.72 Subversion is the state of being subverted; to cause the downfall, ruin,
or destruction of something, as well as to undermine the principles of, or corrupt something.73
Fairytales are constantly being reshaped by their latest creators. Their structure may change,
yet the archetypes and stereotypes which are a part of their foundation remain. My PhD project is
focused on taking six fairytales in their Grimm Brothers’ versions, and using them as a primary
source from which I create a new story, and in the process, tell the six fairytales so many people
know and love, my way. The six fairytales being used are ‘Little Red Cap’, ‘Snow White’, ‘Rapunzel’,
‘The Robber Bridegroom’, ‘Cinderella’ and ‘Brier Rose’.74 However, for the purpose of this paper I will
focus primarily on ‘Little Red Cap’ and ‘The Robber Bridegroom’. For my PhD I am experimenting
with structure by having a primary protagonist, named Rosella, or Rose, who the reader has the
opportunity to help navigate through a forest world which connects all the different fairytales based
on the choices made. Part of my structure is based on the repetition of the archetypes, stereotypes,
and stock characters that can be found in almost every fairytale. The duplication and mirroring of
characters in slightly varying forms is where some of the subversion of the original fairytale comes
into play.
‘Little Red Cap’, or ‘Red Riding Hood’ is a fairytale full of archetypes, stereotypes and stock
characters which help the reader to recognize the story being told. There is the villain, the wolf,
another woman, in this case the grandmother, and an innocent maiden - the young girl off to visit
her grandmother. The hero - the huntsman, also makes an appearance. Rose is my Little Red Cap,
setting out to find the house of somebody else’s grandmother, namely the grandmother of the
brothers that she had encountered by a campfire a few years before. Those brothers have
transformed into the wolf and the huntsman for this part of the PhD. The following is an excerpt
towards the end of my retelling of Little Red Cap, as Rose is attempting to get away from the big bad
wolf:
Rose jumped at the sound of a palm hitting the doorframe. The sound was heavy.
“You were in the tree!”
Rose shuffled farther back on the bed until her back was to the wall.
“You were in the tree, and you stayed there, the entire night.”
“No…”
“Yes. I’ve smelled you everywhere since then. It’s mouthwatering.”
72
‘stock character.’ Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 08 Oct. 2014. <Dictionary.com
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/stock character>.
73
‘subversion.’ Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. HarperCollins Publishers. 08 Oct.
2014. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/subversion>.
74
Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm. The Complete Fairy Tales. Trans. Jack Zipes. London: Vintage, 2007.
22
Something came down flat against the doorframe again.
“And now that time has finally come.”
Rose watched, terrified, as the doorknob slowly rotated. It made its complete rotation
and she felt the sharp jab as the door pushed hard against the chair she’d wedged against it.
“A chair! How delightful. Nothing can keep me out, little lamb. Nothing.”
Rose got up from the bed and rushed over to the window. It was small, but she should
be able to fit through it. She wrestled with the handle, constantly looking over her shoulder as
the door slowly inched open with every push. Rose was about to give up and break the glass
when the handle finally gave way with a loud creak. A gush of cold wind blew into the room.
“The window? Perhaps you aren’t that weak after all, little lamb.”
Rose picked up her things from the foot of the bed and ran back to the window. She
threw her satchel and cape out the window and hoisted herself up to the window sill,
attempting to wriggle her way through head first.
“Almost there, little lamb!”
Rose panicked, and tried to push against the outside wall of the house with her hands.
She was slightly stuck at her hips. She couldn’t get any leverage on the inside and her legs
flailed, trying in vain to kick her way out as she continued to try to pull herself outside. She
heard a sudden snap as the chair broke, and a forceful push as the door finally gave way. Rose
doubled her efforts, shifting her body as she pushed back against the outer wall with her
hands. She shrieked as hands wrapped around her shoulders at the same time that she felt
hairy fingers wrap tightly around her ankle. Rose tried to kick at Jacob with her free foot as she
felt the hands gripping her shoulders tighten. It was a jarring motion, and she shot out the
window like a cork finally being released from a bottle.
“Run!”
“Running won’t save her, brother.”
Rose’s gaze darted to the window and saw Jacob leering at her, rubbing the side of his
head. His gaze tightened to a glare and shifted momentarily to the man standing over her. She
75
glanced back at the man, and recognized William.
Thankfully, Rose has managed to escape from this situation and there is a message, or
moral, revealed to the reader based on the choices made. Through a series of further choices the
reader makes with her, she finds herself in the midst of another fairytale, this time ‘The Robber
Bridegroom’. We are reintroduced to the other woman, Anna, who is the pleasantly helpful
caretaker of the house. We meet new versions of the brothers, William and Jacob, who once again
represent the hero and anti-hero, or villain. This time around it is important to note that the lines
drawn between the hero and the villain are blurry, because that is the sometimes necessary
interpretation of the reality we live in today. Depending on which choices the reader makes, either
William or Jacob seems a bit more like the villain. And Rose has taken the place of the young woman
that was to be the bride of the robber bridegroom in this fairytale. The following is an excerpt from
75
G. Smits, Untitled (unpublished manuscript, Swansea University, 2014).
23
my retelling of ‘The Robber Bridegroom’, when Rose is coming to terms with the situation in which
she finds herself:
William just stood there, as if unsure how to feel, how to act. His hands were flexing in and out
of fists, yet he didn’t seem to be ready to do anything. Rose needed to do something. She
stepped from side to side, trying to see if there was any way for her to get out of his chokehold.
As she moved again, she felt the knife against her hip. She froze, and that caught William’s
attention.
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what, William?”
Jacob’s grip constricted and Rose nearly dropped the knife.
“Don’t hurt her. Don’t do this.”
“It’s too late for pleading.”
Rose clenched her fist around the hilt and fully pulled it out from beneath her top.
Anna’s eyes widened and she shook her head from left to right, slow movements trying not to
attract Jacob’s attention. Gripping tightly at the arm around her neck to try and hold steady,
she swung backwards with the knife. The arm around her neck loosened instantly and she
stumbled away, coughing and breathing in deeply. Anna rushed forward to pull her away and it
was only then that she realized she didn’t have the knife anymore. Rose struggled against
Anna’s grip, but all she saw was the men on their knees, hunched over awkwardly. They turned
to face each other and Rose cried out, fighting against Anna’s grip as she saw the knife hilt
sticking out of William’s stomach. But Jacob’s hands were also getting covered in blood. His
hands moved away from his body and Rose saw that there was blood blossoming on his shirt as
well. Her stomach turned when she realized she’d done this to him.
“And now, you pay.”
Jacob lunged towards William, grasping at the hilt, starting to twist it. William groaned
as he sank back down on his knees. Rose jerked away from Anna, and yanked Jacob’s hand
away from the knife. Rose rushed to William’s side.
“William?”
Jacob stared at Rose, eyebrows drawn together.
“You’re helping…him?”
“You were trying to kill him!”
Jacob straightened up fully and leaned over her.
“You’ll pay as well. He doesn’t deserve happiness!”
His hands reached out and wrapped around her neck. Rose grasped at his wrists, but
76
her feet were barely scraping the floor.
Anna helps William and Rose get out of the situation, and Jacob meets his demise. Based on
the structure of the project, there is not always a happy ending. Sometimes the wrong choices are
made, and then there are consequences to pay. The use of stock characters helps facilitate this, just
as the other woman in the stories is always a foil for Rose. Sometimes she is elderly, as in the two
fairytales used for this paper, and sometimes she is a younger woman, evil and conniving in nature.
76
G. Smits, Untitled (unpublished manuscript, Swansea University, 2014).
24
An example of this in my PhD project would be the witch, or the young woman that represents the
character of the evil queen in ‘Snow White’. Anna is now young and beautiful, and the neighbour of
the seven dwarves. Seeing Rose as her rival, she tries to use forms of witchcraft to eliminate her.
In Archetypal Patterns in Fairy Tales, Marie-Louise von Franz states that ‘A fairytale is not
simply the tale of a personal experience.’77 The archetypes and stereotypes that we accept as part of
the fairytale world become more skewed as the stories are reworked throughout my PhD, allowing
readers to experience new versions of the stories that we have known and loved since childhood.
Take a moment to think about a favorite fairytale of yours, and how you could perhaps alter
it, while keeping in mind the archetypes and stereotypes the story is based on. You could change the
time period, the location, the language register, the names of the characters, yet still the story is
recognisable.
I am fortunate enough to be studying fairytales during a resurgence of this story type in
popular culture. TV shows such as Grimm and Once Upon a Time, airing in 2011, as well as movies
such as Snow White and the Huntsman and Mirror Mirror in 2012 and Red Riding Hood in 2011 have
re-opened the gates to allowing the reimagining of fairytales, something that authors such as Angela
Carter have been doing for decades. Angela Carter’s The Tiger’s Bride is her retelling of the classic
‘Beauty and the Beast’ tale, skewing accepted archetypes about the beast and his back story, as well
as the main female character and how she changes from timidly accepting everything to becoming
more proactive in how she wants to live her life. This is the power of archetypes and stereotypes,
however skewed they may be, when it comes to fairytales.
Works Cited
Print
Carter, Angela, ‘The Tiger's Bride.’ in The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories. (London: Vintage,
2006), pp. 56-75
Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm, The Complete Fairy Tales, translated by Jack Zipes (London: Vintage,
2007)
Smits, G. Untitled (unpublished manuscript, Swansea University, 2014)
Von Franz, Marie-Louise. Archetypal Patterns in Fairy Tales (Toronto: Inner City, 1997)
77
Von Franz, Marie-Louise. Archetypal Patterns in Fairy Tales.,(Toronto: Inner City, 1997)
25
Online
"archetype." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc.
<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/archetype> [accessed 8 October 2014]
"stereotype." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc.
<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/stereotype> [accessed 8 October 2014]
"stock character." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc.
<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/stock character> [accessed 8 October 2014]
"subversion." Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. HarperCollins
Publishers
<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/subversion> [accessed 8 October 2014]
Film
Grimm (NBC. 28 October 2011). Television
Mirror Mirror ( Relativity Media, 2012)
Once Upon A Time (ABC. 23 October 2011). Television
Red Riding Hood (Warner Bros., 2011)
Snow White and the Huntsman (Universal, 2012)
26
The Representation of Poverty in British Politics
Sadiq Altamimi Almaged
Swansea University: Department of English Language and Literature
Abstract
The impact of poverty on citizens’ lives has been part of the political agenda for a long time.
The real problem of poverty in the UK is assumed to be negatively represented in political
discourse, which in turn presupposes a shift in the treatment of the poor. Yet, one of the areas
of political discourse in which there has been less research to date is poverty. This is despite
recent studies that show that poverty has been made a security issue since 2011 in the USA
78
administrations. This study seeks to contribute to the understanding of the representation of
the self and the other by examining how the poor (as an ‘other’ group) are talked about in a
specific genre of political discourse, namely British Political Party Speeches. The main research
question is; what are the main discursive strategies for representing poverty across time and
political ideology? To answer this research question, I employ a Corpus-Assisted Discourse
Study (CADS) framework to investigate the relation between poverty and discourse through the
notions of power and ideology in a corpus of approximately 1 million words. The findings show
that poverty (including poverty, poor, poorer, poorest) is negatively represented and linked to
many social issues. It is found that party leaders consider poverty an enemy, thus showing
militarizing ideology in their speech.
Introduction
Poverty has long been thought to be linked to international and national problems. Global
economic digressions, terrorist attacks, and specific governmental policies are among the causes of
poverty. This highlights the relationship between poverty and politics. In the UK, one-fifth of the
population is reported as poor. This means that when speaking about poverty, politicians are
addressing 13 million people in the UK.79 Since politicians have the instrument to control and
examine poverty through issuing policies, they can either discriminate the poor or make them
socially related. These policies (and others) are put to debate in the annual party conferences of the
leading parties. This study is concerned with investigating the representation of poverty in political
discourse, namely the party leaders’ speeches at these annual conferences. It tries to examine how
poverty, poor, poorer, and poorest (P4 henceforth) are referred to by British party leaders. Their
power to persuade others and change decisions raises the question about the way they use language
and the strategy they employ to represent others (the poor). In order to answer this question, a
78
Nuria Lorenzo-Dus and Steve Marsh, ‘Bridging the Gap: Interdisciplinary Insights into the Securitization of Poverty’,
Discourse and Society, 23 (2012), 274-296 (p. 275).
79
Oxford Committee for Famine Relief (OXFAM), OXFAM (What We Do, 2014) ,<http://www.oxfam.org.uk/>
[accessed 30 September 2014].
27
critical discourse analysis (CDA) is carried out to find out the representation of P4 in the BPPS. The
‘Critical’ capacity of CDA is viewed by Fairclough80, a known figure in CDA, as a method of explaining
the effect of the social practices in discourse and how they are discursively formulated. Due to the
size of the corpus of this study (approximately 1 million words), it is effort and time consuming to
analyse every aspect of the corpus. Thus, Corpus linguistic (CL) methods are employed to downsize
the data and prepare samples of analysis for the CDA. The synergy between the two approaches is
thought to benefit each other and reduce the researcher’s bias.
Poverty
The UK Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)81 states that individuals are said to be in
relative poverty if their income is below 60% of median income. Peter Townsend, a leading authority
on UK poverty, defines relative poverty as when someone’s “resources are so seriously below those
commanded by the average individual or family that they are, in effect, excluded from ordinary living
patterns, customs and activities.”82 Within the UK, poverty has been a real issue. The Oxford
Committee for Famine Relief (OXFAM)83 reports that about 13 million people have not got enough to
live on. This decline in income has been the focus of Poverty and Social Exclusion (PSE) department’s
research projects of examination and measurement of poverty.84 It reveals that the number of
households below the minimum standard of living have increased from 14% to 33% over the last 30
years, and that low income contributes to the outbreak of widespread social unrest in the UK.
Poverty becomes a serious problem in the political debate and academic research. Previous studies
such as Nuria Lorenzo-Dus and Lorenzo Marsh, show that poverty has been made a security issue
since 2011 in the US administrations.85 Fairclough, too, studies poverty as a social problem and how
it is combated in Romania through recontextualizing the European Union (EU) strategy for
combating poverty.86 However, to the knowledge of the researcher, no study has investigated the
representation of poverty in British Political Party Speeches, specifically annual conferences. The
way poverty is talked about in the annual conferences motivates important questions come to
surface, such as who articulates the issues of the poor? What are the responsible institutions for
80
Norman Fairclough, Critical Discourse Analysis: the Critical Study of Language (London: Longman, 1995), p. 7.
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/households-below-average-income-hbai--2
82
Peter Townsend, Poverty in the United Kingdom (Middlesex: Penguin, 1979), p. 31.
83
The Oxford Committee for Famine Relief (What We Do, 2014) <http://www.oxfam.org.uk/>
84
PSE, Poverty and Social Exclusion (PSE Research, 2014) <http://www.poverty.ac.uk/> [accessed 20 December
2014].
85
Lorenzo-Dus and Marsh, p. 275.
86
Norman Fairclough, ‘Critical Discourse Analysis in Trans-disciplinary Research on Social Change: Transition, Rescaling, Poverty and Social Inclusion’, Lodz Papers in Pragmatics, 1 (2005), 37-58 (p. 37).
81
28
speaking and issuing policies? The understanding of the BPPS discourse and party leaders’ ideology
contributes to answer these questions.
British Political Party Speeches (BPPS)
The relationship between poverty and politics lies in the fact that terrorism, crime, and other
forms of violence are claimed to be outputs of this social phenomenon.87 The growth in international
violence urged politicians to focus on poverty policies, when the view that poverty creates terrorism
becomes widespread after the 9/11 USA attack and the 7/7 London bombing. One of the occasions
at which politicians (party leaders) represent poverty is at the annual conferences. These speeches
are effective and essential to our society because they are the decision-making and legislation
body.88 Through issuing poverty policies, politicians can shape the lives of the destitute when they
are positively or negatively represented. In addition to their political power, the discursive impact of
the BPPS is due to their rhetorical construction that reflects the power of language in the
formulation of political ideologies of poverty across time. The power of language enables party
leaders to announce their different ideologies, especially when representing a contemporary social
challenge like poverty. This role denotes the ‘elite group’ that makes the fundamental decision and
has control over the government and the public.89 Politicians pledge to people of their new policies
and better life. Thus, they can change the decision of the population. My concern is to find out how
party leaders represent the poor when they refer to different social services and rights.
Methodology
Framework: Corpus-Assisted Discourse Study (CADS)
The growth in the technology of CL software and methodology provides critical discourse
analysts such as Fairclough90 and Flowerdew91 with the tools to discover patterns of language and
analyse them through different qualitative methods. Baker defines CL as techniques of analysing
language ‘consisting of corpora (large bodies of naturally occurring language data stored on
computers) and corpus processes (computational procedures which manipulate this data in various
87
Paul Butler, Poor People Lose: ‘Gideon and the Critique of Rights’, Yale law Journal, 8 (2013), pp. 2176-2203 (p.
2180-3).
88
Teun, A. van Dijk, ‘Political discourse and political cognition’, in Politics as Text and Talk, ed. by Paul A. Chilton and
Christina Schaffner (Amsterdam: Benjamin, 2002), pp. 203-237 (p. 207).
89
Andrea Mayr, Language and Power (London: Continuum, 2008), p. 74.
90
Norman Fairclough, New Labour New Language (London: Routledge, 2000), p. 17.
91
John Flowerdew, ‘The Discourse of Colonial Withdrawal: A Case Study in the Creation of Mythic Discourse’,
Discourse and society, 8 (1997), pp. 453-477 (p. 454).
29
ways).’ 92 These techniques of CL can be combined with CDA in an approach called (CADS), which
uses the quantitative tools as complementary and assistant to the qualitative analysis. The CADS
framework I adopt makes a rigorous and intelligible synergy between CL methods93 and CDA
approach, mainly Reisigl and Wodak’s Discourse Historical Approach (DHA)94. Mautner highlights the
advantages of CADS, namely working with large corpora, avoiding bias, and combining qualitative
and quantitative analyses95. This framework informs the study of the relationship between language
and poverty through the theories of power and ideology. Linguistically, and due to the relevance of
power to the study of political discourse,96 the proposed methodology can show how the discursive
strategies of the language of the BPPS empowers the social actors (party leaders) to discursively
represent poverty in their annual conferences. In order to understand the two axes of the
framework, an introductory comment on CDA and CL is necessary.
CDA is viewed by Fairclough97 as having significant ramifications in the areas of language,
power and ideology. He assumes that the analytical processes of CDA (analysis of text, processes of
text production, and sociocultural analysis of the discursive event) strengthen the link between text
and context, thus enriching our understanding of the world. The study of the relationships between
language and power helps in understanding the rhetoric of the elite group. The way they construct
their speech and deliver it to the public has the power to construct a persuasive argument on the
population. Within CDA, I draw upon Reisigl and Wodak’s DHA. This approach is marked by the
principle of interdisciplinarity which assumes the combination of various interdisciplinary methods
and contexts to investigate particular phenomenon. This potentially aids in drawing on linguistic and
CL theories and methods, as well as micro-context (speaker, party, time period) and Macro-context
(global events and policies). I draw upon referential and predicational strategies of positive selfpresentation and negative other-presentation strategies. They can identify the construction of ingroup out-groups by uncovering the discursive strategies employed by the speakers (party leaders)
in representing others.
92
Paul Baker, Using Corpora in Discourse Analysis (London: Continuum, 2006), p. 1.
Paul Baker and others, Discourse Analysis and Media Attitudes: The Representation of Islam in the British Press
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), p. 36.
94
Martin Reisigl and Ruth Wodak, ‘The Discourse- historical Approach’, in Methods of Critical discourse Analysis, ed.
by Ruth Wodak and Michael Meyer (London: Sage, 2009), pp. 87-122 (p. 93-95).
95
Gerlinde Mautner, ‘Checks and Balances: How Corpus Linguistics can Contribute to CDA’ in Methods of Critical
Discourse Analysis, ed. by Ruth Wodak and Michael Meyer (London: Sager, 2009), pp. 122-144 (p. 123).
96
Nuria Lorenzo-Dus, Spanish at Work (Ed) (Hampshire: Palgrave, 2011) p. 86.
97
Norman Fairclough, p. 134.
93
30
They include 13 sub-strategies borrowed from van Leeuwen’s study of the social actors.98 Referential
and predicational strategies presuppose nouns (with or without modifiers) and adjectives as ways of
representing individuals as in-group or out-group. For example:
1)’We still have those stubborn social problems, poverty, crime, addiction. ‘ (William Hague’s
speech in Manchester, 2009) 99
2)’They point to the poverty that so many Muslims live in. ‘ (David Cameron’s speech in
Munich, 2011)’100
The first example is one of problematisation strategy. Problem is in apposition reference to
the following nouns poverty, crime, addiction, which reference poverty as a problem. The second
example is one of culturalisation strategy, represented by the word Muslim. Poverty characterises
the living state of Muslims as one of poverty. This is, according to Van Leeuwen, a culturalisation
strategy of referring to nouns.
The application of the two strategies contributes to answering two questions related to my
study:
1. How are persons named and referred to linguistically? (referential strategies).
2. What traits, characteristics, qualities and features are attributed to them? (predicational
strategies).101
In order to prepare analytical patterns to carry out CDA for the whole corpus, CL tools are
employed. The importance of CL is that it includes the analysis of large corpora with the ability of
human choice of the linguistic processes at every stage. The software that I use in CL analysis is
AntConc, developed by Laurence Anthony.102 It includes necessary tools like wordlist, concordance,
and collocation. Wordlist extracts words of the corpus with frequency and statistical significance. For
example, searching the word poor will list all the words poor that can then be looked in context
through concordance (line view of each word). This tool assists in examining P4 in context (See
‘Figure [1]’).
98
Theo Van Leeuwen, ‘Representing Social Actors’, Discourse Society, 6 (1995) pp. 81-106 (p.81).
<http://www.britishpoliticalspeech.org<[accessed 15 March 2014].
100
Ibid.
101
Reisigl and Wodak, p. 95.
99
102
Laurence Anthony, Lawrence Anthony’s Website (AntConc Homepage, 2014), (Computer Software, version 4),
<http://www.laurenceanthony.net/software/antconc> [accessed 15 March 2014].
31
Figure [1] A Screenshot of AntConc Concordance Lines103
Each P4 word can be looked for its collocation, i.e. words that co-occur with poverty.
Collocation is the co-occurrence of words that more often go together. The use of the collocation
tool can reveal the ideological uses of language104, as well as the discourse properties of a particular
linguistic feature.105 In ‘Figure [1]’ above, it can be seen that poverty co-occurs with children.
Collocates can be grouped on their semantic preferences (where collocates of the same P4 word
have similar meaning)106 in order to show the topoi or general themes of the corpus. The semantic
grouping can be done through the word sketch of the online Sketch Engine tool. Sketch Engine is a
corpus query system that can show the grammatical and collocational behavior of P4.107 It groups
collocates according to their grammatical relations. For example, ‘poor’ occurs as an adjective of the
subjects (recruitment, productivity, hospital), modifier of (pensioner, infant, family, kid). It also
coordinates with (rich, indebted, uncared).
It is worth mentioning here that applying CL and CDA separately confronts rational
criticism.108 CL is accused of ignoring the context of analysis, and that analysts have bias in the
selection of words to search for in CL tools. CDA can assist in this regard as it is much concerned with
context. It can examine the context of analysis, and enable the analysts to manually analyse the
search words qualitatively. On the other hand, CDA is also accused of lacking systematic analysis and
data representation. CL is said to provide systematic ways of analysis. it also provides tools to
103
These are concordance lines extracted by AntConc from a text speech delivered by Gordon Brown in
Bournemouth (1999). <http://www.britishpoliticalspeech.org<[accessed 15 March 2014].
104
Paul Baker and others, p.36
105
This is one of the four areas of language in which CL can provide important insights in addition to frequency,
register variation, and salience (Federica Barbieri and Suzanne E.B. Eckhardt, ‘Applying Corpus-based Fndings to
Form-focused Instruction: The case of Reported Speech*’, Language Teaching Research, 11,3 (2007), pp. 319–346
(p. 322).
106
Michael Stubbs, Words and Phrases: Corpus Studies of Lexical Semantics (Oxford: Blackwell, 2002), p. 29.
107
>https://the.sketchengine.co.uk< [accessed 20 Feb, 2015].
108
H. G. Widdowson, Text, Context, Pretext (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004), pp. 89-112.
32
analyse huge corpora for CDA to avoid non-representativeness of data analysis109. Thus, the
combination of the two approaches into CADS benefits each other and provide less bias and
analytical limitation. This integration is seen as a journey between the quantitative findings of CL and
the qualitative analysis of the CDA (DHA) methods.
Data
The data for this study is extracted from an online corpus (britishpoliticalspeeches.org),
compiled by Dr Alan Finlayson and Dr Judith Atkins. It is an outcome of a research project ‘How the
Leader Speaks’, funded by the Leverhulme Trust. The speeches are from annual conferences;
comprising 349 speeches (about 1,592,237 words) delivered in the time period 1895-2014. These
speeches are drawn from five leading parties in the UK, namely the Conservative (CON), Labour
(LAB), Liberal (LIB), Liberal Democratic (LD), and Social Democratic Party (SDP) ‘Table [1]’. Due to the
limited political life of the LIB, LD, and SDP, the CON and the LAB are the selected data for this study.
Table [1] British Political Parties in BPPS Corpus
Party
CON
LAB
LIB
LD
SDP
Speeches
122
119
45
60
3
Speakers
17
11
9
4
2
No. of words
569,544
555,197
242,807
217,267
7,422
%. of the whole corpus
35,77%
34,68%
15,24%
13,64%
0,64%
The selection of the CON and the LAB ends up consisting of 241 speeches (122 CON, 119
LAB). These speeches are subdivided into leaders’ speeches, 17 CON and 11 LAB. The variability of
contextual factors of speakers, time period, and political party assists the study of poverty. They are,
at the same time, important in determining corpus representativeness for a corpus-assisted study.110
It is worth mentioning that no corpus can be considered representative of the whole area it is
selected from, nor even a particular sub-section of that area. A corpus is only a sample of infinite
109
Mitchael Stubbs, Words and Phrases: Corpus Studies of Lexical Semantics (Oxford: Blackwell: 2001).
Douglas Biber, ‘Representativeness in Corpus Design’, Literary and Linguistic Computing, 8(4) (1993), 243-257 (p.
243).
110
33
linguistic events. The corpus of this study is hoped to be representative of specific directions of the
BPPS.
Procedure
The data is first classified into variables that have analytical functions in the progression of
data analysis and focus on the achievement of research aims. The first classification is made
between the CON Party and the LAB Party. The second is between the CON party leaders and the
LAB Party leaders, as well as between time periods. Using the CL software AntConc , all P4 ≥10 times
occurrences are extracted. In fact, there is no agreed upon scale of frequency cut-off point, and thus
the occurrence of 10 times of P4 per 1 million words would be significant.111 The concordance tool
provides the co-text that can assist interpreting the occurrence of the P4 through presenting a wider
picture of the linguistic cues (grammatical relation, and discourse structure) and non-linguistic cues
(contextual factors discovered through the file view tool, speaker, party, time period). In this step,
the concordance lines are prepared for referential and predicational discursive strategies. The
collocation tool is then used to uncover the context of P4 and identify the general themes/topics of
the corpus. As stated earlier, the best tool to group collocates according to their semantic
preferences is Sketch Engine.
Analysis and Results
Corpus linguistic analysis
Using AntConc software, I have extracted frequencies of P4 in the whole corpus, which
results in poverty (436), poor (212), poorest (119), and poorer (21). The frequency of occurrence of
P4 across the parties varies. It can be seen that the overall score of occurrence of P4 in BPPS is more
frequent in the LAB than the CON ‘Table [2]’.
Table [2] P4 Occurrence in Sub-corpora
Frequency of P4 in CON speeches
P4
111
Poverty
poor
poorest
poorer
Frequency of P4 in LAB speeches
poverty
poor
poorest
poorer
Susan Conrad and Douglas Biber, ‘The Frequency and Use of Lexical Bundles in Conversation and Academic
Prose’, Lexicographica, 20 (2004), 56–71 (p. 60).
34
Freq
Total
70
76
31
186
9
366
136
88
21
602
The collocation analysis of P4 shows that verbs of which P4 is an object have the semantic
preference of violence, such as combat, abolish, fight, and attack. These co-occurrences reflect the
political ideology of militarising the treatment of P4 and consider it as an enemy. On the other hand,
the modification of P4 is a mix of social and living issues such as pensioner, family, material, and
extreme poverty. P4 modifies issues such as emergency, wage, trap, and ignorance. The sorts of
words associated/coordinated with P4 (i.e., P4 and/or/x) or (x and/or P4) appears to be general
dilemmas, containing social, economic, educational, health and personal issues like hunger,
ignorance, isolation) (See ‘Figure [2]’).
Figure [2] Word Sketch of poverty
The overall context of P4 reveals negative semantic preferences. The preferences show
violence as attack, combat, fight, improper living as hunger, disease, injustice, social problems as
shame, isolation, and deprivation, economic issues as unemployment, debt, and evil, and security as
35
injustice, crime, warning. The first thing to report here is that P4 appears across a remarkable
diversity of issues associated with everyday living, including violence, change, health, reduction,
economy, and ability. The frequent occurrence of P4 as ‘object-of’ reveals the idea that politicians
focus on what has to be done to a class of 13 million people who have not enough to live on(OXFAM
2014)112 ratherthan what those poor people actually do. The noticeable feature is that P4 occurs as
an object of violence verbs more frequently than being a subject. This might mean that the poor do
not contribute to the unrest in the UK, or that party leaders are not presenting them as problem
makers. The other categories of change, health, affect, help, and residence show the determination
and attempts of the politicians to help and change the lives of the poor. Moreover, verbs like treat,
reform, bridge, offer, reduce, credit, and cure express the intention to reduce the suffering of the
poor. Furthermore, it emerges that child has scored the most frequent collocate of P4. Politicians
focus on child poverty because it reserves a space in the UK government’s acts and strategies of
ending poverty. Child poverty policies can have radical reforms to the welfare state, hence saving
the lives of 20% or 11.6 million who are under the age of 16.113
The chronological appearance of P4 across time is varied. The concordance plot (a CL tool
that provides a visual representation of the occurrence of linguistic items overt of the texts) shows a
dramatic increase of the occurrence of P4 from 1897 to 2014 ‘Figure [1]’. This is of course not
random, as separate concordance plots for the time period (1897-1951), (1952-1967), (1968-1983),
(1984-1999), and (2000-2014) reveal that the (2000-2014) time period has quite a lot use of P4. This
is due to global events, such as 9/11 and 7/7, as P4 has appeared to be linked to violence and socipolitical issues.
Figure [1] Concordance plot for P4 across time and Parties
1897
2014
A simple concordance comparison of other topics like terrorism, globalization,
discrimination, unemployment, and insecurity between (1897-1950) and (2000-2014) corpora
illustrates the high frequency of global unrest in the later period ‘Table [3]’.
112
Oxford Committee for Famine Relief (OXFAM), OXFAM (What We Do, 2014) <http://www.oxfam.org.uk/>
[accessed 30 September 2014].
113
Ruth Levitas and others, The Multi-Dimensional Analysis of Social Exclusion (UK: The Department for Communities
and Local Government, 2007), p. 38.
36
Table [3] Comparison of Other Topics Occurrences
Topics
Occurrence in
Occurrence in
(1897-1951) corpus
(2000-2014) corpus
Terrorism
2
435
Globalization
0
62
Discrimination
1
29
Unemployment
74
117
Insecurity
3
23
Discourse Analysis
The findings of CL analysis are qualitatively examined in CDA. The main point to report in the
analysis of positive self-presentation and negative other-presentation or in-group or out-group is the
high frequency of the negative references of P4. Reisigl and Wodak assume that the best way to
negatively represent others is by referring to them through debasing terms. 114 This view appears in
the CDA of P4. References are mostly disparaging (such as nasty, uncared, ignorant), violent (such as
attack, fight, combat), impoverishing such as (indebted, incapable, unemployed), and diminishing
(such as hunger, disease, and deprivation). In addition, there is a disparaging description of P4 issues.
For example, problems of P4 are described as being crisis, evil, and hopelessness. This pessimistic
overview of P4 highlights the inability of the government to reduce or eliminate poverty. It justifies
the militarising treatment carried out through collocating P4 with terms, such as fighting, beating,
and attacking poverty. Furthermore, BPPS seems to discuss general topics of inflation,
unemployment, terrorism, crime, and violence more than recovery, employment, moderation, safety,
and tolerance.
Before examining the BPPS for the referential and predicational, I have carried out an
analysis of collectivisation strategy, characterised by in-group terms, such as the most frequent we, I,
our, and us in comparison to the most frequent out-group terms like they, them, their, and theirs
‘Table [4]’. The frequent use of the first person pronoun achieves two purposes; the authorial
114
Reisigl and Wodak, p. 93.
37
presence of the speakers, and their responsibility of the claims and beliefs associated with the
pronouns.115
Table [4] Frequency of first and second person pronouns
Word form
Frequency
Word form
Frequency
we
16934
they
6515
I
10922
them
2569
our
9335
their
3855
us
2994
theirs
44
The analysis of the discursive strategies, which categorises the social actors according to
their function, reveals the negative references of the party leaders 116, when talking about P4. The
most frequent strategy is social problematisation which considers poverty as an enemy to attack and
beat. There is also the use of a dissimilation strategy of alienating the phenomenon of poverty to
consider it as global and international. This coincides with the ideology of alienating poverty through
references of isolation, exclusion, and evil. The idea of ‘useless’ is implicitly drawn when the general
body health of the poor is seen to be sick, ill and unable. However, this is the result of the economic
status of deprivation and unemployment. The majority of these strategies highlight the negative
representation of P4.
Conclusion
The study of poverty coincides with many social phenomena such as economy, health,
security, and education. This widens the perspective of poverty and decreases the possibility of
statistically drawing a precise picture of all areas of exclusion. However, the examination of BPPS
texts reveals that P4 is represented by a wide range of negative references of health (sickness,
illness, and disease), economy (deprivation, inflation, and unemployment), and security (crime,
115
Ken Hyland, ‘Authority and invisibility: Authorial Identity in Academic Writing’, Journal of Pragmatics, 34 (2002),
1091–1112 (p. 1098).
116
Theo Van Leeuwen, ‘Representing Social Actors’, Discourse and Society, 6 (1995), 81-106 (p. 81).
38
injustice, and fight). The results do not concur with the general political call of democracy, equality,
and justice. This sheds light on the difference between the ideology and practice of the leading
parties whose policies diverge from their announced ideology. Both parties (the CON and the LAB)
believe in the danger of poverty, hence they use military terms like attack, fight and combat. Yet,
there appears no victory over poverty, because the frequency of this phenomenon has been
increasing since the 1900s. This reveals the inadequacy of the British policies toward reducing
poverty and the (negative) national treatment of 20% of the population.
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40
Use of Language Variety as a Tool to Characterise, Stereotype and Depict
Otherness: a Brief Investigation of Welsh English in Recent Fantasy and Sci-fi
Videogame Texts
Benjamin A. Jones
Swansea University: Department of English Language and Literature
Abstract
During the last century, extensive work has been carried out on surveying the Welsh varieties
of English through projects such as David Parry's Survey of Anglo-Welsh dialects (SAWD) (1977,
1979). Parry’s work has been seminal in providing us with the accurate account of the lexical,
syntactic, and phonological composition of Welsh English dialect. Many sociolinguists have built
upon this foundation to add additional material or to investigate further sociological issues,
such as linguistic attitudes towards the dialect.
Despite this, little work has been undertaken to document and analyse usage and portrayal of
Welsh English within fictional narratives (literary linguistics). This is an area in which many
other dialects have seen substantial attention. The current research being conducted is
twofold. First, it investigates how the variety has been documented throughout history by way
of fiction. Second, it addresses the stereotypes and perceptions that are subsequently attached
to the Welsh English variety, and how these influence its depiction within fiction.
In what manner is the variety being used as a tool for stereotypical characterisation? Welsh
English has a lengthy history of being used in fiction to depict stereotypical stock Welshmen.
One of the earliest depictions was Shakespeare's Captain Fluellen in Henry V (1599), which
catered to the 'comical Welshman' stereotype. More recently, videogame narratives within the
fantasy and science-fiction genres have opted to include Welsh accented characters in their
stories. Noteworthy texts discussed within this paper include Dragon Age II (2011), Ni No Kuni:
Wrath of the White Witch (2013), and Star Wars: The Old Republic (2011). All of these use the
dialect as a tool to both quickly characterise and convey a sense of fantasy/sci-fi ‘Otherness’
within their stories.
KEYWORDS
Welsh English; literary linguistics; Welsh studies; stereotypes; videogame studies
Introduction
In the last three years, occurrences of the Welsh English dialect within fantasy and sciencefiction narratives have become widespread. Many of these occurrences have originated from within
videogame texts, with narratives being populated by Welsh English accented elves, fairies, and even
space-faring humans.
This paper investigates the linguistic stereotypes associated with Welsh English. Before then,
it highlights some of the recent inclusions of a Welsh English dialect within fantasy/sci-fi
videogaming worlds (Dragon Age II, Ni No Kuni and Star Wars: The Old Republic) to assess how the
41
creators sought the accent in question and uncover whether linguistic stereotyping informed the
creative process. Ultimately, it investigates how a language variety in a videogame text can be used
as a tool for characterising, stereotyping and depicting of ‘Otherness’.
But first, what do we mean by Welsh English and dialectology? Welsh English is the
variety/varieties of English spoken in the country of Wales in the United Kingdom. It encompasses
the unique English words (lexis), grammars (syntax/morphology) and sounds (phonology), found in
its speakers’ communications. Confusingly, this dialect was formerly known as Anglo-Welsh by
academics and within folk/pop-linguist circles as Wenglish. However, nowadays, it is more
commonly referred to as Welsh English (abbreviated WE)117. The study of variant language types
(dialects or varieties) was traditionally known as dialectology, with the focus on the geographic
varieties. However, recently, linguists typically group dialects under the umbrella term of
sociolinguistics. Sociolinguistics concerns not only the geographic position of the variety, but also the
variations which occur at the levels of gender, class, occupation, and many more.118
The Study of Welsh English so far...
The study of the Welsh English dialect has been active since 1968, where pioneering
dialectologist, David Parry, conducted a large-scale survey of the character of English speech within
Wales. The study was published in a series of volumes – The Survey of Anglo-Welsh Dialects
(hereafter SAWD).119 The material collected within contained data concerning the unique words
used in Welsh English, the variations of pronunciation within the region, as well as the grammatical
form of Welsh English. This material helped scholars gleam what linguistic elements constituted WE,
and made it possible to carry out further research on the WE dialect. Following Parry's footsteps,
Robert Penhallurick conducted in-depth research on the Welsh English dialect of the Gower and
North Wales.
120
Both Parry and Penhallurick have published widely on various topics of Welsh
English in various international journals.
For some sociolinguists, it was further examination of dialect's character and its evolution
since the original survey was created that interested them. Descriptive sketches of Cardiff English 121
117
English in Wales: Diversity, conflict and change, ed. by Nik Coupland (Bristol: WBC Print, 1990), p. 11.
J.K. Chambers and P. Trudgill, Dialectology (Cambridge: University Cambridge Press, 1998), 3-12.
119
David Parry, The Survey of Anglo-Welsh Dialects, Vol.1, The South-East, (Swansea: privately published by the
editor, 1977); David Parry, The Survey of Anglo-Welsh Dialects. Vol 2, The South-West. (Swansea: privately published
by the editor, 1979).
120
Rob Penhallurick, Gowerland and its Language(Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1994); Rob Penhallurick, The
Anglo-Welsh Dialects of North Wales: A Survey of Conservative Rural Spoken English in the Counties of Gwynedd and
Clwyd (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1991).
121
Beverley Collins and Igner M. Mees, ‘The Phonetics of Cardiff English’, in English in Wales: Diversity, conflict and
change ed. by Nik Coupland (Bristol: WBC Print, 1990), pp. 87-103.
118
42
and greater Glamorgan,122 and Port Talbot English123 were conducted for Nicolas Coupland's seminal
WE-orientated editorial, English in Wales.124 Within the last decade, Heli Paulasto ( née Pitkänen) has
also published widely on WE. Her focus was on its syntax.125 Others have written about historical
aspects of the dialect, such as the foundation of the dialect through Anglicisation126, as well as
sociocultural considerations such as Welsh influence on children's English127, whether there might be
a Welsh English standard128, and the social meanings attached to Welsh English.129
Looking at these social meanings of a dialect (specifically non-linguists' perceptions of
dialects) is a field known as perceptual dialectology. It has seen reorganised focus recently through
the work of Dennis Preston and his five-point methodology (see Preston's Handbook of Perceptual
Dialectology130). This method addresses non-linguists perceptions of a dialect through a selection of
methods. Some examples are; the drawing of perceived dialect regions on a map, rating dialect
speakers' speech similarities, and rating speakers' attractiveness and unattractiveness. Work on
Welsh English perceptual dialectology has been undertaken by Garrett, Coupland and Williams
131
,
who evaluated attitudes from teachers' and teenagers' to young Welsh English speakers.
Another branch of perceptual dialectology concerns the development of how linguistic
stereotypes can be interwoven into fiction. What do we mean by a linguistic stereotype? It is worth
bearing in mind several of the definitions of 'Stereotype' as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary:
A preconceived and oversimplified idea of the characteristics which typify a person, situation,
etc.; an attitude based on such a preconception. Also, a person who appears to conform closely
132
to the idea of a type.
122
Lewis J. Windsor, ‘The Roots of Cardiff English’, in English in Wales: Diversity, conflict and change ed. by Nik
Coupland (Bristol: WBC Print, 1990), 105-108; Lewis J. Windsor, ‘Syntax and Lexis in Glamorgan English’, in English in
Wales: Diversity, conflict and change ed. by Nik Coupland (Bristol: WBC Print, 1990), pp. 109-120.
123
John H. Connolly, ‘Port Talbot English’, in English in Wales: Diversity, conflict and change, pp. 121-129.
124
Coupland, English in Wales: Diversity, conflict and change.
125
Heli Paulasto, née Pitkänen, Welsh English Syntax: Contact and Variation. (Joensuu: Joensuu University Press,
2006) ; Heli Paulasto, ‘Non-Standard Uses of the Progressive Form in Welsh English: An Apparent Time Study’, in The
Celtic Englishes III ed. by H.L.C. Tristram (Heidelberg: C. Winter, 2003), pp. 111-28.
126
Colin H. Williams, ‘The Anglicisation of Wales’, in English in Wales: Diversity, conflict and change, pp. 19-47.
127
Bob Morris Jones, ‘Welsh influence on Children’s English’, in English in Wales: Diversity, conflict and change, pp.
195-231.
128
Nik Coupland, ‘”Standard Welsh English”: A Variable Semiotic’, in English in Wales: Diversity, conflict and change,
pp. 232-257.
129
Howard Giles, ‘Social Meanings of Welsh English’, in English in Wales: Diversity, conflict and change, pp. 258-276.
130
Dennis Preston, Handbook of Perceptual Dialectology (Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2002).
131
Peter Garrett, Nik Coupland and Angie Williams, ‘Evaluating dialect in discourse: teachers' and teenagers'
responses to young English speakers in Wales’, Language and Society, 28.3 (1999), 321-354.
132
OED, Stereotype, n. and adj,
<http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/189956?rskey=WKhqhe&result=1&isAdvanced=false#eid>
43
One way in which dialect can be harnessed in fiction is to divert readers towards viewing a
character stereotypically, or within the framework of the 'Other'.
Lippi-Green has written
extensively on the subject of language ideology and discrimination within America, and within the
seminal English with an Accent 133. She demonstrated how it was common practice for Walt Disney
Animation to weave prejudices through children's animated characters by way of their chosen
accent. For example, voicing 'good' characters with General American English, whilst utilising nonnative Englishes, regional Englishes and British Englishes for 'bad' characters134. She ultimately
showed that dialects could be used in fiction as a tool not only for quick characterisation based on
underlying cultural stereotypes, but as a tool to distinguish the 'Other'.
Investigating Welsh English within Fiction
The investigation of dialects in fiction, notably literary dialect studies, is not new. This is
despite the investigation into literary dialectal stereotyping and discrimination which might be new
field of study. Research on documenting a number of varieties' representations within literature is
quite common. For example, linguists have investigated the use of dialect writing within specific
works, such as Carkeet’s investigation of the English varieties in Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn135
and Fenno's investigation of the variety used in Robert Casey’s The Parson’s Boys. 136
More recently, Raymond Hickey comprised an editorial that surveyed historical
representations of English varieties within writing (this included both fiction and non-fiction).137
The volume touched upon a number of varieties (to name a few: Northern English, Irish English,
Canadian English, and Caribbean English). The key difference in this methodology was in its purpose.
It did not only seek a variety of texts but its intentions were to use historical writing as linguistic
evidence for the investigation of specific dialects’ earlier incarnations.
However, no scholar has yet looked at the variety of Welsh English and its portrayal within
literary fiction. There is ample research to be conducted in examining ways in which the variety is
represented within the fictional style. This study has set itself to answer the following questions. 1)
In what ways have creators chosen to use Welsh English? 2) How authentic is their illustration of the
dialect? And perhaps more interestingly, 3) is there any evidence that their use of Welsh English
133
Rosina Lippi-Green, English with An Accent: Ideology and Discrimination in the United States. (London: Routledge,
1997).
134
Ibid., pp. 86-92.
135
David Carkeet, 'The Dialects of Huckleberry Finn', American Literature, 51.3 (1979), 315-332.
136
Charles R. Fenno, 'Nineteenth-Century Illinois Dialect: Robert Casey', The American Dialect Society, 58.3 (1983),
244-254.
137
Varieties of English in Writing. The Written Word as Linguistic Evidence, ed. by Raymond Hickey (Amsterdam:
John Benjamins, 2010).
44
characters stems from underlying linguistic stereotyping and prejudice? Additionally, the research
being conducted does not limit itself to traditional orthographic forms of literature (ie. novels, plays
and poetry), but encompasses a larger range of fictional narrative forms. This adds to the list more
recent audio-visual mediums of the 20th and 21st century such as televisual, filmic and videoludic
(videogame) forms of fiction.
This paper examines just three occurrences of a Welsh English accented character from the
final narrative category listed above: videogames. They are Dragon Age II (2011),138 Ni No Kuni:
Wrath of the White Witch (2013),139 and Star Wars: The Old Republic (2011).
140
We must consider
first and foremost that these characters would not logically be speaking English, let alone a variety of
English such as Welsh English, so why is it being used for fantasy/science-fiction roles? Rather than
assuming coincidence, we should question whether the use of WE is intended to evoke established
stereotypes or connotations, associated with the cultural realm surrounding the language variety (ie.
the Welsh people)? And whether, in the presence of other characters, the language is used to cast
an 'Othering' in the narrative? Concerning the methodology of this specific section of the research,
these texts were analysed for the representations of WE, through consulting existing documents
detailing WE such as the SAWD. Where appropriate, interviews and communications from the
creators’ were then sought in order to assess the intentions behind choosing a WE accented
character. Perhaps, the most important implication of research like this is that it helps sociolinguists
observe insights into how underlying linguistic stereotypes and prejudices are embedded within
nonlinguist (public) social realities. Quite shockingly, the addressing and eradication of speech-based
prejudice is still in its infancy, with many non-linguists believing there is a correct Standard of
language, and that other varieties of speech are in some manner, inferior. To quote Lippi-Green:
What is surprising, even deeply disturbing, is the way that many individuals who consider
themselves democratic, even-handed, rational, and free of prejudice, hold on tenaciously to a
standard language ideology which attempts to justify restriction of individuality and rejection of
141
the Other.
Two Welsh Stereotypes
Studies investigating public attitudes and stereotypes towards Welsh English date back to
1970 when Giles assessed the prestige associated with South Welsh English through using
138
Dragon Age II. dir. by Mark Darrah (BioWare Corporation, 2011)
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, dir. by Ken Motomura (Level-5 & Studio Ghibli. 2013).
140
Star Wars: The Old Republic , dir. by James Ohlen (BioWare Corporation, 2011).
141
Lippi-Green, English with An Accent, p. 73.
139
45
perceptual dialectological methods.142 It was found that WE had an intermediate level of prestige
amongst Somerset schoolchildren, although they preferred the accents of Standard English, Foreign
English and Non-native speakers of English (Received Pronunciation, North American English, and
French English & German English respectively). Schoolchildren viewed Welsh English to have more
prestige than many other regional varieties in the U.K. (lower prestige associations were: Northern
English English, Cockney English and Birmingham English). In 1971 another survey concerning Welsh
English addressed the perceived personality of the speaker. This study concluded that Somerset
children had formed beliefs that RP speakers were more ambitious, intelligent, self-confident,
determined and industrious than regional counterparts (note: this included Somerset English and
Welsh English speakers). The qualities associated with regional speech were that WE and SE
speakers were less serious, more talkative, more humourous and more entertaining than RP
speakers. These qualities in themselves could be subjectively viewed either positively or negatively.
That being said, there were stereotyped qualities of a heightened positivity than those
aforementioned. Mainly, WE speakers were perceived to be more reliable and good-natured.143
More recently, the global market research and data company – YouGov – conducted their
own non-academic perceptual dialectal survey in November 2014, which asked online voters to rate
the attractiveness of eight varieties of British English. The results showed that Southern Irish English
was deemed the most attractive, followed by Received pronunciation, and then in third place (out of
eight) was WE. This effectively demonstrates that WE still holds an intermediate (if not higher)
prestige almost 45 years after Giles' original investigations. Moreover, it is viewed as the most
attractive regional accent of English in Great Britain.144
Alongside the stereotypical attitudes, that Welsh English speakers are inherently less
serious, more talkative, and humourous than other British English speakers, are the cultural
stereotypes that are entwined into the consciousness of non-Welsh English speakers (and even
Welsh English speakers themselves). There are a range of English attitudinal stereotypes applied to
the Welsh and the Welsh world. For example, there are stereotypes that the Welsh are sex-mad
perverts,145 and that they are godless worshippers of the devil.146 Also, stereotypes associated with
Welsh people being an economically unenterprising race, who lack any form of culture.147 There are
142
Howard Giles and Peter F. Powesland, Speech Style and Social Evaluation. (London: Academic Press Inc. Ltd,
1975), p. 27.
143
Ibid., p.68.
144
Will Dahlgreen, “Brummie” is the least attractive accent (2014). <https://yougov.co.uk/news/2014/12/09/accentmap2/> [accessed 25 January 2015].
145
Mike Parker, Neighbours from Hell: English attitudes to the Welsh. (Talybont, Ceredigion: Y Lolfa, 2007), 24-28.
146
Ibid., pp. 29-32.
147
Ibid., pp. 36; 42-43.
46
also stereotypes attached to the cultural landscape of Wales, such as the landscape and its people
being mythically fairy-like.148
The paper focuses on two stereotypes. Within the three texts addressed, there are two core
Welsh stereotypes that are constructed within the texts’ Welsh English accented characters. These
characters are Merrill (from Dragon Age II), Drippy (from Ni No Kuni) and Captain Bryn (from Star
Wars: TOR). The first stereotype is that the Welsh English speaker is The Comic. The second is that
the Welsh English Speaker is someone inherently connected to mythology/folklore (in this case, the
Elven/fairy).
The stereotype that Welsh English speakers have in some manner an inherently humourous
or boisterous brogue is one well-rooted, first appearing in historical English plays. Many English
playwrights of the 1500s fed upon the notion by constructing stock Welsh characters with comical
attributes, yet it was Shakespeare who greatly popularised the trope.149 Shakespeare's Henry V
(1599150) featured a stock Welshman, Captain Fluellen, a character that spoke an approximation of
the Welsh English of the day. At his core, Fluellen is a comical character (as are the other regional
accented captains in the play). Yet, Shakespeare makes sure to use his regional English for the butt
of several jokes throughout. Bear in mind, the stereotype works in two ways. The comical Welshman
can either be the Clown, which we could regard as a passive role, to be laughed at, or they can be
constructed as the Comedian. In this scenario they have an active role to drive the comedy (yet are
still intrinsically comical).
To give the English playwrights credit, there is a degree of authenticity within their portrayal
of Welsh English, at least in comparison with the material which was written afterwards. Despite the
composition of Welsh English changing over the centuries (as language is wont to do), the
humourous stereotype was so firmly rooted in the popular culture that the language of stock
Welshman remained the same, with little changing within the English playwrights’ depictions of WE.
They sacrificed realism for popular notion. Thus, rendering the material highly inaccurate, which is a
true generalised, comical stereotype. 151
The second stereotype considered is an Elven/Fairy Fantastic connection, which presumes
that the Welsh and by extension those speaking a Welsh language (whether WE or Cymraeg) are in
some manner connected to Celtic or Old European mythologies or cultures. The first records of
148
Ibid., p. 81.
J.O. Bartley, Teague, Shenkin and Sawney: Being an Historical Study of the Earliest Irish, Welsh and Scottish
characters in English plays (Cork: University Press, 1954).
150
William Shakespeare, Henry V (1599).
151
Bartley, Teague, Shenkin and Sawney, p. 145.
149
47
stereotyping Wales as a 'fairyland', inhabited by ancient mythological flare, dates back to the 1700s,
when English artists began gathering in Wales in pursuit of creating picturesque paintings
superimposed with classical allegory. Parker comments:
Perhaps the greatest-known example in Wales of The Picturesque writ large was the Hafod
estate, near Pontrhydygroes, in Ceredigion, developed by Thomas Johnes, […] from the 1780s
onwards. George Borrow, when he visited the estate in 1854, found the house 'A truly fairy
152
place... beautiful but fantastic.
Then, in 1798, William Wordsworth said 'how oft, in spirit, have I turned to thee/O sylvan
Wye! Thou wanderer thro' the woods/How often has my spirit turned to thee!' 153 He directly makes
a comparison between the Welsh river Wye and the sylvan, a type of fairy-like creature associated
with woodland.
More recently, the fantastic association with Wales has been propagated through the
popularity of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth legendarium, when he married his fictional race of Elves
to the tongue of Wales. Tolkien, through his occupation as a linguist and his passion for Welsh
studies, used his knowledge of the Welsh language to create the sophisticated speech of the Elves –
Sindarin.154 However, it was not just the grammar and phonology of a Welsh linguistic domain that
Tolkien used to create his elven race. Tolkien melded traits of English fairy-lore with attributes of
both Welsh mythology (chiefly the Mabinogion) and Irish mythology (Tuatha de Danaan) into the
histories and annals of his elven races.155 Ultimately, Tolkien's reinvention of The Elf as Celtic, as fair
and as elegantly tall (rather than diminutive) has had a tremendous impact upon contemporary
fantasy fiction. As Elven characterisation often now takes after Tolkien's Elf model as relatable to
humans. Yet, this is still ‘situated beyond the boundaries of what is human, familiar, and same, [...]
[acting] as a supernatural double that defines these boundaries’. 156 Elves in digital stories are all toooften cast in the role of the 'Other' in comparison to the races of man.157 In recent years, with audiovisual narratives providing the facet for speech variation, we are beginning to witness the inclusion
of elven characters that are accented with both Irish and Welsh English dialects. Two domains that
were in the DNA of Tolkien's Elf had had little depiction.
152
Parker, Neighbours from Hell, p. 81.
William Wordsworth; quoted in: Parker, Neighbours from Hell, p. 87
154
Phelpstead, Carl, Tolkien and Wales: Language, Literature and Identity (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2011),
12-13.
155
Ibid., 64.
156
Jenni Bergman, The Significant Other: a literary history of Elves. (Cardiff: unpublished manuscript, 2011), iii.
157
Nathaniel Poor, 'Digital Elves as a Racial Other in Video games', Games and Culture, 7.5 (2012), 375-396.
153
48
Case study 1: Dragon Age II (2011)
The first case study concerns Dragon Age II, a fantasy role-playing game developed by
Bioware, and released in 2011. Dragon Age II uses Welsh English within the dialogue of a fantasy
narrative. This is done primarily through the Elven supporting character ‘Merrill’ who is voiced by
Eve Myles of BBC's Torchwood notoriety. Myles is a speaker of Welsh English. It is through her
speech that Merrill is given the phonological aesthetic of WE (there is no lexical or syntactic usage in
the characterisation).
There is ambiguity surrounding why the creators specifically sought the minority dialect of
WE for their elven depiction. What is known is that the character concept of Merrill can be
attributed to screenwriter, David Gaider (with dialogue being written by Mary Kirby).158 Gaider has
claimed that Eve Myles was ‘on the list of actors [he] specifically asked for and got on the first try’,159
and that his decision stemmed from an affinity with Myles’ voice, and by extension her Welsh
English.160 Yet, it was not just admiration for the Welsh accented speech of one particular individual
that pushed the development team to choose Myles’s voice for Merrill. Gaider mentions that it was
part of the developers’ executive decision to voice all the Dalish elves (the minority community
Merrill belongs to) in the game with Celtic English accents. He stated ‘we use both Irish and Welsh
accents for the Dalish. Honestly, if we stuck to Welsh only we'd have a really small pool to draw
from.’ 161
What is interesting about Gaider’s comment is that it seems the developers possibly wanted
a larger proportion of WE portrayal in their work than Irish English portrayal. However, it was due to
the current lack of Welsh English voice-actors within the industry that altered their plans. It would
not be a stretch to suggest that the Welsh as Elven has consolidated in the consciousnesses of some
creators, perhaps in part due to Tolkien's Elves.
Nevertheless, one cannot deny that there is a clear Celtic significance involved in the casting
of the Elven minority in Dragon Age II. They are an Elven race that act within the game as The
'Other', unfamiliar outcasts who are in opposition with the human culture in the game. The choice
by the developers to voice that fantastic Elven Other with the English accents of the Welsh and Irish
158
159
160
161
Mary Kirby, Forum Bioware: Merrill, She's a Keeper (Page 4)
(10/01/2011),<http://forum.bioware.com/topic/161075-merrill-shes-a-keeper/page-4>.
David Gaider , Forum Bioware: Merrill, She's a Keeper (Page 4). (10/01/2011),
<http://forum.bioware.com/topic/161075-merrill-shes-a-keeper/page-4>.
David Gaider, Forum Bioware: Voice actors speculation and discussion – voice cast revealed (Page 8).
(22/02/2011) <http://forum.bioware.com/topic/168250-voice-actors-speculation-and-discussion-voice-castrevealed/page-8 >.
Ibid.
49
suggests they used the accent as a tool for quick characterisation. This tool adds further 'Othering' to
the speech of the Elves. And of all English varieties, they chose one already grounded in the
stereotype that its speakers are connected to the some ancient, magical world. It is, in this case, one
of the fairy/elven.
Case study 2: Ni No Kuni (2013)
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is like Dragon Age II in that it is also a fantasy roleplaying game. Developed by game developers Level-5, it received considerable management by
Japanese animation studio ‘Studio Ghibli’162. This studio was renowned for its award-winning films,
many of which were helmed by Japanese cymricphile, Hayao Miyazaki (the films Castle in the Sky
and Howl's Moving Castle were heavily influenced by Welsh themes).163 The initial release of the
game was localised to Japan only. Following this, a version of the game was released in English
speaking markets (this required English voice-acting).
Much of the WE that is used within the game comes from the Welsh accented fairy – Lord
High-Lord Drippy, who is voiced by Stephen Rhodri (of BBC's Gavin and Stacey fame). Much like
Merrill, the choice of voicing a mythical creature, such as a fairy, with a WE is apparent. Also like
Merrill's WE, Drippy's voice notably stands apart from the rest of the English cast, with the majority
of characters using 'Standard Englishes' (General American and Received pronunciation) in their
delivery. But, it is not just Drippy who speaks WE, Drippy's fellow fairy tribe all speak WE as well.
Similar to Dragon Age II, this effectively 'Others' the role of the fairy characters (it should also be
noted that majority of the cast are also human characters).
However, the use of WE for Drippy does differ from that of Merrill. Firstly, whereas Merrill
solely used WE phonology (an accent), Drippy utilises the full range of dialectal characteristics,
adding WE grammatical forms and words to his repertoire. Secondly, Drippy's character serves as
the chief Comic in the narrative. As a comedian by nature, Drippy tells jokes (situating him as an
active role). However, much of his voice and intonation is used extensively for laughs, therefore
rendering him a passive character, one to be laughed at. It would be easy to argue that the casting of
a WE speaker in a Comic role could be coincidence, and that Drippy is not fulfilling a stereotype. But,
the fact is that every other fairy character in the game is also a speaker of WE and is also a
boisterous comedian. Evidentially, it was a conscious choice by the developers to cast a Welsh
English voice as the comical accent for the game.
162
163
Bandai Namco Games Europe. Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch – PS3 – The Art of Studio Ghibli-5 (Behind
the scene #2, (2013). <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjrwfQH-P2c>.
Helen McCarthy, Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese animation (Berkeley : Stone Bridge Press, 2002), p. 94.
50
In fact, we can gain more substantial information on this dialectal characterisation process
and its associated stereotyping from several interviews with the creators themselves. Akihiro Hino,
the overall supervisor on the game, explained in an interview that ‘in the original [Japanese version],
Drippy has a heavy Osaka accent, but in the international version it’s Welsh’, and that the
localisation director's job was to translate elements of the Japanese version (such as dialects) to
elements of the International version. Speaking of the localisation director, Hino claimed he ‘[was]
very particular with all the minor details’. 164
Arguably, it’s debatable how minor a detail it was to voice Drippy with an Osaka accent and
by translationary extension a Welsh English accent. It would be so if there not stereotypes
associated with an Osaka accent that match Welsh English. Edge magazine comments: ‘in Japan, the
Osaka accent has the same, often comedic, yokel connotations as a southern American drawl'. 165
Edge remarks that they are unsure how Welsh English players of the game would find the accentual
translation. It then seems likely that the locational director sought a Welsh English accent for Drippy
because it was regional, like the Osaka accent, and held the same stereotypical connotations
associated with humour. This negative stereotype presupposes that certain peoples are inherently
associated with certain qualities. In this case, speakers from Osaka and Wales are comical, either
through the way they talk (actively), or through their outlook on life. Their accent then is a signifier
of that quality’s presence within an individual (passively). But is there any direct evidence that this
might be the case?
In fact, there is and it is surprising in that the views are held by the WE voice-actor regarding
his own speech and how it was used within the game. Rhodri states that he believes ‘[the] Welsh
accent often works for comedy. Either the accent itself, or maybe the people, are naturally funny’.166
What we are witnessing is a speaker of a regional dialect accepting, and facilitating a posited
stereotype associated with his own speech community. In this case, that his speech and others who
speak like himself are inherently amusing. It is an example of how a language variety can be
subordinated to a level where the minority willingly accepts a linguistic stereotype. This is a central
concept of Lippi-Green's standard language ideology theory:
When persons who speak languages which are devalued and stigmatised consent to the
standard language ideology, they become complicit in its propagation against themselves, their
own interests and identities. Many are caught in a vacuum: when an individual cannot find any
164
165
166
Edge Magazine, Localising Ni No Kuni for the west (15/5/2012) <http://www.edge-online.com/features/ni-nokuni-wrath-white-witch/#null>.
Ibid.
Sean Smith, Interview: The Voice of Mr Drippy – Steffan Rhodri, (6/2/2013)
<http://www.godisageek.com/2013/02/interview-voice-drippy-steffan-rhodri>.
51
social acceptance for her language outside her own speech communities, she may come to
167
denigrate her own language , even while she continues to use it.
Case study 3: Star Wars: TOR (2011)
The final case study concerns Star Wars: The Old Republic. Once more, this is a roleplaying
game but of the science-fiction variety. Although also developed by BioWare, there is unfortunately
little information surrounding the voice-acting development process for the game. That being said,
much like Dragon Age II and Ni No Kuni, the occurrence of Welsh English in the narrative is illogical,
for in the Star Wars universe, the stories are not only a ‘long time ago’ but also ‘in a galaxy far, far
away’. The character in question is Captain Bryn, a Welsh English speaking guardsman. In a game
dominated by Standard Englishes, Bryn (like Merrill and Drippy) noticeably stands out from the rest
with his regional voice, and effectively also plays the role of The 'Other'. Despite lack of
developmental insight, we can surmise that the voicing of Bryn with a Welsh accent appears to have
been an intentional decision rather than coincidental. Wales could not have been far from the
creators' minds for not only did they choose WE for the character's speech, but they also named him
Captain Bryn. ‘Bryn’ is a Welsh word for ‘hill’, and also a male given name in Wales. Concerning the
WE depiction, Bryn's WE contains elements of WE phonology and syntax (though no WE words).
Unlike Merrill and Drippy, Bryn and his WE does not represent a elven/fairy trope. However,
somewhat like Drippy (yet less like Merrill), Bryn’s brief role within the narrative is to add a break in
the tone, a shift from serious to a tone of comical. The sole purpose of Bryn's dialogue appears to be
to drive a little humour into the story. Bryn speaks boisterously and makes jokes directly. For
example, in a speech where he lists off a series of diligent technological items that another ‘mad
scientist’ character likes to acquire (‘[he] likes weapons, Cyborgs, Droids…’), he drops the off-hand
item of ‘ergonomic chairs’ into his list. The protagonist, in response, quizzically shakes their head in
amusement. Much like Drippy, Captain Bryn directs the comedy, yet fulfils the stereotype that a
Welsh accented speaker will hold some form of comical quality to their delivery.
Concluding discussion
Having briefly investigated three cases concerning the characteristics of WE in fantasy, as
well as the methods and motives in which creators chose to employ the dialect, it becomes clear
that the portrayals match linguistic and cultural stereotypes, and that the characters fulfil The
'Other' role, because of their dialectal speech. Merrill and her people (elves) were especially voiced
with Celtic accents (Irish and Welsh English) to depict a mystical, Elven Other. Drippy and his people
167
Lippi-Green, English with an Accent, p. 96.
52
(fairies) were depicted with Welsh accents primarily on the basis they were stereotypically comical,
and (possibly) secondly to facilitate a mythic fairy 'Othering'. While, Bryn was depicted with a
comical accent to drive a comedic scene. In doing so, he has been notably distinguished from the
rest of the cast.
The inclusion of language variation within fantasy and science-fiction narratives to cast The
'Other' (powered by underlying stereotypes) is not new, even if occurrences of WE in those genres
are a more recent phenomenon. After all, science fiction has traditionally been a genre about the
'Other'. Those who have been Others in such fiction, such as robots, aliens, or different kinds of
human beings, have always been convenient stand-ins for peoples who are socially discriminated168.
And occasionally, language has been used to denote this.
Wolmark notes that when creators need to distinguish alien races, a common technique has
always been to use language variation to create this ‘Othering’ effect. When this is not utilised (if
alien/fantasy races all speak the same variety of ‘placeholder’ English), critique is often directed
towards the fact aliens all speak ‘English’, an Earth language. Thus, it is unrealistic and shattering the
illusion of alienation169 . By differentiating alien English into real-world dialects, audiences are given
the impression of variation in these worlds, which is the illusion of ‘not-English/alienese’.
We are left with a paradox. On the one hand, it is a positive notion that regional varieties of
a language make it into audio-visual narratives for it adds a realistic flavour to the fiction, one which
is analogous with human society, rather than relying solely on a language standard (eg. Received
pronunciation/General American). However, in doing-so creators' may drag through linguistic
stereotypes associated with that dialect (whether consciously or unconsciously). Take for example
the following scenario, sometimes a role played with a non-standard dialect (which has suffered
from comical stereotypes in the past) requires a comical scene. How do we distinguish the creators'
intentions? Can we distinguish between humour derived from a well-told/played comical joke – with
the accent being arbitrary – and the humour being derived from a speech stereotype that that
dialect is comical?
The inclusion of varied dialects (voiced by authentic speakers of the dialect) is encouraging.
For the aforementioned reason that it creates a more realistic sociolinguistic environment, both in
fantastic and realistic works. In fact, it should also be noted that fantasy and sci-fi are not the only
fictional styles WE has appeared in recent years. Red Dead Redemption (2010), a game set in the
168
De Witt Douglas Kilgore, Astrofuturism: Science, Race, and visions of Utopia in space (Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press, 2003).
169
Jenny Wolmark, Aliens and others: Science Fiction, Feminism and Postmodernism (Iowa City: University of Iowa
Press, 1994), p. 27.
53
American Old West, featured a WE speaking immigrant character170; whilst Assassin's Creed IV: Black
Flag (2013) a game set in the golden age of pirating, featured the first WE protagonist in a videogame.171 As well as a larger investigation of WE accented characters in fantasy and sci-fi, future
investigation of these realistic depictions is needed.
Works cited
Articles
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Chambers, J.K. and P. Trudgill, Dialectology (Cambridge: University Cambridge Press, 1998), pp. 3-12
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Coupland (Bristol: WBC Print, 1990), pp. 121-129
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Diversity, Conflict and Change, ed. by Nik Coupland (Bristol: WBC Print, 1990), pp. 87-103
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and Change, ed. by Nik Coupland (Bristol: WBC Print, 1990), pp.232-257
_______
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58.3 (1983), 244-254
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ed. by Nik Coupland (Bristol: WBC Print, 1990), pp.258-276
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Inc. Ltd, 1975)
Hickey, Raymond (ed.), Varieties of English in Writing. The Written Word as Linguistic Evidence.
(Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2010)
170
171
Red Dead Redemption , prod. by Steve Martin & David Kunkler (Rockstar San Diego, 2010).
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag dir. by Ashraf Ismail & Jean Guesdon (Ubisoft Montreal, 2013)
54
Kilgore, De Witt Douglas, Astrofuturism: Science, Race, and visions of Utopia in space. (Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003)
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(London: Routledge, 1997).
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_______
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55
Wolmark, Jenny, Aliens and others: Science Fiction, Feminism and Postmodernism. (Iowa City:
University of Iowa Press, 1994)
Websites
Bandai Namco Games Europe. Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch – PS3 – The Art of Studio Ghibli5 (Behind the scene #2, (2013). <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjrwfQH-P2c>
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<http://forum.bioware.com/topic/161075-merrill-shes-a-keeper/page-4>
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Literary texts
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag dir. by Ashraf Ismail & Jean Guesdon (Ubisoft Montreal, 2013)
Dragon Age II. dir. by Mark Darrah (BioWare Corporation, 2011)
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, dir. by Ken Motomura (Level-5 & Studio Ghibli. 2013).
Red Dead Redemption , prod. by Steve Martin & David Kunkler (Rockstar San Diego, 2010).
Shakespeare, William, Henry V (1599)
Star Wars: The Old Republic , dir. by James Ohlen. (BioWare Corporation, 2011).
56
The ‘Self’ and the ‘Other’ in Welsh and Basque National Identity
Sophie Williams
Swansea University: Department of Political and Cultural Studies
Abstract
The dialectic of the ‘Self’ and the ‘Other’ is integral to the study of national identity, as
individuals often struggle to separate who they are from who they are not. Indeed, it is often
suggested that the ‘Self’ cannot be defined by its internal characteristics alone; rather, it must
be considered in opposition to the ‘Other’. This article examines this concept in relation to
Welshness and Basqueness; based on original qualitative primary research, it firstly places the
work in the relevant theoretical context, before exploring how the ‘Self’ and the ‘Other’ are
conceptualised in different ways by Welsh and Basque identifiers. Significantly, it underlines
the existence of multiple ‘Selves’ and ‘Others’ present within the same nominal identities and,
in so doing, highlights the different and often mutually exclusive ways in which Welsh and
Basque people conceptualise their own identities. In light of these differences, it concludes
with thoughts on the potential consequences of these multiplicities, particularly in relation to
future nation-building projects.
Introduction
The dual concept of the ‘Self’ and the ‘Other’ is fundamental to the exploration of national
identity; indeed, scholars focussing on national identity from across a variety of academic disciplines
have highlighted the utility of the concept of the ‘Self’ and the ‘Other’ as a tool for aiding
comprehension in identity studies. Such discussions are arguably most pertinent in contexts in which
the ‘Self’ and the ‘Other’ are contested; in a ‘stateless nation’ situation, for example, where both the
state and the nation are differently conceptualised, examining how the ‘Self’ and the ‘Other’ are
understood and how they relate to one another represents a pivotal aim in the improvement of
understanding of the mechanisms and consequences of these contested national identities.1
It is this context of complex identity formation that forms the basis of the research of this
article; employing insights from new qualitative research conducted through the use of focus groups
and interviews across Wales and the Basque Country, this article explores the differing
conceptualisations of the ‘Self’ in Welshness and Basqueness, alongside those of the external
‘Others’ of England and Britain, France and Spain. In so doing, it highlights the presence of a myriad
1
Michael Keating, ‘Stateless-Nation Building: Quebec, Catalonia and Scotland in the Changing State System’, Nations
and Nationalism, 3.4, (1997), 689-717. Also known as ‘nations without states’, (Montserrat Guibernau, Nations
Without States: Political Communities in a Global Age (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1999) ‘sub-state nationalisms’ (André
Lecours, ‘Sub-state Nationalism in the Western World: Explaining Continued Appeal’, Ethnopolitics: Formerly Global
Review of Ethnopolitics, 11.3, (2012), 268-286) and ‘minority nationalisms’ (Robert Andersen, ‘National Identity and
Independence Attitudes: Minority Nationalism in Scotland and Wales’, CREST Centre for Research into Elections and
Social Trends Working Papers, 86, {September 2001}).
57
of multiple selves within the same nominal identity (whereby different people understand what it
means to be Welsh and Basque in different, and often mutually exclusive, ways) and the complexity
of their relationship to multiple ‘Others’ (whereby different individuals express different views of the
‘Other’ that are inextricably connected to their particular vision of the ‘Self’). Such ideas are situated
within a theoretical context developed from an amalgamation of complementary insights from
several academic disciplines, primarily sociology and social anthropology. Following the exposition of
different conceptualisations and an examination of the nature of their inter-connectedness, the
article concludes with a discussion of the potential consequences of these competing multiplicities
of the ‘Self’ and their relationship to the success of future nation-building projects in Wales and the
Basque Country.
Theoretical Context
The question as to whether it is possible to define the ‘Self’ without the opposition of the
‘Other’ has prompted scholarly interest over a prolonged period of time, often in conjunction with
academic consideration of the nature of group identities and the optimum method for enriching and
enhancing understanding of their internal dynamics. Such discussions occur predominantly within a
social constructivist epistemology; if identities are understood as social constructs, then the focus
must be directed to understanding how such constructs are conceptualised by different people.
The seminal insights of Barth are pertinent in this regard; through the adoption and
instrumentalisation of a social-interactionist approach, in which he argues that, as identities are
negotiated within and between groups through the processes of social interaction, they are best
understood as fluid and processual, Barth contented that to better understand the nature of
identities, the focus must concentrate on the creation and maintenance of boundaries between
groups, as opposed to consideration of their internal characteristics.2 This argument would suggest
that, in order to understand the ‘Self’, attention should be directed to understanding its relationship
with the ‘Other’, rather than endeavouring to understand its internal mechanisms in isolation. It
further complements the notion of the subjective nature of identities, whereby they are
continuously constructed based on changing criteria and thus not essentialised or taken for granted.
This position is further supported by the work of Cohen in relation to communities, which
emphasised the subjective nature of identities whilst simultaneously highlighting their potential for
multiplicity within the same nominal identity, whereby an identity may be a common symbol shared
amongst nation-members, despite it being differently conceptualised.3
2
3
Ethnic Groups and Boundaries, ed by Frederick Barth, (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1969).
Anthony P. Cohen, The Symbolic Construction of Community (London; New York: Routledge, 1985).
58
However, although the importance of the ‘Other’ to formulating conceptualisations of the
‘Self’ must clearly not be underestimated, scholars from sociology caution against a sole focus on
processes of boundary maintenance and creation, or on the relationship between the ‘Self’ and the
‘Other’, as a fuller and more comprehensive understanding of identity may be better achieved
through the adoption of a dialectical approach.
As the concept of the ‘Self’ and the ‘Other’ represents an inherent duality, Jenkins and
McCrone highlight the consequent need to focus on both aspects: the internal characteristics of the
‘Self’ and the ‘Other’ and the mutually affective relationship between the two.4
Such an
understanding is complemented by an appreciation of the dual processes of self-identification (the
process by which an individual confers an identity upon themselves) and external categorisation
(whereby an identity is conferred upon an individual by others). Jenkins argues that these processes
occur simultaneously and are inextricably inter-connected; indeed, such a conceptualisation is
pertinent to understanding how an individual may self-identify, for example, as Welsh, but may be
externally categorised by others as British, or, indeed, English. This dualistic method of theoretical
understanding is further enriched by an appreciation of the parallel dialectic of similarity and
difference; in line with Parekh’s multiculturalist approach, which seeks to mitigate against an overemphasis on the differences between groups, Jenkins suggests that it is as important to consider
what group members hold in common as to consider what distinguishes them from others.5
Thus a consistent theoretical direction within sociology emerges; rather than focus solely on
the ‘Other’ and its influence over the ‘Self’, given the inherent dualities of these processes,
examining both aspects, rather than prioritising one over the other, may provide greater theoretical
and conceptual purchase. However, this understanding serves to further underline the interconnected nature of the ‘Self’ and the ‘Other’ within the realm of national identity; the focus should
therefore be directed towards better understanding of the different conceptualisations and their
mutually affective relationship.
With this theoretical direction in mind, it is evident that exploring the differing
conceptualisations of the ‘Self’ and the ‘Other’ in relation to Welshness and Basqueness has the
potential to generate fruitful insights in the field of national identity. Further, there are additional
theoretical tools that complement this direction. Examination of national identities, (in this instance,
Welshness and Basqueness), may be predicated on the understanding, highlighted by Jenkins and
4
Richard Jenkins, Social Identity, 3rd edn (London; New York: Routledge, 2008), and David McCrone, The Sociology of
Nationalism (London; New York: Routledge, 1998).
5
Bhikhu Parekh, ‘The Concept of National Identity’, New Community, 21.2, (1995), 255-268.
59
supported by Todd6 and McCrone, that it is possible for the same nominal identity, for instance
Welsh or Basque, to engender multiple meanings, depending on different factors. In addition, these
conceptualisations may change over time; although, following ethno-symbolist theorising on the
nation, identities may not be best understood as being in a permanent state of flux, rather they may
be stable and durable once created, it is nevertheless possible for identities to become more or less
salient under differing circumstances, thus demonstrating their situational and contextual nature.
Further, identities may, perhaps paradoxically, simultaneously incite extreme passion and be
generally ignored; Billig’s notion of ‘banal nationalism’ and Fearon and Laitin’s ‘everyday
primordialism’ both indicate this capacity of identities both to be highly pertinent or largely
unproblematic, depending on the personal conceptualisation of the individual and the context in
which they find themselves.7
The idea of the multifarious nature of identity is further highlighted in the widespread use of
the Moreno Question,8 which was instrumental in highlighting the concept of multiple identities.
Using the example of Welsh and British, respondents to this question would be asked to choose
which statement best reflected their identity: Welsh Only, More Welsh than British, Equally Welsh
and British, More British than Welsh or British Only. Crucially however, although able to expose the
existence of multiple identities, the Moreno question does not permit analysis of what the individual
identities, such as Welsh or British, signify for different identifiers; for example, how two Welsh
identifiers could differ so significantly in their responses, with one indicating ‘Equally Welsh and
British’ and another ‘Only Welsh’. Only through exploring the substance of and reasoning behind the
different conceptualisations of the ‘Self’ and the ‘Other’ can these differences be better understood.
With this discussion in mind, this article now turns to an exploration of the differing
conceptualisations of the ‘Selves’ of Welshness and Basqueness and their corresponding ‘Others’.
The ‘Self’
The concept of the multiplicity of the ‘Self’ was widespread across focus groups in Wales and
the Basque Country9:
6
Jennifer Todd, ‘Social Transformation, Collective Categories and Identity Change’, Theory and Society, 34.4, (August
2005), 438.
7
See Anthony D. Smith, National Identity (London: Penguin, 1991), and Steve Fenton, ‘Indifference Towards
National Identity: What Young Adults Think About Being English and British’, Nations and Nationalism, 13.2, (2007),
pp. 321-339, and Michael Billig, Banal Nationalism (London: Sage Publications, 1995), and James D. Fearon and
David D. Laitin, ‘Violence and the Social Construction of Ethnic Identity’, International Organisation, 54.4, (2000),
845-877.
8
See Luis Moreno, ‘Scotland, Catalonia, Europeanisation and the “Moreno Question”’, Scottish Affairs, 4, (Winter
2006), 1-21.
9
Focus groups were conducted across Wales and the Basque Country, eight in the former and five in the latter.
Welsh groups are identified by name and ‘3 Wales Model’ location (Swansea, Caerphilly and Tumble representing
60
(Tumble-Welsh Wales) P2: For such a small country, it’s so different…if you go from Swansea to
Llanelli, it’s so different, and from Llanelli to Carmarthen, it’s so different again
(Bilbao) P5: Yo creo que el concepto es difícil definir…hay muchísimas respuestas posibles [I
think the concept is difficult to define…there are a great many possible answers]
Indeed, the concept of ‘stateless nations’ was appreciated, as it was astutely recognised that
if the ‘Self’ was not disputed, but universally understood, then there would be no need to discuss it:
(Oñati) P4: El problema es cuando hay, cuando hay enfrentamiento, no…cuando hay conflictos,
y se puede ser una cosa y no la otra…pero cuando no hay conflicto, es muy fácil… ella nunca
preguntaría, ¿qué es español? No hay conflicto, es obvio lo que es, es cuando hay
conflictos…¿Qué es ser francés? Una pregunta más tonta, ¿no? [The problem is when there is a
clash, when there is conflict, and it can be one thing but not another, when there’s no conflict,
it’s very easy…she would never ask us, “What is Spanishness?” There’s no conflict, it’s obvious
what it is, it’s when there’s conflict, “What’s Frenchness?”, it’s a stupid question, isn’t it?]
However, although the concept of multiplicity was broadly recognised, a vast number of
competing conceptualisations of Basqueness and Welshness were nevertheless advanced. Some
respondents highlighted primordialist understandings of identities as inherited qualities, part and
parcel of an individual’s DNA:
(Vitoria) P5: Un estado de ser que te dieron los genes; soy hija de la diáspora, nací en
Venezuela…pero me padre nunca me dijo que me pierda las raíces…siempre, en todos los países
en los que he vivido…nos hemos sentido vascos…porque teníamos nuestras raíces, teníamos
nuestras tradiciones [A state of being passed to you through your genes; I’m a child of the
diaspora, I was born in Venezuela…but my father told me never to lose my roots…always, in
every country I’ve lived in…we’ve always felt Basque…because we had our roots, we had our
traditions]
P2: Yo nací en Madrid, en familia vizcaína…pero siempre he tenido el sentimiento de
pertenencia a este país, que soy de aquí…vivía en Madrid pero me sentía siempre vizcaíno…yo
no me he cuestionado nunca que soy vasco…nunca vas a sentarse tan cómodo que aquí [I was
10
born in Madrid to a family from Biscaya …but I’ve always felt a sense of belonging to this
Welsh Wales, Aberystwyth students, Llanystumdwy and Caernarfon representing Y Fro Gymraeg and Newport and
Mold representing British Wales). In the Basque Country, groups are identified by location, each representing one of
the five areas of the Basque Country. Participants are identified as P1, P2, etc., while M refers to the focus group
moderator. See Nikolas Coupland, Hywel Bishop and Peter Garrett, ‘One Wales? Reassessing Diversity in Welsh
Ethnolinguistic Identification’, Contemporary Wales, 18, (2006) p. 5, for discussion on Balsom’s ‘3 Wales Model’.
10
The Basque Country traditionally comprises seven areas: three (Bizkaia, Araba and Guipuzkoa) within the legally
recognised Basque Autonomous Community (which is itself one of seventeen Spanish autonomous communities and
one of three ‘historical nationalities’ within Spain, alongside Catalonia and Galicia] and three more in the French
Basque Country, now French départements: Basse-Navarre, Labourd and Soule. The French Basque Country is known
in Basque as Iparralde, the Spanish Basque Country as Hegoalde. The final ancestral territory comprises what is now
the Autonomous Community of Navarra, also within the Spanish state. The Basque Autonomous Community and
Navarra each have their own devolved parliament; however, the ancestral Basque territories within France have
little political representation and no regional parliament. Further complicating the situation is the complex
relationship between the Basque Country and Navarra. The seven ancestral Basque communities are collectively
known as Euskal Herria, while Euskadi refers to the three areas within the officially recognised Basque Autonomous
Community. For further information, see Stanley Payne, ‘Catalan and Basque Nationalism’, Journal of Contemporary
61
country, the feeling that I’m from here… I was living in Madrid but I always felt Biscayan…I never
questioned the fact that I’m Basque…I will never feel as comfortable as I do here]
This was not universally agreed upon:
(Bilbao) P3: El vasco, únicamente vasco, puede ser que existiera, desde el punto de vista, pues,
digamos, científico, hace cien años, pero yo creo que, desde hace este tiempo, no existe…el
vasco…que es vasco por raza…todas esas formas de definiciones son un poco absurdas
[Someone who is uniquely Basque, that may have existed from the, let’s say, scientific point of
view, a hundred years ago, but I don’t think it has existed since then…someone who is racially
Basque…all these types of definitions are a bit absurd]
However, some participants felt it nevertheless representative of a ‘natural’ state of being:
(Oñati) P3: Yo pienso que la palabra clave es he oído es de algo natural, o sea, no es algo
que lo piensas, sino que simplemente lo eres, es tú, y así se vive…yo pienso que si
no…ocurre nada, pienso que la gente, desde pequeño se crece en este ser vasco, pero
tampoco se ha planteado otra cosa, o sea, es lo que se ha comentado, no, lo de algo
natural [I think that the key word that I’ve heard is something natural, so it’s not something
you think but simply something that you are, and that’s how you live.
[I think that it’s not something that happens, I think people from infancy grow up in this
sense of Basqueness, but they also have never thought about being anything else, so it’s
what’s been said, isn’t it, that it’s something natural]
Others made a clear connection between a sense of ‘Self’ and a sense of identification with a
given political project. This was particularly evident in the Basque Country, where proponents of
Basque independence considered the achievement of this goal to be the over-riding priority:
(Bilbao) P6: La intención de ser vasco…una intención del proyecto del futuro [The intention to
be Basque…an intention to plan for the future]
(Mold-British Wales) P2: Yeah, well, I kind of disagree with (P3), because she said that the
language is more important than us being, beth yw annibynnol? [How do you say independent
(in English?)]
P3: Uh, independent
P2: Independent…I think it’s as important being independent, because people, like, don’t know
about us…it makes me really sad when we go to other countries and everyone just associates us
with England, or with Britain, but Britain is really just English, spread around, that’s what British
is, it’s just English, because the Welsh don’t really count in that in any way…when I go to
Ireland…I don’t know, sometimes I maybe think to myself that I’d rather be in the situation that
Ireland are in…everyone knows about Ireland, and they still have a strong…traditions and stuff…
Perhaps most significantly, a large number of participants in both nations made strong
connections between the ‘Self’ and their native language, either Welsh or Basque:
History, 6.1, Nationalism and Separatism, (1971), 15-33, 35-51, and Ludger Mees, Nationalism, Violence and
Democracy: The Basque Clash of Identities (Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003).
62
(Bilbao) P6: Yo creo que al final, hay diferentes elementos relacionados con lo que es [de ser
vasco]…muy significativamente el lenguaje, porque cual es la gran diferencia de otras culturas,
es lo que es más especial de una identidad como vasco.
[I think that, at the end of the day, there are different elements connected to what it is to be
Basque…the language is highly significant, because that represents the greatest difference to
other cultures, it’s what is most special about an identity like Basqueness…]
(Elizondo) P2: Sí que es verdad que si el País Vasco perdiera su idioma, no sé si Euskal Herria se
pensaría de la misma manera, porque puedes decir que si te sientes vasco y tienes un país, pero
si no tienes ni un idioma proprio…entonces eso se pierde [It’s true that if the Basque Country
lost its language, I’m not sure if we would think about Euskal Herria in the same way, because
you can say that you feel Basque and that you have a country, but if you don’t have your own
language…so it gets lost]
In both cases, the point was made that in traditional Basque and Welsh, the word for Welsh
(Cymro/Cymraes) and Basque (Euskaldun/Euskalduna) translate as Welsh/Basque-speaking person.
Modern Welsh compensates for this change with the use of Cymro/Cymraes-di Cymraeg (Welsh
person who does not speak Welsh); however, the connection in many participants’ minds between
Welshness/Basqueness and speaking the language was impossible to deny, even when it came
under scrutiny, engendered discomfort or even carried the potential for severe offence:
(Aberystwyth-Y Fro Gymraeg) P1: I think the language really helps as well, speaking the native
language
P2: Yeah, I definitely agree…I think, um, the language is a big part of it, which really is a bit
controversial because you can’t really say that people who don’t speak Welsh aren’t Welsh, but
then again, I think that it is a big part, for me personally, it’s a big, big part of being Welsh… I
was brought up on the border with England, in the Welshpool area, and so that’s an area where
the Welsh language is very much a second language…Welsh was very much in the minority
definitely, so I think I just, sort of, grew up getting used to that…but, then again, you can’t
classify people because of a language, it’s, um, it’s not, because, for lots of people, it’s not really
their fault that they can’t actually speak Welsh, so it’s hard, you can’t actually say to someone
oh you’re not Welsh because you can’t actually speak Welsh, that’s a bit…
(Llanystumdwy-Y Fro Gymraeg) M: Do you think if the Welsh language dies out that Welshness
dies out as well?
P6: It’s a different kind of Welshness, I’d have to think about that
P1: Well, the Welsh language is part of our identity, you see, isn’t it, it’s a treasure, isn’t it, you
know, it’s a part of us
P6: It’d be a depressed Welshness
P5: It’d be a narrower Welshness, I think
63
However, the relationship between the ‘Self’ and speaking the native language was by no
means an uncomplicated one; for instance, in both countries, it was suggested that knowing the
language could not compensate for not supporting the future of the nation, however understood:
(Bilbao) P1: Yo soy nacionalista, y me ha pasado, en Bilbao, llegar, había una manifestación de
ciento veinte mil personas, y cruza con algún inmigrante…que me pregunte qué pasa hoy…no le
puedo considerar vasco…porque no está… en el mundo referencial que afecta al País Vasco
[I’m a nationalist, and once in Bilbao, there was a demonstration with one hundred and twenty
thousand people, and I came across an immigrant…who asked me what was going on…I couldn’t
consider that person to be Basque…because they are not in the same frame of reference that
affects the Basque Country]
P6: Yo creo que, más bien que un elemento, tendrán que ser un conjunto de cosas… jamás les
considero como vasco, porque están actuando contra el pueblo vasco.
[I think that, rather than just one element, it has to be a collection of things…I would never
consider them to be Basque, because they are acting against the interests of the Basque
people.]
(Mold-British Wales) P4: But then the dilemma comes with someone who’s actively involved
and engaged in the Welsh language as a Welsh fluent speaker who believes in all things that the
British establishment advocate, which is royalty, British political parties…if you look at a political
point of view, if I could just give you two examples, as we were saying earlier, if you’ve got a
fiercely strong supporter of the language who is always speaking Welsh and is voting, I don’t
know, um, Conservative, and then you’ve got someone from the Valleys who can’t speak a word
of Welsh and is voting Plaid Cymru, you know, who’s to say who is the most Welsh of both?
Language-based discussions therefore courted much controversy; indeed, in one instance
the concept of a Welsh person consciously disparaging the language prompted an extreme reaction:
(Llanystumdwy-Y Fro Gymraeg) M: And what if you were then to act as an obstacle to the Welsh
language, to Welsh language development, to the Welsh language maintenance even, what if
you’re Welsh in the Valleys, and you can’t stand listening to Welsh people talk
P3: You’re an arsehole, but you’re still Welsh
P6: I remember being in the pub…with my friend…gabbling on in Welsh, and this woman
screams outside saying “stop speaking that horrible language!”
P4: Well, no, sorry, I, no, I wouldn’t say she’s Welsh at all, if you’re going to slag off the
language, you can’t call yourself Welsh, so there we go, that’s the answer to that.
(Laughter)
P4: You’re not Welsh-speaking, and you’re fine with the language, and you’re respectful, then
you can be Welsh, yes, but everybody else can just be bombed.
Interestingly, the question of place of birth as a requirement for Basqueness and Welshness
was not widely advanced, with greater emphasis placed alternatively on ancestry, language ability or
political persuasion. One Welsh participant (a Welsh-speaking, Welsh-born West Walian) did
64
mention being born in Wales; however, this was not in the context of suggesting that place of birth
was a requirement for holding an identity:
(Tumble-Welsh Wales) P2: I used to get really annoyed in school, because my mother is English,
well, (laughs) my mother is English (does in-air quotation marks) because she was born in
England…and some of the kids in school found this out, and they were like, well, you’re not
Welsh, and I’d get really annoyed, because I was born in Wales, so if I was born in Wales, why
aren’t I Welsh, if because she was born in England, she is English…I would say well yes I am
Welsh and I speak Welsh and I live in Wales and I’ve always lived in Wales…I think if you’re born
in Wales, then surely you’re Welsh
Crucially, only a small minority had a more inclusive understanding of identity as living and
working in that nation:
(Bilbao) P3: Vivir y trabajar aquí…llevar un tipo de…compromiso con el futuro del
país…compromiso como persona que vive en una comunidad [Living and working here…having a
kind of commitment to the country…a commitment as a person who lives in a community]
That only a few participants shared such an understanding potentially suggested that, for
the vast number of participants, national identities are understood in highly primordialist, arguably
exclusive, terms.
Fundamentally, however, there was a widespread feeling, particularly in Wales, that national
identities are generally intangible and difficult to define in concrete terms:
(Newport-British Wales) P3: Welsh. Just am Welsh. I consider myself more Welsh than British.
Um, difficult question, isn’t it
P4: It’s part of who you are where you’ve been and where you’re going, isn’t it, it’s just part of
everyday life, not something you necessarily label or talk about very often
P5: It’s not something you can sum up in one word
Indeed, many identified a ‘feeling’ of identity more so than a substantive understanding:
(Mold-British Wales) P4: It’s a sense of community, it’s a sense of belonging, of feeling, of
history and traditions and culture
(Caerphilly-Welsh Wales) P4: Well, I think it’s having all, sort of, your ancestors Welsh
P3: A sense of belonging
P1: It’s a feeling I think, as well
As such, it was suggested that it might be enough simply to ‘want’ to be Welsh or Basque in order to
qualify:
(Bayonne) P3: Le désir d’être basque, d’abord [The desire to be Basque, first of all]
(Tumble-Welsh Wales) P1: I think it depends on how you feel…it may depend on where you
grow up and what you’re entrenched in, I suppose…I think…it’s what defines you, it’s what you
want to be, I think
65
However, this too was challenged; indeed, in an interesting exchange, it was suggested that selfidentification might prove illusory when confronted with reality:
(Bilbao) P6: Yo creo que, tu ser… no se hace por una conciencia independiente de tu mismo,
sino por tu actuación, entonces si yo, me puedo creer que soy un león, pues luego me defines y
digo que yo soy un león, pues es evidente que yo, yo no soy un león, entonces…es algo que es
tan complicado para caracterizarlo…muy cerradamente…yo creo que, solo creer que tú eres
vasco…no eres vasco
[I think that, who you are, it’s not determined but something independent of you, but by your
actions, so for example I can think that I’m a lion, so I define myself and I say that I’m a lion,
well, obviously, I’m not a lion, so, it’s something that’s really difficult to define so discreetly, I
don’t think that you’re Basque just because you think you’re Basque]
This participant is suggesting that it is not enough simply to think you are Basque or to want to be
Basque, if the reality of your being challenges that assertion, thereby in turn highlighting the power
of external categorisation. Another participant elaborated on this point:
(Bilbao) P3: Si yo creo que soy un león, soy un león, no, si yo pienso que soy un león, y además
estoy en un grupo de leones, entonces, soy un león [If I think I’m a lion, I’m a lion, no, but if I
think I’m a lion, and I’m also in a group of lions, then I’m a lion]
Here again, however, things were not clear, as another participant felt that a ‘lion’ is a lion,
independent of whether they find themselves in a group of lions:
(Bilbao) P5: Pero soy un león independientemente [But I’m a lion independent of that]
All in all, this exchange challenges the notion that thinking or feeling Basque may be enough to
constitute Basqueness, particularly in the eyes of others. Indeed, it suggests that it requires
acceptance of other Basques:
(Bilbao) P5: Yo me siento de aquí, tan tengo esa conciencia, tan tengo esa voluntad, también se
habían hecho aceptados, hay que ser aceptados como miembros de esa unidad, de esa nación
[I feel I am from here, I have this feeling, this desire, and I’ve also been accepted, you have to be
accepted as a member of this group, of this nation]
Overall, a wide range of conceptualisations was advanced in response to being asked to
define Welshness and Basqueness. It is evident that none of these conceptualisations was without
its difficulties; all carried caveats and were hotly debated amongst participants. Consequently, this
analysis served to underline the complexity and multiplicity of the ‘Self’ as identified by focus group
participants; all of the groups struggled to comprehensively define Welshness and Basqueness in a
way that did not engender some form of complication.
66
The ‘Other’
Evidently, the ‘Self’ is by no means an easy concept to define, nor is it a simple task to come to a
universally agreed-upon understanding. Discussions and debates were therefore dominated by
disagreement. Consequently, what became overwhelmingly apparent was not the similarity
between participants’ understandings of the ‘Self’ (although similarities in reasoning were common
to both nations, particularly in terms of the language) but their shared sense of collective difference
to the ‘Other’. This is evident in exchanges above, in relation to discussions on Englishness and
Britishness and on the relationship to the Spanish state.
However, caution should be exercised in such a straightforward assumption; in fact, exactly
what represented the ‘Other’ was not always clear. This was particularly apparent in the Welsh case,
where the concept of dual ‘Others’ was particularly apparent through the complexities and
inconsistencies associated with England and Britain. Some participants believed that is was possible
to be Welsh and British, because British is different from English:
(Tumble-Welsh Wales) P1: The way we’re structured, we’re stronger being…British, than we are
just being Welsh…I wouldn’t say I’m just Welsh, I am Welsh and British, because I think we’re
stronger together than we ever will be apart
(Swansea-Welsh Wales) P2: I feel that Wales is, kind of, very much part of Britain…I feel part of
Britain, I don’t feel just Welsh…I feel almost like if I wasn’t part of Britain, I’d feel almost left
behind…I feel very much part of Britain as much as I feel proud to be Welsh, I feel just as proud
of being British…We’re definitely not English…I don’t think of myself as English at all, because
I’m not, but I do feel that I’m British, because I am, because Wales is in Britain, and I’m part of
the British Empire, so I’m just as British as I am Welsh
Others were completely opposed to this view, as they conflated Britishness with Englishness,
or recognised that others made this conflation and were offended by it. As a consequence, many
presented highly negative conceptualisations:
(Aberystwyth-Y Fro Gymraeg) P1: I always get a sense of British as something Englishdominated, in my opinion, English values, English customs, the Queen…so it’s not equal for the
Wales…I don’t really, I don’t like the Union Jack, to be honest, it’s too assimilationist…the
stereotypical brand of Britishness is the majority of the time is Englishness…so that’s why I can’t
define myself as British, because it’s so London, England-dominated, in my opinion… I don’t feel
British, it’s, uh, it’s too English for me
(Mold-British Wales) P4: It means nothing to me, the Royal Family…I don’t believe that Britain is
a nation, I believe that England is a nation, and I believe that Wales is a nation, it’s just, it’s a
fact that through the Act of Union, nations came together to have this, um, forsaken union
really, with the Royal Family at the head of it, that’s what it is for me
P6: I’m not anti-British in theory, but Britishness is just a euphemism for Englishness as far
as I’m concerned
67
(Llanystumdwy- Y Fro Gymraeg) P3: I see it as a thing of the past, and something that’s been
enforced…historically, I feel that Scotland and Ireland and Wales became part of something they
don’t really want to be, and I think maybe England has lost its own identity as part of that,
because I think English people tend to be, and I know I’m generalising, but they want to keep
the union together, so I feel like, why don’t they have their own sense of English identity
because there’s nothing wrong with being English…why don’t they want an independent
England, like Scotland might want an independent Scotland, or Wales might, why don’t they
have that identity
(Caernarfon-Y Fro Gymraeg) M: What would you say that British means?
P2: Well, I don’t know any more
P7 and P8: English
P1: British is different to English, isn’t it
P2: Yes it is
P7: It is for us, but for the English it isn’t
All: No, oh no
P7: The English think that English and British mean the same
(Llanystumdwy-Y Fro Gymraeg) P5: I don’t think it’s English people themselves that see English
and British synonymously; I think it’s more the media
P6: The media’s annoying
P5: It’s, it’s, it’s always the same, if somebody does something good, from Wales or Scotland,
they’re British, aren’t they, if they’re guilty of a crime, they suddenly become Welsh
If there is then some confusion with regards to Britain, it seems that what the majority can
agree on is that they are not English; indeed anti-English views were highly prevalent; one
participant, when asked whether there were any consequent responsibilities or obligations, stated:
(Tumble-Welsh Wales) P1: Explain you’re not English…our mission in life…being Welsh…[is] to
explain to them that it’s not all about England
Other participants were equally vocal in their distaste for Englishness:
(Caerphilly-Welsh Wales) P4: If people say are you English, we get very offended
P1: I get very offended
P5: No, we’re not English
(Caernarfon-Y Fro Gymraeg) P1: Mind you, when we go abroad, well, I’ve always found anyway,
if I say I’m Welsh, I’m accepted readily, but if I said I was English, the eyes roll
(Murmurs of agreement-Laughter)
P7: I would never say, I would never say I was English!
P1: No!
(Laughter)
68
P7: In fact, I remember driving up a one-way street the wrong way in France, one day, and
somebody shouted at us ‘oh les Anglais!’, (laughter), and (name of daughter) shouted through
the windows ‘no we’re Welsh!’, and I was going, ‘let them think we’re English!’ (laughter), when
I’m doing the wrong thing, let them think we’re English!
Indeed, none of the participants self-identified as Welsh and English, including one
participant who was born in England and did not feel Welsh, preferring to self-identify as ‘More
British than Welsh’. This suggests an appreciation of a consistent ‘Other’ in England and an
inconsistent ‘Other’ in Britain, whereby the latter can only be accepted and identified with if it is
understood to be different from the former.
Such convictions were presented with similar vigour as those who said they were not
Spanish; indeed, several participants framed the ‘Other’ of Spain in highly negative terms:
(Bilbao) P1: Para mí, ser español…actualmente, significa negar que haya una nación vasca, y ser
francés también…no puedo compartir el sentimiento español [For me, being Spanish today
means to deny that the Basque nation exists, being French means that as well…I can’t share the
feeling of Spanishness]
P5: Para mí es un antagonismo…lo considero…vasco, perteneciendo a la nación vasca, español,
perteneciendo a la nación española…puede ser diferente, porque cada uno tiene su
nivel…pero…en mi opinión, tanto nivel que hay, algún momento, te vas a enfrentar a un
antagonismo…como bajo concepto político, perteneciendo a naciones diferentes es algo
imposible…hay algo que choca, que no encaja bien [For me, it’s antagonistic…I see Basqueness
as belonging to the Basque nation, and Spanishness as belonging to the Spanish nation…it may
be different because it’s at different levels for everyone, but in my opinion, whatever level
you’re at, at some point, you are going to come up against an antagonism…as a basic political
concept, it’s not possible to belong to two different nations…something clashes, something
doesn’t fit well]
Indeed, when asked about flexibility within the Spanish constitution to allow for expression
of identities, severe antipathy towards the Spanish state and constitution was displayed, particularly
in relation to its treatment of Euskera:
(Bilbao) P1: Lo de las nacionalidades, eso es una trampa…se vea claramente con Cataluña…se le
permite ser catalán, pero solo…al mismo tiempo son es español…no puedes tener la
nacionalidad catalana fuera de la nación española, porque es la nación española la que te
permite ser catalán [The nationality thing is a trap, that’s clear to see with Catalonia, you’re
allowed to be Catalan, but only if you’re Spanish at the same time, you can’t be Catalan outside
of the Spanish nation, because it’s the Spanish nation that allows you to be Catalan]
P4: Las idiomas, estamos obligados, todos, saber el español, pero el vasco, tiene solo…derecho
[In terms of language, we all have to speak Spanish, but we only have the right to speak Basque]
Other participants felt that being Spanish and Basque was however perfectly understandable, even
expected:
69
(Vitoria) P6: Vamos con la normalidad que es perfectamente compatible ser vasco y español, me
parece que es con absoluta normalidad, evidentemente uno se puede sentirse más español o
más vasco, o no tan español con un español a Madrid, pero vamos yo creo que no sea
incompatible, todo lo contrario…creo que las identidades, uno se puede sentir vasco y español,
uno más vasco, es todo muy complejo, y eso un mix, es un mix…para mí, es compatible ser
vasco y español [It’s completely normal that it’s perfectly compatible to be Basque and Spanish,
this seems to be completely normal to me, obviously someone can feel more Spanish or more
Basque, or not as Spanish as a Spaniard in Madrid, but I don’t think it’s incompatible, quite the
opposite…I think with identities, it’s possible to feel Basque and Spanish, or more Basque, it’s all
very complex, it’s a mix, it’s a mix, for me, being Basque and Spanish is compatible]
For others in the group, however, this position was completely unacceptable, in an exchange
that highlights the mutual incompatibility of different conceptualisations of Basqueness:
(Vitoria) P5: Yo soy vasca y nada más [I’m Basque and nothing else]
P4: No soy española…para nada [I’m not Spanish, no way]
P5: Yo soy vasca y no puedo ser algo más con esto [I’m Basque and I can’t be anything else with
that]
The situation in relation to France was less clear-cut, highlighting the diversity of opinions
across the different areas of the Basque Country:
(Bilbao) P2: En mi caso, mis padres son franceses…para mí, esto en el Euskal Herria, y eso es,
pero hay convivencia también…cuando yo estoy en casa, hablo en francés, y hablo de cosas
franceses, y no tengo el paradigma vasco en mi casa…mis proyectos están relacionados
con…Euskal Herria, pero eso es una elección, y pienso que hay personas que pueden vivir…no
con los dos, pero…haciendo compromisos [In my case, my parents are French, for me, this is
Euskal Herria, and that’s how it is, but there is a sense of compromise as well, when I’m at
home, I speak French, and I talk about French things, and I don’t have the Basque paradigm in
my house, my plans are connected to Euskal Herria, but this is a choice, and I think there are
people who can live, not with both, but making compromises]
This more nuanced understanding was informed by personal knowledge and experience,
emphasising the idea of Basqueness being sometime a conscious choice that people are able to
adopt; certainly, the other group participants would have considered this person to be Basque as
they spoke Basque, came from Iparralde and believed in Basque independence. The fact that their
parents did not share these qualities seemed therefore to have less of a bearing on this participant’s
own personal qualification for Basqueness.
This was repeated in a focus group in Bayonne; one participant considered themselves to be
Basque and French:
(Bayonne) M: Donc, est-ce que, est-ce que vous pensez que c’est possible d’être français et
basque au même temps? [Do you think it’s possible to be both French and Basque at the same
time?]
P1: Moi, je vais vite répondre, pour moi oui, enfin, moi je le vis comme ça…c’est quelque chose
que je n’ai pas choisi au départ…et que j’ai intégré…par exemple, j’aime la langue française, j’ai
vécu un certain moment…en France, la France non-Basque, voilà…donc j’ai construit dans un
70
autre territoire où j’ai été, dans un certain moment, avec des amitiés profondes…qui existent
toujours [I’ll just answer quickly, for me, yes, that’s how I live, it’s something that I didn’t choose
from the beginning and that I integrated, for example, I love the French language, I lived for a
time in France, the non-Basque France, so I grew up in another country where I lived for a time,
with strong friendships that exist to this day]
However, this prompted clear discomfort amongst other participants:
(Bayonne) M: Mais est-ce que vous pensez que vous êtes nés en France, donc vous êtes
français? [But do you think you were born in the Basque Country, so you’re French?]
P1: Je suis né au Pays Basque, ici, le Pays Basque [I was born in the Basque Country, here, in the
Basque Country]
M: Donc ici c’est le Pays Basque mais est-ce que c’est la France aussi? [So here, this is the
Basque Country, but is it France as well?]
P1: Pour moi oui, pour moi oui, fin, après [For me, yes, for me, yes]
P3: Non, pour moi, ici c’est le Pays Basque [No, for me, this is the Basque Country]
There were a number of reasons offered for the other participants’ discomfort with the
concept of Frenchness; one was concerned with the lack of realisation on the part of some residents
that the Basque Country was, in fact, a different country:
(Bayonne) P4: Mais il y a des gens qui vivent ici…qui n’ont pas été intégrés, donc, les gens qui
vivent ici comme ils vivraient à Pau, comme ils vivraient à Bordeaux, ça importera le moindre
pensée, ils ont bien cherché le soleil, la plage, et, le bien-vivre, et pour moi, ces gens-là, ils
vivent ici comme ils vivraient ailleurs, comme ils vivraient en France, mais ils ne sont pas les
gens qui ont cette appartenance, cette racine, qui te font dire que ici c’est pas pour toi, comme
c’est Pau, comme c’est Bordeaux, comme c’est je ne sais pas où [There are people who live
here, who haven’t integrated, they live here in the same way as they would if they lived in Pau,
or in Bordeaux, they don’t give it the slightest thought, they’ve come looking for the sun, the
beach, the good life, and for me, those people, who live here as they would anywhere else, as
they would in France, they are not people who have this connection, these roots, and they
make you say to them that this place is not for them, as if it’s Pau, as if it’s Bordeaux, as if it’s
I don’t know where]
Consequently, it could therefore be argued that, given that the vast majority of participants
were able to agree only on their shared sense of difference as opposed to a collective assertion of
qualifying factors for Welshness or Basqueness. As had been made apparent, however, the reality is
much more nuanced; in fact, it would be a great over-simplification to assume that the ‘Self’ is
defined solely in opposition to the ‘Other’ given both the presence of multiple ‘Others’, towards
which different individuals may feel differently, and the fact that the same nominal ‘Other’, as with
the same nominal ‘Self’, may be understood in different ways.
71
Conclusion
The above discussion has served to highlight, in fairly stark terms, the multiplicity of the
same nominal ‘Self’ and ‘Other’ alongside the added complication of multiple ‘Others’, both in terms
of number and in terms of competing conceptualisations. Following a sociological framework and
adopting a dualistic approach, it has considered conceptualisations of both the ‘Self’ and the ‘Other’
as opposed to a sole focus on the ‘Other’. In so doing, it has emphasised the multiplicity of the ‘Self’
and explored the different ways in which the ‘Self’ is understood, as well as underlined the
widespread opposition to the ‘Other’, which contrastingly engenders general agreement.
However, although this may support that social anthropological theoretical position, which
places the emphasis on the need for the ‘Other’ due to the internal incoherence of the ‘Self’, this
article has equally demonstrated the multiple ways in which the ‘Other’ is understood and the
ensuing complications; for some nation members, the ‘Other’ can be understood so as not to pose a
threat to the ‘Self’, whereas for others, the opposite conceptualisation is advanced. As such, it
suggests that questioning whether it is possible to understand the ‘Self’ without the ‘Other’, and
whether the inability to define the ‘Self’ means that the ‘Other’ will always be required, is arguably
overly simplistic an approach, given the complexities encountered when faced with competing
conceptualisations of both concepts.
Further, there may be other potential consequences engendered by this myriad of
multiplicities, particularly with regard to nation-building projects. It can be assumed that, in order
for a nation-building project to be successful, there must be some evidence of common
understanding of what constitutes that nation; indeed, in political terms, incoherent messages are
arguably less likely to capture the public’s imagination and inspire them into support for the nation
in the future than those which are clear and readily identified with. However, the achievement of
such coherence in the framing and development of a national consciousness seems to present
significant challenges, in light of consideration of the sheer number of competing and often mutually
exclusive definitions of the ‘Self’ on offer, alongside the strength of feeling evident in discussion on
the topic.
It may therefore be suggested that complexity of definition, and the various caveats and
nuances associated with each advanced conceptualisation, may offer some contributory explanatory
power in terms of the relative lack of success of nationalist projects. This may certainly be the case in
Wales, where it is evident that advancing one definition of Welshness, such as a conflation of
Welshness with the Welsh language, may risk causing great offence, for instance to those Welsh
identifiers who do not speak the language. As such, rather than attempt to utilise a version of the
72
‘Self’, given that there is an accepted multiplicity, it may be the nation-building projects seek to
employ a version of the ‘Other’ in order to unify nation members. Indeed, the use of the French and
Spanish states in Basque nationalist understanding is highly in evidence in discussions on
Basqueness, as is opposition to Englishness, and occasionally Britishness when conflated with
Englishness, in discussions on Welshness. This may suggest that fear of or distaste for the ‘Other’
may prove an effective unifying tool in order to overcome the internal incoherence of the ‘Self’ and
progress a nation-building project.
Overall, focus group discussion on Welshness and Basqueness has clearly evidenced the
sheer myriad of different ways in which Welsh and Basque identifiers conceptualise their national
identity, underlying the theoretical proposition that the same nominal identity is capable of
engendering multiple understandings. At the same time, it has been made equally apparent that the
‘Other’ of France or Spain, Britain or England, is also by no means a straightforward concept, both in
terms of the existence of multiple ‘Others’ and the different ways in which they are understood. As
such to make direct linkages between the overriding influence of the ‘Other’ on the ‘Self’ may prove
erroneous, given the inherent complexities. Nevertheless, given that the presentation of multiples of
the same nominal ‘Self’ may pose challenges to nation-building projects in the future, it may be that
the ‘Other’ continues to be employed as a method of unification, in situations where the
advancement of one version of the ‘Self’ may prove detrimental to the achievement of a coherent
national consciousness.
Works cited
Andersen, Robert, ‘National Identity and Independence Attitudes: Minority Nationalism in Scotland
and Wales’, CREST Centre for Research into Elections and Social Trends Working Papers, 86,
(September 2001)
Barth, Frederick, ed, Ethnic Groups and Boundaries (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1969)
Billig, Michael, Banal Nationalism (London: Sage Publications, 1995)
Cohen, Anthony P. The Symbolic Construction of Community (London; New York: Routledge, 1985)
Coupland, Nikolas, Bishop, Hywel and Garrett, Peter, ‘One Wales? Reassessing Diversity in Welsh
Ethnolinguistic Identification’, Contemporary Wales, 18, (2006)
Fearon, James D. and Laitin, David D. ‘Violence and the Social Construction of Ethnic Identity’,
International Organisation, 54.4, (2000), pp. 845-877
Fenton, Steve, ‘Indifference towards National Identity: What young adults think about being English
and British’, Nations and Nationalism, 13.2, (2007), pp. 321-339
73
Guibernau, Montserrat, Nations Without States: Political Communities in a Global Age (Cambridge:
Polity Press, 1999)
Keating, Michael, ‘Stateless-Nation Building: Quebec, Catalonia and Scotland in the Changing State
System’, Nations and Nationalism, 3.4, (1997), pp. 689-717
Lecours, André, ‘Sub-state Nationalism in the Western World: Explaining Continued Appeal’,
Ethnopolitics: Formerly Global Review of Ethnopolitics, 11.3, (2012), pp. 268-286
McCrone, David, The Sociology of Nationalism (London; New York: Routledge, 1998)
Mees, Ludger, Nationalism, Violence and Democracy: The Basque Clash of Identities (Hampshire:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2003)
Moreno, Luis, ‘Scotland, Catalonia, Europeanisation and the “Moreno Question”’, Scottish Affairs, 4,
(Winter 2006), 1-21
Parekh, Bhikhu, ‘The Concept of National Identity’, New Community, 21.2, (1995), pp. 255-268
Payne, Stanley, ‘Catalan and Basque Nationalism’, Journal of Contemporary History, 6.1, Nationalism
and Separatism, (1971), pp. 15-33, 35-51
Smith, Anthony D. National Identity (London: Penguin, 1991)
Todd, Jennifer, ‘Social Transformation, Collective Categories and Identity Change’, Theory and
Society, 34.4, (August 2005), pp. 429-463
74
The Sins of the Father(land): Redefining Postmemory in Contemporary
Argentine Narrative
Laura May Webb
Swansea University: Department of Languages, Translation and Communication
Postmemory is an emerging concept in memory studies. Conceived in reference to the
memories of the children of Holocaust survivors, the application of the term to the memories
of other ‘post-generations’ is problematic – especially in the case of Argentina. This paper
examines the concept of postmemory and discusses the limitations of its definition thus far and
specifically in relation to the memories of the Argentine post-generation. The children born
during the last Argentine dictatorship are the children of survivors, of victims, and of the
disappeared. During the military repression of 1976 to 1983 an estimated 30,000 people were
kidnapped, tortured, murdered and disappeared, leaving a generation of children without
parents, raised in a culture of fear and silence which persisted long beyond the dictatorship.
This unique situation calls for a rethinking of what is meant by the term postmemory and a reexamination of its transmission, reception and manifestation. The impact of the military
dictatorship in Argentina, of mass disappearance and the ensuing trans-generational disruption
of memory transmission are evident in the literature produced by contemporary Argentine
authors. This paper explores how contemporary Argentine authors, in their search to define
themselves are at the same redefining what is meant by the term postmemory.
La Guerra Sucia
The time period to which my research relates is often referred to as La Guerra Sucia, or the
Dirty War and refers to the period of military dictatorship between 1976 and 1983. During these
years, the military enforced a brutal repression that employed the use of kidnapping, torture,
murder and disappearance and the establishment of clandestine detention centres in addition to
heavy censorship and intense propaganda.
Argentina’s history is characterised by political instability and difficult democratic rule
punctuated with frequent military intervention. This time however, the junta responsible for the
1976 coup did not simply seek to restore law and order, but had ambitious plans of its own which it
rather grandly called the ‘Proceso de Reorganización Nacional’ or National Reorganisation Process,
known simply as the ‘proceso’. As part of this proceso, the military targeted any individuals who fell
under their broad definition of the term ‘subversive’, basically anybody whose ideology differed
from their own. In reality, it was not only people deemed subversive by the military, but anybody
remotely connected to a suspect. This included many cases of mistaken identity and also the
targeting of anybody who may have upset or offended those in positions of power with many
75
instances of members of the military and police making full use of the opportunity to pursue
personal vendettas. An estimated 30,000 people were kidnapped, tortured, murdered or
disappeared during the military dictatorship.
The full extent of events is still coming to light. The process of revelation has been slow, a
result of a lack of commitment on the government’s behalf to investigate and punish the atrocities
committed, the military’s determination to withhold information which includes the destruction of
all official documents and an underlying culture of fear. In this context, the role played by
testimonial literature has been and continues to be of great significance.
Testimonio
Testimonio literature, or testimonios, are essentially works of witnessing. Testimonio refers
to a genre of literature that has been discussed as a specifically Latin American phenomenon,
perhaps because the political and cultural circumstances that typically precede works of this type are
so pertinent to Latin American countries. The term testimonio encompasses a wide variety of works
of various formats. John Beverley, a leading critic in this genre, states that:
Testimonio may include, but is not subsumed under, any of the following textual categories,
some of which are conventionally considered literature, others not: autobiography, autobiographical novel, oral history, memoir, confession, diary, interview, eyewitness report, life
11
history, novella-testimonio, nonfiction novel, or ‘factographic’ literature.
This definition illustrates the flexibility of the genre. However, it is taken for granted that
the subject of the testimonial work is a victim of a specific situation, as illustrated in this second
definition by George Yúdice:
Testimonial writing may be defined as an authentic narrative, told by a witness who is moved to
narrate by the urgency of a situation (e.g., war, oppression, revolution, etc.). Emphasising
popular oral discourse, the witness portrays his or her own experiences as an agent (rather than
12
as a representative) of a collective memory and identity.
My research explores the multiple manifestations of the testimonial voice in contemporary
Argentine narrative. One of these manifestations is that of postmemory. The particular type of
memory that this paper considers, if memory can be neatly divided into such types, is that of the
children of those who suffered state repression. The wider impact of events and how these are
remembered is a growing area of memory studies and has seen the implementation of terms such as
11
John Beverley, Testimonio: On the Politics of Truth (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2004), p. 31.
George Yúdice, ‘Testimonio and Postmodernism’, in The Real Thing: Testimonial Discourse and Latin America, ed.
by Georg M. Gugelberger (Durham: Duke University Press, 1996), p. 44.
12
76
multidirectional memory, absent memory, prosthetic memory and postmemory; the latter the
phrase most often applied to children of the so-called post-generation. This paper considers the
definition of postmemory, its suitability and applicability to the Argentine situation and the literary
manifestation of this type of memory.
What is postmemory?
The term postmemory is attributed to Marianne Hirsch, who defines it as ‘distinguished
from memory by generational distance and from history by deep personal connection’.13 Hirsch goes
on to explain that:
Postmemory characterises the experience of those who grow up dominated by narratives
that preceded their birth, whose own belated stories are evacuated by the stories of the previous
generation shaped by traumatic events that can be neither understood nor recreated.14
In accordance with Hirsch’s description, postmemory may also be described as inherited
memory, defined by familial link. However, this definition of postmemory and its restriction to a
familial or personal connection is questioned by Alejandra Serpente, who offers a broader definition
of the term, proposing that the concept of postmemory is ‘a symbolic transgenerational act of
memory transfer from one generation of survivors to a generation of secondary witnesses’15, and
calls for ‘an expansion of whom we consider as suitable memory characters […], broadening the
limits of the familial and what it means to belong to a “memory community”’.16
An important distinction between these definitions is to be found in the sense of inevitability
conveyed by Hirsch’s description and the suggestion in Serpente’s interpretation that it is a
conscious process, an act of memory transfer, something over which one has some control or
choice. The idea that postmemory, and therefore the trauma experienced by one generation, is
foisted upon the next, that it is a burden which they in turn must bear is prevalent in memory and
trauma studies.
13
Marianne Hirsch, Family Frames: Photography, Narrative and Postmemory (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University
Press, 1997), p. 22.
14
Ibid., p. 22.
15
Alejandra Serpente, ‘The Traces of “Postmemory” in Second-Generation Chilean and Argentinean Identities’, in
The Memory of State Terrorism in the Southern Cone: Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, ed. by Francesca Lessa and
Vincent Druliolle (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), p. 133.
16
Ibid., p. 133.
77
Jürgen Reulecke traces this notion back to Freud and his ‘exhortation to consider how a
generation transfers its specific mental problems to the next generation’17 and suggests that it may
not simply be the second generation who inherit this trauma and that ‘after experiences of major
upheaval, the aftershock can be felt ‘into the third and fourth generation,’ as it is said in the Old
Testament’.18 María Jesús Martínez-Alfaro states definitively that ‘survivors’ descendants cannot
extricate themselves from the traumatic experiences gone through by their parents.’19, yet other
critics argue that the trauma experienced by the second generation is not the same as that
experienced by their parents and that there is no transmission of trauma as such, but a new trauma
which can be ascribed to the fact that:
The symbolic order into which they [the children] enter in childhood is fundamentally
inconsistent or diffuse. They do not have clear frames of reference at their disposal with which
they can easily make sense of the world. For them it is never really clear where stories of
20
murder and humiliation stop and reality begins.
Serpente would appear to agree with the idea that the second generation do not
appropriate the trauma of their parents. However, rather than claiming a secondary or unique
trauma distinctive to this category, she instead believes that ‘this so-called “post” generation has
forged alternative ways of overcoming the trauma experienced by their parents’ generation’.21
The ways in which postmemory impacts upon the second-generation and how this
postmemory manifests itself is a contentious issue, and it appears to have at its root the question of
distance, not only temporal or generational distance, but distance in terms of appropriation of and
identification with the trauma in question. This question of appropriation is especially significant in
the context of emerging debate about who has the right to memory, how memory practices are
enacted and a growing concern with the commercialisation of memory. Hirsch emphasises the need
to ‘find the balance that allows the spectator to enter the image, to imagine the disaster, but that
disallows an overappropriative identification that makes distances disappear’,22 for when these
distances disappear, the result is the blurring of ‘context, specificity, responsibility, history’.23
17
Jürgen Reulecke, ‘Generation/Generationality, Generativity, and Memory’, in A Companion to Cultural Memory
Studies, ed. by Astril Erll and Ansgar Nünning (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2008), p. 122.
18
Ibid., p. 122.
19
María Jesús Martínez-Alfaro, ‘Narrating the Holocaust and its Legacy: The Complexities of Identity, Trauma and
Representation in Art Spiegelman’s Maus’, in Other People’s Pain: Narratives of Trauma and the Question of Ethics
ed. by Martin Modlinger and Philipp Sonntag (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2011), p. 93.
20
Ernst Van Alphen, ‘Second-Generation Testimony, Transmission of Trauma, and Postmemory’, Poetics Today, 27
(2006), 473-488 (p. 482).
21
Serpente, p. 135.
22
Marianne Hirsch, ‘Projected Memory’, in Acts of Memory: Cultural Recall in the Present, ed. by Mieke Bal,
Jonathan Crewe and Leo Spitzer (Hanover: University Press of New England, 1999), p. 10.
23
Ibid., p. 17.
78
For the purposes of my research, it is necessary to redirect the focus of discussion on
postmemory away from questions of appropriation and the result or impact of postmemory in
general and instead consider its origins and functions, and the act itself of remembering by the postgeneration. As most studies on postmemory have been carried out in relation to the Holocaust and
Jewish postmemory in particular, this shift in focus to the actual production of postmemory and the
individuals who produce post-memorial works is necessary to evaluate postmemory in a specifically
Argentine context given the peculiarity of the Argentine situation.
The most obvious distinction between the children of Holocaust survivors and those of the
Argentine post-genocide generation is the disruption of the trans-generational flow of information:
the generation from whom the post-generation are assumed to inherit their memories and/or
trauma are disappeared. So from where does the postmemory of the post-generation originate?
What are the sources of postmemory for this second generation? How does it manifest and why?
Do post-memorial works serve a different function in Argentina? These are all questions raised by
the application of the term postmemory, a term that, whilst generic, has been conceived in relation
to a specific historical situation, to an Argentine context. Second-generation post-memorial literary
works are not uncommon, and Argentine testimonio cannot claim innovative or revolutionary status
for works of this type. However, the trans-generational disruption described above means that the
status of the second-generation testimonio writer is peculiar and certainly distinct from that of other
second-generation post-memorial writers.
Origins and sources
In her study of postmemory in Argentina, Susana Kaiser identifies three main sources of
memory from which the post-generation reconstruct the past: ‘inter- and intragenerational dialogue
(including the extended family, friends, neighbourhood, and community), education, and the
communication media- the media broadly defined to include television, popular music, film, and
street demonstrations’.24 However memories from these sources not only conflict and contradict
one-another but have also changed over time, influenced by and reflecting not only personal but
political and societal changes.
Francesca Lessa explores this concept further in her identification of three critical junctures
that caused shifts in memory narratives circulating in the public scene. These junctures are ‘The
Return of Democracy’, ‘The Consolidation of Impunity’, and ‘Unresolved Justice Demands and the
24
Susana Kaiser, Postmemories of Terror (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), p. 3.
79
Irruption of the Past’.25 She also distinguishes six particular memory narratives: ‘War’, ‘Excesses’,
‘Two Demons’, ‘Pacification and Reconciliation’, ‘State Terrorism’, and ‘Justice and Impunity’.26
Whilst this type of classification or ordering may be useful in terms of examining shifts in memory
and their catalysts, the focus is on dominant, hegemonic memory. Whilst Kaiser narrows her field of
analysis to the memories of individuals, the individuals she chooses are what she terms ‘grey-zoners’
– not direct victims of the repression and neither human rights activists nor advocates of military
rule.27
Kaiser’s focus may be narrower, but her aim is similar to that of Lessa: ‘to facilitate a deeper
understanding of the processes of memory construction in wider sections of society’.28 In this
context of a quest for greater understanding and a wider debate over memory, and specifically
definition of postmemory, testimonio returns the focus to the individual and offers a unique insight
into not only the sources and origins of memory, but how this is then acted upon: how this memory
manifests and is reinterpreted and repackaged for the next generation. Surely the only way to know
the sources of memory for any particular group of people, in this case, the children of the
disappeared, is to consult them directly? Examination of dominant narratives, of generic sources,
overlooks the individual and marginalises the experiences and narratives of the post-generation.
Andrés Jaroslavsky addresses individuals’ memories in his collection of testimonies of the
‘children of the dictatorship in Argentina’. These witness accounts support Kaiser’s cited sources of
memory, but they also reveal the dominance of inter- and intragenerational dialogue in the shaping
of memory and also the nature of this dialogue. Much of the dialogue which informed the children
of their parents’ situation did not involve or include them directly. Often information would be
gleaned from overhearing adults talking or neighbourhood gossip. It also reveals how what was not
said was almost as important as that which was revealed, and the role individuals themselves played
in shaping their memory of events, either via their own direct memories or through imaginative
reconstruction. It demonstrates how the post-generation with direct links to state terror through
their parents are not simply passive recipients of memory but active constructors of the same.
Examination of individual testimony necessitates comprehension of the emotional impact of
both postmemory and what may be termed memory gaps. Therefore, in addition to the prevalent
themes identified by Kaiser: societal fears and silences, patterns of remembering and forgetting,
25
Francesca Lessa, Memory and Transitional Justice in Argentina and Uruguay (New York: Palgrave Macmillan,
2013), pp. 103-127.
26
Ibid., pp. 84-103.
27
Kaiser, p. 13.
28
Ibid., p. 13.
80
historical explanations, impunity, indifference, and justice)29¸ individual testimony uncovers themes
which are particular to those with direct experience and moves from a theoretical analysis to a
practical and personal understanding of the nature and impact of postmemory.
Themes
Throughout Jaroslavsky’s work, recurring themes which manifest include: the emotional
impact of growing up without parents, the sense of absence, social stigma and feelings of shame, lies
told to children, practical repercussions of disappearance, a need to connect with others in the same
situation, and the need to honour or continue their parents’ work e.g. social/political involvement.
These themes represent a common thread which runs throughout second-generation testimony and
can be understood as a uniting factor, an element which may in turn foster solidarity amongst those
affected. This broadens the remit of the discussion of postmemory, as it must be considered not
only as a theory, but as an activity which serves an important function. Source, manifestation and
function then, are elements of postmemory which deserve equal attention.
Identification of the sources from which the memory of the children of the disappeared may
be constructed and the themes which recur in both personal, direct memory and public, collective
memory, provide a framework for the analysis of literary manifestations of postmemory.
In
Argentine literature, these manifestations are varied and unique including examples such as the
autobiography of Argentine congresswoman Victoria Donda who tells her story of how, at the age of
27, she discovered that the only parents she had ever known were not in fact her parents; how she
had been born in Argentina’s notorious ESMA concentration camp and that she was one of the
hundreds of babies born to pregnant political prisoners, stolen by the military and handed over to
the families of military members or collaborators. Piecing together the history of her parents, in Me
llamo Victoria (My name is Victoria), Donda reconstructs their past whilst at the same time actively
constructing her own, from memories which are not hers but which will become hers; Laura Alcoba’s
autobiographical novel Casa de los Conejos (Rabbit House), which is told through the eyes of a child,
as the author’s seven year old self reconstructs and recreates her postmemories of events; Mariana
Eva Pérez’s ironic and humorous take on the dictatorship period in Diario de una princesa
Montonera (Diary of a Montonero Princess), which started as a blog but was published as a book in
2012 and proposes an alternative mode of remembrance, one that actively questions current
discourse and probes the limits of representation, which is taken a step further by Félix Bruzzone’s
fictional work Los topos (Moles or Spies), which resists the traditional, stereotypical representation
29
Ibid., p. 3.
81
of disappearance and particularly of what it means to be a child of disappeared parents confined to
a political context and constrained within a discourse of human rights, through the themes of
transvestism and displacement.
For each of these authors, all children of desaparecidos, postmemory is and means
something different, and their works, whilst varied in format, content and approach, all contribute
to the discussion on postmemory, demonstrating the breadth of the term, questioning its
representation and in the process, redefining what is meant by the term postmemory.
Works cited
Beverley, John, Testimonio: On the Politics of Truth (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,
2004)
Hirsch, Marianne, ‘Projected Memory’, in Acts of Memory: Cultural Recall in the Present, ed. by
Mieke Bal, Jonathan Crewe and Leo Spitzer (Hanover: University Press of New England, 1999)
Hirsch, Marianne, Family Frames: Photography, Narrative and Postmemory (Cambridge, Mass:
Harvard University Press, 1997)
Kaiser, Susana, Postmemories of Terror (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005)
Lessa, Francesca, Memory and Transitional Justice in Argentina and Uruguay (New York: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2013)
Martínez-Alfaro, María Jesús, ‘Narrating the Holocaust and its Legacy: The Complexities of Identity,
Trauma and Representation in Art Spiegelman’s Maus’, in Other People’s Pain: Narratives of Trauma
and the Question of Ethics ed. by Martin Modlinger and Philipp Sonntag (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2011)
Reulecke, Jürgen, ‘Generation/Generationality, Generativity, and Memory’, in A Companion to
Cultural Memory Studies, ed. by Astril Erll and Ansgar Nünning (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2008)
Serpente, Alejandra, ‘The Traces of “Postmemory” in Second-Generation Chilean and Argentinean
Identities’, in The Memory of State Terrorism in the Southern Cone: Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay,
ed. by Francesca Lessa and Vincent Druliolle (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011)
Van Alphen, Ernst, ‘Second-Generation Testimony, Transmission of Trauma, and Postmemory’,
Poetics Today, 27 (2006), 473-488
Yúdice, George, ‘Testimonio and Postmodernism’, in The Real Thing: Testimonial Discourse and Latin
America, ed. by Georg M. Gugelberger (Durham: Duke University Press, 1996)
82
The Extent of Nicene Orthodox Hostility to Arianism in the Balkans: The
Strange Case of Eugippius’ Commemoratorium
Nicholas Mataya
Swansea University: Department of Classics, Ancient History and Egyptology
Abstract
After 325, Christianity was divided against itself as different groups within the
Church advocated Arian or Nicene definitions of orthodox faith. The response to Arianism
exhibited by Severinus of Noricum (modern Austria) in Eugippius’ Commemoratorium (means
of remembrance), a work written in the early sixth century, is atypical in the Nicene orthodox
literary tradition. Nicene orthodox authors in the fourth to sixth centuries of Christianity
generally considered Arians to be a hostile ‘other.’ Eugippius, however, describes a
relationship between the Nicene orthodox Severinus and the Arians of Noricum that is
extraordinarily amicable. In fact, Severinus can be shown to have little regard for doctrinal
differences at all.
The study will begin by discussing the presence of Arianism in the Balkans
and early Nicene responses to it by authors such as Hilary of Poitiers and Ambrose of Milan.
Then, the depiction of Arians by Eugippius in the Commemoratorium will be examined,
highlighting episodes where doctrinal differences seem not to matter. This will be explored in
the context of Eugippius’ known relationship with schismatic Christians. It will be shown that
early Nicene orthodox authors virulently disapproved of Arianism and attempted to ‘other’ its
practitioners, and that this ‘othering’ of, and implicit hostility to, Arianism reaches even those
Nicene orthodox churchmen who seem to be sympathetic to its practitioners. This paper will
examine why this hostility seems to matter so little in Eugippius’ account of Severinus.
The Extent of Nicene Orthodox Hostility to Arianism in the Balkans
After 325, Christianity was divided against itself as different groups within the Church advocated
Arian or Nicene definitions of orthodox faith. The response to Arianism exhibited by Severinus of
Noricum in Eugippius’ Commemoratorium (means of remembrance), a work written in the early
sixth century about the holy man Severinus of Noricum (c. 410 – 482), is atypical in the Nicene
orthodox literary tradition. While most Nicene orthodox authors are extremely hostile to Arians,
Eugippius describes a relationship between the Nicene orthodox Severinus and the Arians of
Noricum that is quite amicable. In fact, Severinus can be shown to have little regard for doctrinal
differences at all. This paper will begin by explaining the Arian context in the region that Severinus
was active: the Balkans. It will then survey the polemical response to Arianism by two prolific and
important Nicene orthodox authors and churchmen: Hilary of Poitiers and Ambrose of Milan.
Finally, it will examine the interaction between Severinus and the Arians of Noricum and the
surrounding provinces. Severinus is unique in the Christological crisis.
83
The fourth century debates over Christology, the way to understand the person(s) and nature(s)
of Jesus Christ, were filled with half-truths, misrepresentations, and blatant lies. For this reason, a
number of the terms that have come down to us today, and are ever-present in the scholarship of
this period, are problematic. I will not create new terms for these concepts in this paper, but I will
offer alternate definitions for three of these terms. The first term is ‘Arian,’ which will refer to any of
the multitude of theological understandings in the fourth century that hold Christ to be some sort of
creature, or created being, but does not necessarily imply support for the teachings of Arius. The
second term is ‘Homoian,’ which will be used to refer to Arians who preferred the term homoiousios
(of like essence) to the term homoousios (of same essence) as a description of Christ’s relationship
with the Father.
The final term is ‘Nicene,’ which deserves special mention. This term does not
refer to those who held to the Nicene Creed, as two of the major players in the ‘Nicene’ camp,
Marcellus of Ancyra and Photinus of Sirmium, would be considered heretics by Nicene and Arian
Christians who came after them, and the Nicene bishops rarely used the Nicene Creed until the late
350s, and it did not become widely viewed as an orthodox creed until after the Council of Ariminum
in 359.30 Instead, I will use the definition of Nicene orthodox given by Athanasius of Alexandria in his
De Decretis (known in English as the Defense of the Nicene Definition): ‘He who does not hold the
doctrines of Arius,’ bearing in mind that Athanasius composed his definition for reasons antithetical
to this paper.31
The Balkan provinces of the Roman Empire were very involved in the Christological debates
between Nicene and Arian definitions of the orthodox faith. Throughout the fourth century, many
ecclesiastical councils took place in the Balkans, including the Council of Serdica held in 343 and
Councils of Sirmium held in 351, 357, and 358. Further, many Balkan bishops took part in these
councils, and many of the leaders of Arianism were from the Balkans, including Ursacius of
Singidunum, Valens of Mursa, Germinius of Sirmium, and the Gothic bishop of Moesia, Ulfila.
Additionally, the barbarians that invaded the Balkans, if they were Christian at all, were Arians.
Understandably, this led to a polemical reaction from Nicene Christians.
Hilary of Poitiers (c. 300 – c. 368), a bishop from Gaul, is a prolific writer against Arianism.
He is also important for preserving a number of key documents related to the fourth century
Christological crisis. Hilary’s most significant anti-Arian work is Against Valens and Ursacius, a work
which has only survived in fragments and was written against two Balkan leaders of the Homoian
30
Daniel H. Williams, Ambrose of Milan and the End of the Nicene-Arian Conflicts (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995), p.
7.
31
Athanasius of Alexandria, De Decretis, 20, in David M. Gwynn, The Eusebians: The Polemic of Athanasius of
Alexandria and the Construction of the "Arian Controversy" (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), p. 169.
84
Arian movement, Valens of Mursa and Ursacius of Singidunum. Hilary states that the creeds of the
Arians are ‘fraudulent, heretical, and […] full of poison.’32 All who accept Arian creeds, even those
who have been coerced or misled, are heretics.33 He states that those who fail to condemn Arians
are no better than Arians, and that they should be considered to be Arians.34 Hilary describes Valens
as a petulant child who bullies older bishops and makes it so that nothing can be accomplished. 35
Further, Hilary was exiled from his city for his defense of Nicene orthodoxy. Hilary’s Letter to the
Emperor Constantius acts as a defense against Hilary’s exile. He argues that he has been punished
by ‘impious’ Arians who are trying to lead Constantius into ruin.36
Ambrose (337 – 397), bishop of Milan, was one of the most important and prolific authors of
the Christological crisis. He became one of the greatest defenders of Nicene orthodoxy in the fourth
century. His most important anti-Arian work is the De fide (on the faith), a work written to the
Emperor Gratian in response to a request from Gratian that Ambrose explain to him the Christian
faith. Ambrose’s attitude to Arianism is incredibly hostile. In the beginning of his De fide, Ambrose
accuses Arians of being polytheists, i.e. pagans.37 Arians believe Christ to be a ‘strange god.’38
Ambrose argues, however, that pagans are better than Arians, because pagans do not believe that
their gods are created beings.39 Arians are ‘reckless.’40 Ambrose claims that Arians ‘insult’ Christ by
saying he is unlike the Father.41 The ‘blasphemy’ of the Arians means that there can be no ‘hope for
pardon.’42 Arians are ‘black dogs’ who hide in a ‘monster’s cave.’43 Arians are ‘mad.’44 Arians have a
‘murderer’s intent’ to kill Christ.45 Arians ‘slander and hate’ God.46 Ambrose goes so far as to claim
32
Hilary of Poitiers, Against Valens and Ursacius in Opera 4, ed. Alfred Feder, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum
Latinorum 65 (Vienna, Geroldus, 1916), 1.8.4. Note: For all works of Hilary cited in this paper, I am using the
organization of the documents structured by Lionel Wickham in Hilary of Poitiers: Conflicts of Conscience and Law in
the Fourth-century Church.
33
Ibid., 2.8.
34
Ibid., 2.20.1.
35
Ibid., 1.11.3.
36
Hilary of Poitiers, Letter to the Emperor Constantius in Opera 4, ed. Alfred Feder, Corpus Scriptorum
Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 65 (Vienna, Geroldus, 1916), 1.2.
37
Ambrose of Milan, De Fide ad Gratianum Augustum, ed. by Otto Faller, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum
Latinorum 78 (Vienna: Hoelder-Pichler-Tempsky, 1962), 1.6
38
Ibid., 1.69
39
Ibid., 1.85.
40
Ibid., 3.41.
41
Ibid., 1.35
42
Ibid., 1.38.
43
Ibid., 1.47.
44
Ibid., 1.100.
45
Ibid., 1.114.
46
Ibid., 1.134.
85
that Arians are inhuman. They look like men, but are ‘full of brutish foolishness.’47 Arians have ‘no
excuse’ to save them from condemnation.48 Arians are liars who ‘pervert words’ to fool people.49
Heretics are ‘creatures of the Devil’ who should ‘speed…to his abode.’50 Ambrose goes so far as to
assert that the ‘temptations of the Devil are more tolerable than the arguments of the Arians.’ 51
Ambrose states that Arians are worse than the ‘detestable’ Jews who ‘crucified the Lord.’52 Like
Jews, Arians cheat God by ‘mixing water with wine.’53 Ambrose also holds that heresy leads to
invasion and weakens Rome. The predominance of Arianism in the Balkans has led to barbarians
invading throughout the region.54 Arius’ death is particularly damning in Ambrose’s mind. Arius’
‘bowels gushed out’ and ‘stained the foul lips...with which he denied Christ.’55 This death was ‘like
the punishment’ of Judas, the betrayer of Christ.56
Ambrose also uses Scripture to condemn the Arians. He claims that Paul’s Epistle to the
Romans was specifically written to condemn Arianism.57 Also in reference to Romans, Ambrose
argues that Christ did not become incarnate for Arians, but only for orthodox Christians.58 Arians are
the ‘Antichrist’ of Apocalypse, and they dishonor God and the martyrs while twisting Scripture.59
Ambrose goes so far as to argue that Nicene orthodox Christians should stop associating with Arians,
quoting the Epistle to Titus.60
Before proceeding into an investigation of the response to Arianism in Eugippius’
Commemoratorium (means of remembrance), better known by the erroneous title of Vita Severini, it
is first necessary to discuss the nature of the work itself. The Commemoratorium, written in the early
6th century, is not the life of Severinus, but rather a memorandum of Severinus’ actions in Noricum
(modern Austria) and its surrounding provinces until his death and the subsequent movement of his
remains to Italy. It tells us almost nothing of Severinus’ origins, other than that he came from
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
Ibid., 2.15.
Ibid., 2.44.
Ibid., 2.66.
Ibid., 2.119.
Ibid., 3.32.
Ibid., 3.38.
Ibid., 3.65.
Ibid., 2.140.
Ibid., 1.124.
Ibid., 1.123.
Ibid., 1.103.
Ibid., 3.57.
Ibid., 2.135.
Ibid., 3.38.
86
somewhere east of Noricum.61 It was written by Eugippius, the abbot of the monastery near Naples,
Italy, that held the remains of Severinus, ostensibly for the Deacon Paschasius to use it as a source to
write a more detailed life of Severinus.62 Each chapter is presumably in chronological order, and
most chapters include at least one miraculous event caused by the holy man. Severinus’ miraculous
actions mirror those recounted about other Christian holy men: prophecy, raising the dead, etc. It
contains a number of common hagiographic tropes, including a near-constant identification of the
holy man with Christ and other important scriptural figures. The Commemoratorium takes place in
Noricum during the closing years of Roman control in the region. For this reason, many of Severinus’
miracles take place in and around Roman forts, and most chapters involve refugees and barbarians.
It must also be remembered for the purposes of this paper that Eugippius is a refugee from Noricum.
One would expect that the experience of fleeing from an Arian barbarian invasion would
lead Eugippius to describe the relationship between Severinus and the Arian population of Noricum
and the Arian barbarian invaders in a way akin to Ambrose’s reaction to Arianism. This is not the
case in practice. It is important to note that none of the barbarians that Severinus encounters are
Christians of the Nicene orthodox variety. Although Eugippius does seem to have a problem with
Arianism (he describes barbarians as ‘heretics’ on many occasions), Severinus only states that he has
a problem with Arianism on one occasion: when Flaccitheus, king of the Rugians, comes to him for
help for the first time.63 Severinus tells Flaccitheus that he would prefer that they shared the ‘same
Catholic faith,’ but Severinus still helps him.64 Severinus had many encounters with barbarians, and
these barbarians can be clearly classified by the reader into ‘good’ and ‘bad.’ Normally, the ‘bad’
barbarians are the barbarians that are causing the people of Noricum to run to Severinus for their
protection and deliverance, not because they are Arian. For example, the barbarians in the town of
Comagenis, who tormented the Roman inhabitants, caused the first great miracle in the
Commemoratorium. The miracle, an earthquake, caused the barbarians to ‘kill each other with their
weapons.’65 The ‘good’ barbarians, on the other hand, are ones that Severinus helps. Severinus
continually helps the Arian Rugians and ‘the whole people of the Rugians… [and] many of other
races’ came to him for help.66 Flaccitheus is saved by Severinus from military defeat on two
61
Eugippius, Vita Severini, ed. by Hermannus Sauppe, in Monumenta Germaniae Historica (Berlin: Druckerei
Hildebrand, 1961), 1.1.
62
Eugippius, Ad Paschasium, in Vita Severini, ed. byHermannus Sauppe, in Monumenta Germaniae Historica (Berlin:
Druckerei Hildebrand, 1961), 2.
63
Eugippius, Vita Severini, 5.1. For an example of Eugippius describing barbarians as heretics, see Eugippius, Vita
Severini, 8.1.
64
Ibid., 5.2.
65
Ibid., 2.2.
66
Ibid., 6.5.
87
occasions by listening to the holy man’s prophecies.67 Gibuldus, a ‘king’ of the Alamanni, ‘greatly
honored and loved’ Severinus and sought the holy man’s counsel on a number of occasions.68
Severinus is also on good terms with Odovacar, the future Gothic king of Italy, who he meets on two
occasions. Severinus first prophesies that Odovacar will become famous.69 At a later date, Severinus
orders Odovacar, who is now king of the Goths, to return one of Severinus’ friends from exile and
Odovacar ‘gladly obeyed’ the holy man.70 It can be seen that Severinus’ relationship with the Arian
barbarians is very friendly, and Severinus seems to care very little for doctrinal differences.
The Christological crisis that engulfed the Roman world in the last two hundred years of
Roman rule in the west led to polemical attacks from both sides. This paper has examined two
Nicene orthodox authors and clergy, Hilary of Poitiers and Ambrose of Milan, and shown that their
relationship with Arianism is incredibly hostile. It has also been shown, however, that this hostile
relationship is not always the case. Severinus of Noricum is shown to have had an amicable
relationship with the Arians that he interacted with, even as these Arians were invading his region
and forcing the Nicene orthodox population to flee. Severinus cares more for acting Christian than
what one believes.
Works cited
Primary Sources:
Ambrose of Milan, De Fide ad Gratianum Augustum ed. by Otto Faller, Corpus Scriptorum
Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (Vienna: Hoelder-Pichler-Tempsky, 1962).
Hilary of Poitiers, Against Valens and Ursacius in Opera 4, ed. by Alfred Feder, Corpus Scriptorum
Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (Vienna: Geroldus, 1916).
----------. Letter to the Emperor Constantius in Opera 4 ed. by Alfred Feder. Corpus Scriptorum
Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (Vienna: Geroldus, 1916).
Eugippius. Vita Severini ed. by Hermannus Sauppe, Monumenta Germaniae Historica (Berlin:
Druckerei Hildebrand, 1961).
Modern Scholarship
McLynn, Neil B, Ambrose of Milan: Church and Court in a Christian Capital (Berkeley, CA: University
of California Press, 1994).
67
68
69
70
Ibid., 5.4.
Ibid., 19.1. PLRE II 512.
Ibid., 7.1. PLRE II 791.
Ibid., 32.1.
88
Williams, Daniel H, Ambrose of Milan and the End of the Nicene-Arian Conflicts (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1995).
Gwynn, David M, The Eusebians: The Polemic of Athanasius of Alexandria and the
Construction of the "Arian Controversy” (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).
89
Constructing a New Category Generation Task to Measure Learners'
Productive Vocabulary Size
Shadhan Roghani
Swansea University: Department of English Language and Literature
Abstract
This project aims to examine the validity of a new productive test which is practical and easy to
administer for all ability levels, and produces a useful estimate of vocabulary size in a foreign
language. Constructing a new productive vocabulary test using a category generation task
appears to have potential, since it is a simple task which is first language neutral and allows
participants to produce a wide range of responses across a range of different frequency levels.
We view this as a genuine vocabulary production task, similar to writing a shopping list for
example. This may give us an insight into how many words the writer of the list is able to
produce, and act as a potential measure of the list-writer’s productive vocabulary knowledge.
The results of the project show that participants are able to generate a significant number of
responses with minimum direction and that the new test appears to be both reliable and
valid.
Background
As words are the essential building blocks of all languages, it is both reasonable and
necessary to assess and monitor the vocabulary knowledge of second language learners. After a
period of neglect, vocabulary learning is now receiving the attention which it deserves in the fields of
language teaching and applied linguistic research. A result of this attention is the idea that there are
different dimensions of vocabulary knowledge; passive knowledge which consists of the words a
learner recognises, and active knowledge which refers to the words a learner can produce in speech
or in writing. According to Daller, Milton and Treffers-Daller, most tests are designed to measure
receptive knowledge rather than productive vocabulary.1 However, assessing the productive
knowledge of learners is as important as assessing receptive knowledge, as Ian Nation states: ‘If
vocabulary growth is being measured, it is important that several measures of vocabulary are used.’2
There are several well-recognised receptive tests, for example Nation’s Vocabulary Levels
Test (1983), and Meara and Milton’s X-Lex (2003), but well-recognised productive tests are harder to
find. This may be because in receptive tests it is possible for the tester to control the sample of
words being assessed, while in productive tasks the choice of words is that of the testee. This may
1
Helmut Daller, James Milton, and Jeanine Treffers-Daller, eds, Modelling and Assessing Vocabulary Knowledge
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007).
2
Ian S. P. Nation, ‘Fundamental Issues in Modelling and Assessing Vocabulary Knowledge’, in Modelling and
Assessing Vocabulary Knowledge, ed. by Helmut Daller, James Milton and Jeanine Treffers-Daller (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp. 35-43.
90
prevent a useful sample of words being created from which meaningful conclusions about
vocabulary size or knowledge can be drawn. There are other problems associated with the prompt
used to generate vocabulary production. Laufer and Nation’s Productive Vocabulary Levels Test
(PVLT) (1999) is constructed to give an estimate equivalent to the receptive version of the test.
However, the restrictive context given (a target word replaced by a blank in a target sentence but
where the first letters of the target word are given) means that this may in effect be just another
receptive test. 3 It is also difficult to convert the scores it produces into an estimate of vocabulary
size in a convincing way, as it is an incomplete sampling across the frequency range. We have data
from the 2,000, 3,000 and 5,000 ranges but not from the 1,000 or 4,000 ranges. The formula we
have used before has been proven to produce a poor estimate as it assumes that the scores from
the 1,000 and 2,000 ranges will be the same for example, which they are not. Essentially, the test is
not designed to make a size calculation.
Lex30 (Meara and Fitzpatrick, 2000) is an association task with a list of stimulus words which
asks subjects to produce as many answers as they can in response to these stimuli. It is a free
productive test, as the subjects can produce any responses which are related to the stimulus words
and therefore their productive vocabulary size can be demonstrated in a practical way. It is not clear
however, how the words the subject produces can be interpreted as representative of the whole
lexicon and for a calculation of vocabulary size to be made from this type of test.
The Lexical Frequency Profile (LFP), a computer program which shows the different
frequency levels of words which are used in learners’ writing , appears to be able to distinguish
between participants who use less frequent words and those who produce more frequent words. 4 It
has the advantage of allowing the learner to produce genuinely original and individual samples of
language for analysis, but in order to produce stable results the LFP requires texts of more than 200
words, and low level learners are likely to struggle to generate this amount of text.
Another lexical sophistication profiling system called P-Lex addresses the issue of length by
dividing a text into segments of 10-words and counting the number of infrequent words in each
cluster. Meara and Bell indicate that ‘P-Lex looks at the distribution of difficult words in a text, and
returns a simple index that tells us how likely the occurrence of these words is.’5 However there are
further issues which are less easy to resolve. It seems P-Lex 'suffers the same problems as lexical
3
Stuart Webb, 'Receptive and Productive Vocabulary Sizes of L2 Learners', Studies in Second Language
Acquisition, 30.1 (2008), 79-95 (p. 82).
4
Batia Laufer and Paul Nation, 'Vocabulary Size and Use: Lexical Richness in L2 Written Production', Applied
Linguistics, 16.3 (1995), 307-322.
5
Paul Meara and Huw Bell, ‘P-Lex: A Simple and Effective Way of Describing the Lexical Characteristics of Short L2
Tests’, Prospect, 16.3 (2001), 5-19 (p. 4).
91
diversity in its sensitivity to genre and the personal decisions of the writers or speaker.'6 The results
these profiles produce in terms of the proportions of infrequent words are influenced by the genre
or register of the writing, therefore analysis of the writing samples tells us about the text type rather
than the lexicon of which the text is composed. It does not appear to be a methodology which can
produce a stable estimate of productive vocabulary size as these measures are only potentially
helpful in assessing the lexical qualities of particular texts within a single genre. 7
While these existing language test formats are all problematic, there are test formats in use
elsewhere which have yet to be applied in the EFL domain. This project is inspired by the work of
Hernandez-Muñoz, Izura and Ellis in psychology and aims to construct a new productive test which
can give an estimate equivalent to a receptive test like X-Lex, which is practical and easy to
administer for all levels and produces a useful estimate of vocabulary size. This new test is first
language neutral, does not need a lot of instruction and relies on the assumption that learners will
endeavour to show what knowledge they have.
Constructing a Category Generation Task
The new productive vocabulary size test is a vocabulary generation task. Learners are
presented with the name of a category, for example ‘animals’, and are asked to write down as many
animals as they can, with no time limit imposed. According to Muñoz, Izura and Ellis ‘The task of
generating words from predefined semantic categories has been termed ‘semantic fluency’ or
‘category instance generation’.8 In neuropsychological studies, word retrieval is used for patients
with different forms of brain damage like aphasia and dementia.
Language learners have a tendency to learn frequently occurring words before less
frequently used vocabulary.9 We believe that more able learners should produce more words than
less able learners, and that less able learners are likely to produce more high frequency words than
low frequency words. By comparing these lists to frequency data from The British National Corpus
6
James Milton, Measuring Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition (Bristol: Multilingual Matters, 2009), p. 137.
Helmut Daller, and David Phelan, ‘What is in a Teacher's Mind? Teacher Ratings of EFL Essays and Different
Aspects of Lexical Richness’, in Modelling and Assessing Vocabulary Knowledge, ed. by Helmut Daller, James Milton
and Jeanine Treffers-Daller (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp. 234-244.
8
Natividad Hernandez-Munoz, Cristina Izura and Andrew W. Ellis, eds, 'Cognitive Aspects of Lexical Availability’,
European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 18. 5 (2006), 730-755 (p. 731)
9
James Milton, 'Lexical profiles, Learning Styles and the Construct Validity of Lexical Size Tests', in Modelling and
Assessing Vocabulary Knowledge, ed. by Helmut Daller, James Milton and Jeanine Treffers-Daller (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp. 47-58.
7
92
(BNC), it may be possible to calculate vocabulary size by using a productive test which produces
scores comparable to a receptive test like X-Lex .
Aims and objectives
This current study aims to assess the productive knowledge of EFL (English as a Foreign
Language) students by setting them a category generation task and seeing how many words the
learners can produce from the themed prompt ‘animal’. The resulting list can be compared with
vocabulary from the high frequency vocabulary bands and a productive vocabulary size can be
estimated. Therefore, the following objectives have been set to determine whether this new task
can be a useful addition to productive vocabulary knowledge testing.
1. To consider the feasibility of the test to examine whether it will be possible for
participants to produce the data necessary for the analysis we intend to carry out.
2. To estimate the reliability and internal consistency of the answers produced by using a
split-half method (explained in detail in the results section.)
3. To test different dimensions of validity by considering the following forms of validity:
 Concurrent validity (The result of the new generation test should correlate well
when compared with results from other tests of the same quality, PVLT and X-Lex for
example)
 Content validity (The test can be considered to have good content validity if it can be
shown to generate words across the first five thousand word frequency bands.
Frequency effects should be visible. Learners should score more in the high
frequency bands than the low frequency bands.)
 Construct validity (The test can be considered to have good construct validity if it is
able to discriminate between learners according to their level – it should be able to
distinguish between low-level learners and high- level learners.)
Methods, Participants and the Tests
In 2013, 92 Iranian learners of English were tested across three difference levels: basic,
intermediate and advanced, according to the classifications given in the Morvarid Language Institute
in Iran. The 92 learners comprised 43 male and 49 female participants whose first language was
Farsi. The English classes were mixed gender and the age range was between 15 and 40.
93
In accordance with the practice of Laufer & Nation10, three groups of different proficiency
levels were chosen to assess the validity of the test: beginners or basic level (n=36), intermediate
(n=23) and advanced level (n=33). They had three hours a week of English classes and these classes
were the main source of language input as they were learning English as a foreign language not as a
second language. Input from external sources like film, song and advertisements are used in this
institute frequently. The main resource used in the classes is the English textbook called
‘Interchange’, which is designed for adults and young-adult learners. This series of books is designed
to give learners more opportunities to develop their speaking and listening skills, while each unit
also includes the relevant grammar practice. Real topics in natural contexts and grammar in real
communicative environments makes the book more interesting and adds fun. There are some
personalised activities included in the books such as speaking activities and self-study listening units,
in addition to a free audio CD in each book for learners to listen to and check their pronunciation.
The participants took the tests in class in the following order:

X-Lex (Meara and Milton) - A vocabulary-size test of controlled receptive ability.

Generation tasks - A vocabulary-size test of uncontrolled productive ability.

PVLT (Laufer and Nation) - A vocabulary-size test of controlled productive ability.
These three tests were given in a booklet in which learners recorded all their answers.
Procedure
Participants were tested individually; instructions and directions were given orally in English.
They were clearly instructed to tick the known words in X-Lex, generate words in the generation task
and fill in the blanks in the PVLT. There was no time limit imposed and all students completed the
tests within the 45 minutes class time. There was a teacher in each class who gave the instructions
and assisted with any enquiries during the test.
Analysis and Scoring Procedure
There are three different ways of scoring each of the above tests to measure receptive
knowledge: participants were asked to look at the words in the X-Lex test and tick the words that
they know or can recognise. As with other Yes/No test formats, this test combines real words in
columns 1-5 that the participants may know in a foreign language and pseudowords in a sixth
10
Batia Laufer and Paul Nation, 'A Vocabulary-size Test of Controlled Productive Ability', Language Testing, 16.1
(1999), 33-51.
94
column, which look like real words but do not exist in the real language. Each real word ticked as
known is considered a ‘hit’, whereas a ticked pseudoword is called a ‘false alarm’11 .To analyse the
raw data, the marking criteria for the X-Lex test was as follows: 50 points were awarded for each hit
in columns 1 to 5 and 250 points were awarded for each false alarm in column 6. The total score of
the false alarms is subtracted from the total of the hits to give an adjusted score. The adjusted score
is the size of the receptive knowledge of the participants. For instance, if a participant ticked 80
words in column 1 to 5 and 3 words in column 6, she/he scores 3250 out of 5000.
[80*50= 4000], [3*250=750]
4000-750=3250
Scoring the generation tasks involved comparing the words produced with the target animal
words which are available in each of the different frequency bands. All of the words generated were
submitted to Tom Cobb’s Vocabprofile to allocate the words to their frequency bands according to
the BNC or COCA (Corpus of Contemporary American English) lists. The number of possible animal
words and the lexical profile of one learner as an example are shown in Table 1.
Table 1: Example of a learner vocabprofile across the first five 1000 words frequency bands
Available animal words in
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
Total
6
6
15
14
15
56
4
3
5
5
5
22
the first five frequency bands
Learner's Production
In the example, there are 6 animal words in the BNC 1000 word range in Vocabprofile, the
student produced 4 of these words. From this it is possible to estimate that the student knows four
sixths of the words in the 1000 words range. This was done for all five frequency bands.
By using the calculation ( ∑/56)*5000, the number of generated animals words is 22 out of a
possible 56, therefore the estimated productive vocabulary size of this learner is 1964 of the most
frequent 5000 words. It reveals that we can produce a score and are able to estimate the productive
vocabulary knowledge of each learner.
Laufer and Nation's Productive Level Test version C was another productive vocabulary test
used to consider whether the scores of the new test are comparable with other equivalent
11
Paul M. Meara, Tess Fitzpatrick and Andrew Barfield, eds, Lexical Processing in Second Language Learners: Papers
and Perspectives in Honour of Paul Meara, (Bristol: Multilingual Matters, 2009), p. 13.
95
productive tests. There are 18 sentences on each page which include one missing word in each
sentence. One point was awarded to each correct answer, and no points for an incorrect answer.
Some of the initial letters of each word are given in the sentences to avoid possible alternatives to
the word being tested. Words were chosen from the 2000, 3000 and 5000 frequency levels. To
analyse the raw data, the marking criteria for Laufer and Nation is as follows:
2000 level score * 2000 + 3000 level score * 1000 + 5000 level score * 2000 = size12
18
18
18
For instance, if a subject gave 10 correct answers in 2000 level, 6 correct answers in 3000 level and 3
correct answers in 5000 level, therefore he/she scores 1777 out of 5000.
[10*2000/18= 1111], [6*1000/18=333], [3*2000/18=333]
1112+334+333=1777
The normal distribution of the new productive test was tested in terms of skewness and
kurtosis, and the distribution of data was tested in SPSS(Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) in
order to ascertain whether the scores were distributed normally. To test for reliability and internal
consistency, odd-even methods were used, which will be explained in detail later. To investigate the
concurrent validity of the test, the correlation of the new test with Laufer and Nation's PVLT and XLex was tested. To investigate the content validity, it had to be determined whether a sufficient
number of words were generated to build a word profile. To examine the construct validity of the
test, the mean scores of different learners' levels of English was compared to distinguish between
levels. Additional evidence for construct validity was assessed by factor analysis.
Results
The results of the tests in this study and the vocabulary knowledge size attributed to
learners have been divided into the following sections:
Feasibility
To assess the feasibility of this test, we have to examine whether the test is able to prompt
learners at all levels to produce a significant number of animal words with the minimum of direction
or interference from the teacher or a text. Table 2 confirms the feasibility of the category generation
task and demonstrates that even low- level learners produced a significant number of animal words.
12
Batia Laufer and Paul Nation, ‘A Vocabulary-Size Test of Controlled Productive Ability’, Language Testing, 16
(1999), p.41.
96
Table 2: Total and mean number of words produced per participant
Level
Number of participants
animal words
Mean number of animals per
produced
participant
Advanced
33
540
16.36
Intermediate
23
284
12.35
Basic
36
367
10.19
Reliability
One of the main concerns in test-based research is to establish the reliability and internal
consistency of the test. To determine the reliability of this test there is only one rater which can be
used as there is no parallel form of the test available. The homogeneity of item variance reflects the
consistency of scoring and the reliability estimate derived is called internal consistency13. One way to
determine the internal consistency reliability of a test is a split-half test which can be conducted in
two different ways; odds-evens and top-bottom .The test is administered once to a group of
participants and the answers divided into halves to assess the correlation between the two. In this
study we analysed the data of 33 advanced participants only, to estimate the reliability using the
odds-evens method. We chose the advanced group as they generated more words which allowed us
to have a sufficient number of words to analyse. We divided the list of animals produced by each
participant into half and separated the odds and evens. This method was chosen rather than the top
and the bottom method due to the effect of frequency on generating words: it was suspected that
most of the participants would generate the more frequently recalled animals first, therefore a top
half and bottom half split might produce two qualitatively different outputs as a result.
After preparing the scores, the data was processed into SPSS to obtain the required
analyses. Table 3 shows that the mean vocabulary size scores of the learners in odds and evens are
very close to each other.
Table 3: Mean vocabulary size, variance and standard deviation size
Scale Statistics
13
Henning, Grant, ed., A Guide to Language Testing: Development, Evaluation, Research (Boston, MA: Heinle &
Heinle, (1987)
97
Odd
scores
Even
scores
Both Parts
Mean
743.67
Variance Std. Deviation N of Items
22213.104
149.041
1a
716.58
26629.502
163.185
1b
1460.24
70067.377
264.702
2
Table 4 below reveals the value of Cronbach’s Alpha which is an index for the internal
consistency of the test. Perfect reliability would be 1.0; however no test has perfect reliability.
According to Douglas ‘We might shoot for a reliability of 0.70 for a classroom test, while a reliability
of 0.85 or higher might be the goal for a high stakes admission or school leaving test’.14
Table 4: Cronbach's Alpha for odds and evens
Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's Alpha
N of Items
.608
2
The value of alpha15 is 0.608, which is lower than expected.
However according to
Meuffels16, for scientific purposes the reliability of 0.6 is sufficient, whereas for decisions about
individual or groups, a higher value for Cronbach’ Alpha is necessary. A comparison of parallel forms
of the generation task might produce more useful results.
Validity
The validity of a test is demonstrated when it produces significant correlations with other
tests of the same quality. The results show modest but statistically significant correlations with
Laufer and Nation’s PVLT. A lower correlation with X-Lex was anticipated as X-Lex is a receptive
14
Dan, Douglas, Understanding Language Testing (London: Hodder Education, 2010), p. 107.
Alpha score is the expected correlation of two tests that measure the same construct and will normally increase
when the inter-correlation between test items increases. It is a known method for estimating test reliability. If the
alpha score is 0.7 ≤ α < 0.9, we can say there is good internal consistency. [George, Darren, and M. Mallery. Using
SPSS for Windows Step by Step: a Simple Guide and Reference (Boston, MA: Allyn y Bacon, 2003)]
16
Bert Meuffels, Methods and Techniques of Empirical Research: An Introduction (Amsterdam: International Centre
for the Study of Argumentation (SICSAT), 1992), p. 149.
15
98
rather than a productive test and therefore a different construct. The results confirmed this
expectation. Table 5 indicates the correlation between the new tests and other tests:
Table 5: Correlation between the new test and PVLT and the new test and X-Lex
Number of
Correlation
P-Value17
participants
New Productive test and PVLT
92
.494
.001
New Productive test and X-Lex
92
.362
.001
The test can be considered to have content validity if the students were able to produce
words from each of the first five 1000 word bands. The results of the test show that participants
could generate a substantial number of words, which in turn demonstrates that we are testing areas
of knowledge rather than unfamiliar areas. Therefore, from a content point of view it has worked.
Table 6 shows the number of words produced according to their frequency bands.
Table 6: Words produced according to frequency
Number of words
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
316
216
168
262
229
We expected that advanced learners would have greater vocabularies than intermediate
learners who would, in turn, have higher mean vocabularies than the basic group. The test results
confirm this as the difference between the mean scores is statistically significant. Table 7 shows the
mean scores of words produced according to the participants’ ability level.
Table 7: Category Generation Task's mean produced words according to the ability level
17
The p-value gives the probability that the correlation/ difference between two groups is due to a chance effect
when the Null-hypothesis is actually true. If p <.05, then the findings are statistically significant and the Nullhypothesis that there is no correlation can be rejected. In the present study p < .001 which means that the
correlations are highly significant.
99
Descriptive Statistics
Ability level
N
Basic
36
3
Intermediate
23
Advanced
33
Minimum Maximum
Mean
Std. Deviation
21
10.19
3.838
7
19
12.35
3.339
8
22
16.36
2.967
As the number of participants were not equal in this study, (advanced=33, intermediate=23,
basic=36), we also compared the mean number of words produced in each of the three levels in
equal conditions. We chose 23 participants from each group to determine the validity of the test
construction (advanced=23, intermediate=23, basic=23) and calculated the mean score, which is
shown in Table 8. The difference between the mean scores is so insignificant than it can be ignored.
Table 8: Category Generation Task's mean produced words in equal conditions.
Descriptive Statistics
Ability level
N
Basic
23
3
Intermediate
23
Advanced
23
Minimum Maximum
Mean
Std. Deviation
21
10.13
3.992
7
19
12.35
3.339
8
22
16.48
3.217
Table 9 shows the mean productive score in the advanced group is 1461, 1102 in the
intermediate group and 910 in the basic group. Table 9 reveals the difference between the mean
score in each group.
100
Table 9: Learners’ productive scores according to ability level
Ability level
N
Mean
Basic
36
910
Intermediate
23
1102
Advanced
33
1461
Additional evidence for construct validity is the establishment of unidimensionality.
Construct validity can be established by confirmatory factor analysis which is used in social research
to assess whether the construct of the test is consistent with the nature of the study18. In this test,
we used confirmatory factor analysis to assess unidimensionality as factor analysis allows us to
establish how many different factors can be identified to explain the variety in the scores and
influence the results. Our test will be valid if it tests just the one factor which we are hoping to test
for: in this case vocabulary knowledge. We established factor analysis for three different tests: X-Lex,
PVLT and Category Generation Task. The factor analysis produced just one single factor with an
eigenvalue 19of 1.935, which explains over 64% of variance. Others factors are excluded because
their eigenvalue is below1. This means that our test is unidimensional: the test only measures one
element and that is productive vocabulary knowledge.
Table 10: The Scores and Variance of factors
Initial Eigenvalues
Number of factors
Score of factors Variance of factors
18
1
1.935
64.496
2
.641
21.375
3
.424
14.129
Timothy A Brown, Confirmatory Factor Analysis for Applied Research (New York: Guilford Press, 2012)
In language testing, eigenvalues are commonly reported in factor analysis. They are calculated and used in
deciding how many factors to include. Eigenvalues which are below one will be excluded from the analysis.
19
101
Figure 2 shows three factors; however two of them can be excluded as they are less than one
Figure 2: Factor analysis and the Eigen value for X-Lex, PVLT and new productive test
4. Conclusion
This study aims to identify a new approach for measuring the productive vocabulary
knowledge of EFL learners. It provides an initial evaluation of the potential of our project. Whilst
further investigation and research is needed, the results of this study show that the concept of
category generation works and it is certainly worth extending the work to a proper trial of the
technique through parallel test forms. The results of the initial test confirm that it prompts students
to produce many words; it appears to be valid and shows moderate reliability. The test can
distinguish between learners at different ability levels and correlates with the results of other tests
of productive vocabulary size. The test also allows us to produce estimates of productive vocabulary
size which appear credible when compared with other tests of the same or similar quality. There are
several avenues of further research to be pursued. One is to perform this test with other groups of
students and other prompts. This would allow us to assess the reliability of the test against parallel
test forms. Tests with slightly different prompts, such as letters rather than themes, would be a
useful experiment since these are much easier for learners to generate compared to specific set
102
themes. Certainly we should test a greater number of participants from other language backgrounds
to determine whether this particular test can fill the existing gap in productive testing armoury.
Works cited
Brown, Timothy A., Confirmatory Factor Analysis for Applied Research (New York: Guilford Press,
2012)
Daller, Helmut, James Milton, and Jeanine Treffers-Daller, eds, Modelling and Assessing Vocabulary
Knowledge (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007)
Douglas, Dan., Understanding Language Testing (London: Hodder Education, 2010)
Henning, Grant, ed., A Guide to Language Testing: Development, Evaluation, Research (Boston, MA:
Heinle & Heinle, 1987)
Hernandez-Munoz, Natividad, Cristina Izura and Andrew W. Ellis, eds, 'Cognitive Aspects of Lexical
Availability’, European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 18. 5 (2006), 730-755.
Laufer, Batia, and Paul Nation, 'Vocabulary Size and Use: Lexical Richness in L2 Written
Production', Applied Linguistics, 16.3 (1995), 307-322
Laufer, Batia, and Paul Nation, 'A Vocabulary-size Test of Controlled Productive Ability', Language
Testing, 16.1 (1999), 33-51
Meara, Paul, and Tess Fitzpatrick, 'Lex30: An Improved Method of Assessing Productive Vocabulary
in an L2', System, 28.1 (2000), 19-30.
Meara, Paul, and Huw Bell. 'P-Lex: 'A Simple and Effective Way of Describing the Lexical
Characteristics of Short L2 Tests', Prospect, 16.3, (2001), 5-19
Meara, Paul M., and James L. Milton, X-Lex: The Swansea Vocabulary Levels Test (Newbury: Express
Publishing, 2003)
Meara, Paul M., Tess Fitzpatrick, and Andrew Barfield, eds, Lexical Processing in Second Language
Learners: Papers and Perspectives in Honour of Paul Meara (Bristol: Multilingual Matters, 2009)
Meuffels, Bert. Methods and Techniques of Empirical Research: An Introduction (Amsterdam:
International Centre for the Study of Argumentation (SICSAT), 1992)
Milton, James, ‘Lexical Profiles, Learning Styles and the Construct Validity of Lexical Size Tests’,
Modelling and Assessing Vocabulary Knowledge (2007) 47-58
Milton, James, Measuring Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition (Bristol: Multilingual Matters,
2009)
Nation, Ian S.P., ‘Testing and teaching vocabulary', Guidelines, 5 (1983), 12-25
103
Nation, Ian S.P., Learning Vocabulary in Another Language (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2001)
Nation, Ian. S.P., 'Fundamental Issues in Modelling and Assessing Vocabulary Knowledge', in Daller,
Helmut, James Milton, and Jeanine Treffers-Daller, eds, Modelling and Assessing Vocabulary
Knowledge (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 35-43.Read, John A. S., ed., Assessing
Vocabulary (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000)
Webb, Stuart, 'Receptive and Productive Vocabulary Sizes of L2 Learners', Studies in Second
Language Acquisition, 30.1 (2008), 79-95
104
The Societal Impact of Satellite Television Watching on Libyan Undergraduate
Students
Masoud A. M. Amer
Swansea University: Department of Languages, Translation and Communication
Abstract
It is hard today to ignore the breakneck speed at which media products are distributed around
the world. Programmes appear almost simultaneously in all countries through old and new
media technology. This flow is dominated by Western media products, especially to North
Africa and Middle Eastern countries, and as a result many argue that there is a crisis of identity
in these parts of the world. This paper is based on a study of the consumption of satellite
television by Libyan undergraduate students. The results show that Libyan undergraduate
students are high consumers of western movies and TV programmes on satellite TV. The study
also shows that Libyan students watch western programmes for a variety of reasons and derive
a range of pleasures from viewing. These include filling in leisure-time, gaining stress relief from
their studies, acquiring knowledge and learning a language. Differences between male and
female students were identified. Males were found to prefer watching American and British
movies, while the majority of females showed a preference for Indian movies. The findings
indicate that viewers have a range of responses to watching satellite TV which challenges the
theory of media imperialism which has shaped understanding of the effects of watching
western TV in the Arab world.
Introduction
Since the technological revolution in mass communication, global television has expanded its
presence worldwide. The flow of international television programmes, however, is a one way flow
from developed to developing countries; specifically for this paper, it flows from Western to Arab
countries. Most of the programmes watched on global screens are made in the US, mainly by
Hollywood. Hollywood dominates the world television market with a 60% share20 and Hollywood
continues to expand its influence as a result of new technology. Most genres of films - action,
horror, science fiction, drama or romance - shown on TV or watched on the laptop or computer
screen are made in US. Developing countries complain about the increasing influx of western
television programmes and films into their countries.
The increased number of films and TV programmes sold to the developing countries is
associated with the spread of different cultures and customs which are seen as eroding the native or
indigenous culture. A recent study concludes that ‘Saudi Arabian society has undergone major
changes through the use of the video (VCR/ DVD/ VCD) and television (TV)’ and ‘the influence of
watching foreign cultures through these media either at the individual or group level may create
20
Jin D. Yong, ‘A critical analysis of US cultural policy in the global film market: Nation-states and FTAs‘, The
International Communication Gazette, 73.8 (2011), pp. 652-653.
105
more than one sub-culture within one society’.
21
The consequence of the one way flow of TV
products is seen as cultural change in many developing countries. This is articulated by the media
imperialism thesis and with many western television industries setting their sights on new business
opportunities across borders this thesis still seems relevant. Arab countries are one of the new
media market that have been singled out and for society in these countries the exploitation of these
business opportunities is connected with the profound change taking place in these societies. It is
the exploration of what is happening in Libya that is the concern of the research study discussed
here.
The Flow of Media Products
The starting point of this paper is the exponential growth of global satellite television since
the beginning of the twenty-first century. There are currently more than 716 satellite channels
broadcasting programmes to audiences across the Arab world.22 The flow of information across
national boundaries has increased significantly, enhancing access to information and entertainment
across the world. Satellite technology has created a global media and increased the number of
television channels people can access wherever they live in the world.23 The growth of satellite TV
has been significant in the Arab world over the last couple of decades. Since the early 1990s the
media landscape has been transformed in most Arab countries, enabling the emergence of, amongst
other things, modern TV journalism, live debates and reality TV.24 The number of satellite channels
has tripled since 2004, and today the majority of households in the Arab world have satellite TV. The
consequence of this growth on the viewing public is a matter of considerable debate.
Media Imperialism
The interaction between the west and the developing world has been conceptualised in a
number of ways but the concept of media imperialism has exercised considerable influence over the
thinking of many in the developing world. The control of the media by powerful nations such as the
US and UK convinced many in Africa, Asia and the Arab world that the international media system
was not serving their interests and was detrimental to their efforts to develop. Stress was placed by
21
Basfar H. Omar, ‘The Impact of Foreign Cultures through the Video (VCR/ DVD/ VCD) and Television (TV) on Saudi
Society as Perceived by Saudi Undergraduate Students in Saudi Arabia’, Jedda, King Abdulaziz University Arts and
Humanities, 15 (2007), 19-61 (p. 20).
22
AAG, Arab Advisors Group, A Majority of FTA Satellite Channels Catering to the Arab world are Privately Owned
(Hai-Abdoun Al-Shemali, Jordan 2013), <http://www.arabadvisors.com/Pressers/presser-190813.htm> [accessed 30
January 2015].
23
Thussu K. Daya, ‘Electronic empires: global media and local resistance’, Communication, International, Mass
media, ed. by Daya Kishan Thussu (London: Arnold, 1998), p. 28.
24
Thussu K. Daya, International Communication: continuity and change (London: Arnold, 2000), p. 106.
106
developing country governments and UN agencies on the inequality of media production between
the West and the developing countries.
During the 1960s and 1970s, several observed patterns in the structure and role of international
mass media led to a charge that the United States and a few other First World nations
dominated the media to their advantage. Most particularly, several ideas promoted by the
United States were challenged: that there should be a relatively free flow of news and cultural
products (television, movies, music, advertisements), that entertainment was a primary
function of media, and the commercially operated media world benefit most countries’
25
development.
The inequality of the international media system was documented in the McBride Report in
1980 which had been commissioned by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
(UNESCO). It took issue with the view that the modern mass media could assist development,
replacing the notion of modernisation with a new and entirely different conceptualisation of the
impact of the media on the Global South – ‘media imperialism’. The theory argues that the media
‘operated to create, maintain and expand systems of dominance and dependence on a world
scale’.26 Whereas modernisation conceived of the influence of the media at a national level, on
national economies and polities, and on the social psychology of its citizens, the media imperialism
thesis placed emphasis on the global structures within which developing countries – and national
media system everywhere - had to operate. Media imperialism emphasised the power of western
countries through their dominance of mass media and their control of the flow of information to
disseminate values that were inimical to the development of the nations of Africa, Asia and Latin
American and favourable to western economic and political interests. The media as vehicles for the
transfer of culture values and customs from one society to another was now considered as a
problem.27 Calls for a New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO) by UNESCO and
governments of the Global South were made to challenge western and in particular U.S. control of
the world’s major media companies. Simply put, the problem was American hegemony over the
international media and the dissemination of US or western culture around the world through the
proliferation of media consumption.28
Adherents of the media imperialism tradition held that a small group of Western countries not
only controlled the international media trade but used it to transmit their particular cultural and
25
Straubhaar J. Joseph, ‘Beyond Media Imperialism: Asymmetrical Interdependence and Cultural Proximity’, Critical
Studies in Mass Communication, 8 (1991), p. 40.
26
Fejes Fred, ‘Media imperialism: an assessment’, Media, Culture & Society, 3 (1981), 281-289,
<http://mcs.sagepub.com> [accessed 12 January 2015].
27
Williams Kevin, Understanding Media Theory (London: Arnold, 2003), pp. 213-218.
28
Neyazi A. Taberez, ‘Cultural Imperialism or Vernacular Modernity? Hindi Newspapers in a Globalizing India’,
Media, Culture & Society, 32.6 (2010), 907–924 (p. 907).
107
economic values, particularly individualism and consumerism, to large numbers of developing
29
nations around the world.
Dominance and influence encapsulate the foundation of most theorists who adhere to the
media imperialism thesis. Media imperialism as a theoretical framework is closely associated with
the broader concept of cultural imperialism. For the purposes of this paper the former term is used
to discuss dominance and influence. Boyd-Barrett identifies the unidirectional nature of
international
media
flows
-
particularly
the
heavy
flow
of
exported
media
products/technologies/content from the US and the perceived influence of these programmes over
audiences in the developing countries are central to the thesis. The small number of countries that
account for a large share of international media that influence people around the world are the US,
UK, France and Germany in which the handful of giant media conglomerates control global media
production. Hence, the focus on the operations and activities of media behemoths such as the
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Cable News Network (CNN), Sky News, Fox News and Voice
of America (VOA).30 The domination of the world’s media and flow of international information by a
small number of large multinational corporations, based in a small number of developed countries,
according to media imperialism theorists, has a cultural effect. The impact of cultural domination is
articulated by America media scholar Herbert Schiller who wrote:
The concept of cultural imperialism today best describes the sum of the processes by which a
society is brought into the modern world system and how its dominating stratum is attracted,
pressured, forced, and sometimes bribed into shaping social institutions to correspond to, or
even promote, the values and structures of the dominating centre of the system. The public
media are the foremost example of operating enterprises that are used in the penetrative
process. For penetration on a significant scale the media themselves must be captured by the
dominating/penetrating power. This occurs largely through the commercialization of
31
broadcasting.
The one way flow of western products to the developing countries is closely associated with
cultural influence.
Media Flow and Audiences Reception
29
Nadeem Akhtar, ‘Rise of Regional Media Industries and Its Threats to US Media Imperialism: An Analysis in
Intercultural Communication Perspective’, International Journal of Communicology, 1 (2012),1-67,(p.40).
<http://spc.cmb.ac.lk/sites/default/files/International%20Journal%20of%20Communicology%20Volume%201.pdf>
[accessed 22 January 2015].
30
Boyd-Barrett Oliver, Media Imperialism: Towards an International Framework for the Analysis of Media Systems
(London: Edward Arnold,1977).
31
Schiller Herbert, Communication and cultural Domination (Routledge, 1976), p. 90.
108
The media imperialism theory is criticised for a lack ‘conceptual precision’. The relationship
between dominance and influence is central to the criticism. It is charged with making assumptions
about the nature of the values disseminated by the western media, the extent to which these values
are inimical to the development process and the ways in which they favour western economic and
political interests. Above all the thesis is accused of making assumptions made about audiences in
the Global South. For many media imperialism presents a crude interpretation of how audiences
respond to global media products. In order to understand the impact of global media on consumers
around the world, it is important to consider the history of media effects research. Early research in
the 1930s was dominated by direct effects theories. In the era of radio and film studies, the notion
of the media having a direct effect on those who consumed their output studies was prevalent.
Direct effects or the hypodermic model influenced the examination of the power of the media to
exercise influence over individuals and society.
The media imperialism thesis is seen as embracing the direct effects model, ignoring the
different ways in which people respond to media content. The thesis emphasises the aspect of
control and domination by the United States and/or the West but then assumes an effect, such as
the adoption of consumer values.32 The theory has been challenged by the reconceptualization of
media effects, and the increasing focus on active audiences. New audience reception theory sees
audiences not as passive consumers of media content but active interpreters. The fact there can be
negative and positive effects of viewing television cannot be ignored. Some researchers consider
that the ‘viewers are neither passive, nor completely unmarked by the media’ and that ‘we must
balance an acceptance that audiences are in certain respects active, while recognising that the
activity of reception is framed’.33 In response, researchers are investigating what people do with the
media and U&G theory assumes a variety of responses to what people see on screens.
Western Media Products and Arab Society
How Arab society makes sense of the western media products they see on their TV satellite
screens has been the subject of research in different Arab societies in recent years. The vast number
of satellite TV channels available today in the majority of households in the Arab world has opened
up Arab audiences to new types and kinds of programmes including political debates, sports and
movies. MBC, from its launch in 1991, targeted viewers across the Arab world by adopting modern
informative and entertainment programmes. This led to a diversification of their services. A number
32
Tomlinson John, Cultural imperialism A Critical Introduction (PPL, London,1991), pp. 4-8.
Movius Lauren, ‘Cultural Globalisation and Challenges to Traditional Communication Theories’, Journal of Media
and Communication, 2.1 (2010), 6-18 (pp. 11-12).
33
109
of MBC channels delivered modern, non-traditional content; for example, new films, programme
series and soap operas, to respond to their audiences.34
Studies concerning the penetration of western media products on Arab TV screens has been
accompanied by research into how Arab youth have consumed western TV products and the extent
to which they have been influenced by what they watch. The quantitative change has been clearly
documented. The dominance of western programmes on Arabic TV screens is not only a matter of
broadcasting US or western programmes but there has also been an increasing adaptation of US or
western formats. The Arab media has had to improve the quality of their services and the content of
their programmes to attract Arab viewers in the face of the competition from western products This
is particularly evident where there are direct copies of western formats, for example, several
western ‘foreign’ programmes were imported such as ‘Big Brother’, ‘American Idol’, and ‘Who
Wants to be a Millionaire’. American programmes and formats are very common on screens in the
Arabic region and a large number of television stations in the Arabic region depend on American
programmes.
The increased consumption of these films and programmes is associated with social change.
An influential study of Saudi youth found that western programmes have an effect on Saudi
audiences and society. Basfar concluded that Saudi ‘beliefs and attitudes’ and family values had
changed. He found an increase in the consumption of western programmes with 36% of Saudi
adolescent males preferring to watch foreign ‘Western’ programmes.35 Amin shows Egyptian
television broadcast many American programmes which are the most popular among the Egyptian
viewers. He found that 20% of Egyptian programmes were imported from the USA. He notes that
American programmes include numerous incidents of violence and crime, including some which are
deemed unacceptable behaviour in Arab society such as sexually explicit material. Many Egyptian
viewers stated that their lifestyles were affected by watching these programmes, particularly in
relation to eating fast food, listening to pop music and clothes brands; the numbers of viewers of
these programmes are increasing daily.36
Many feel that the constant flow of western pop culture act as a threat to both their civilization
and to their families' and their children's values. Although such threats have been there for
34
Chahine Gabriel, El Sharkawy Ahmed and Mahmoud Haitham, Trends in Middle Eastern Arabic Television series
production Opportunities for Broadcasters and producers, (2008)
<http://www.boozallen.com/media/file/Trends_in_Arabic_TV_Series_Production.pdf> [accessed 3 May 2015].
35
Basfar H. Omar, ‘The Impact of Foreign Cultures through the Video (VCR/ DVD/ VCD) and Television (TV) on Saudi
Society as Perceived by Saudi Undergraduate Students in Saudi Arabia’, Jedda, King Abdulaziz University Arts and
Humanities, 15 (2007), 19-61 (p. 28).
36
Amin Hussein, ‘American programs on Egyptian Television’, In Image of the USA around the world, ed. by Yahya
Kamalipour (New York, 1999), pp. 319-335 (p. 324).
110
more than a hundred years, the explosive growth and popularity of western products such as
video games, music CDs, computer software, videos and DVDs, films, and television
37
programmes have led to an increase in defensive attitudes toward western culture.
Such research indicates a correlation between change in Arab societies and the increased
viewing of American DVDs, films and television programmes. The exposure to different lifestyles and
behaviours from these products is seen as sometimes detrimental to Middle East Arabic cultures.38
Basfar states that some programmes and movies have affected ‘Saudi values, beliefs and attitudes’,
such as ‘Saudi society in terms of family ties, family size, studying habits, friendship concept and use
of leisure time’.39
Perhaps the most interesting departure in relation to the effects of consuming western or
US media products in the Arab world is the so-called ‘affluenza hypothesis’.40 The hypothesis
predicts that ‘heavier TV viewing will be associated with a shallow, materialistic lifestyle’. Media
consumption in the Arab world is seen by some scholars as correlating with higher levels of
materialistic traits.
The materialism is associated with western consumer values which are
measured in effect terms by attitudes and beliefs such as valuing money and the acquisition of
goods and the pursuit of happiness through material possessions.41 Satellite TV is regarded as
facilitating cultural imperialism ‘characterized by Western values of individualism, consumerism, and
sexual promiscuity’.42 The theory is associated with critiques in the Arab world of music videos
which are attacked for their sexual suggestiveness and materialist values. Such music videos use
‘displays of Western notions of wealth, notably luxury cars, mansions, and green lawns” and such
messages “make Arab youth want to become what they can never be”.43
The Arab world receives through satellite dishes a variety of western media content, from
news to film, music videos to reality TV programmes.44 Movies, however, are seemingly ubiquitously
and they appear to represent American culture as normal and acceptable. According to Dahl
“American culture is almost always depicted as the ‘normal’ culture in these movies, the culture that
37
Amin Hussein, ‘Arab media Audience Research: Developments and Constraints’, in Arab Media power and
weakness ed. by Kai Hafez (New York and London: Continuum, 2008), p. 78.
38
Basfar, H. Omar, ‘The Impact of Foreign Cultures through the Video (VCR/ DVD/ VCD) and Television (TV) on Saudi
Society as Perceived by Saudi Undergraduate Students in Saudi Arabia’, Jedda, King Abdulaziz University Arts and
Humanities, 15 (2007), pp. 25-26.
39
Ibid, p.35.
40
Harmon ,Mark, ‘Arab Youth, TV Viewing and Affluenza’, Arab Media and Society, 6 (2008), p. 1.
41
Ibid, p.4.
42
Marwan Kraidy, ‘Reality Television and Politics in the Arab world: Preliminary Observations.’ Arab
Media & Society, Fall 2006.
43
Harmon, p.4.
44
Galily Yair, ‘High five: The local, the global, the American and the Israeli sport on Television’ (unpublished doctoral
thesis, Wingate Institute, Israel, Netanya. 2008), pp. 5-6.
111
foreigners are either defeated by or aspire to”. He adds that “most American movies paint foreign
cultures with a broad brush, reducing foreign characters to stereotypes cast for comic relief or as evil
villains”. American action movies, Dahl states, “have a lot of thrills, excitement and entertainment,
but at the same time exposure viewers to a lot of violence”. Action movies “can have a ‘double dose
effect’ on viewers, making audiences more susceptible to their messages”.45
Young people, those between the ages of 16 and 27, are the main consumers of
satellite television and not just in the Arab world. How they respond to the western movies
they watch on satellite TV is the basis of the study from this paper draws. Ohiagu P.
Obiageli Ohiagu, who studied the impact of information on culture changes in Nigeria,
stresses the ability of the mass media to affect social change is dependent on the ways in
which media consumers make sense of the messages and values they perceive in what they
consume.46 He argues that to test the effects hypothesis it is important to examine viewers’
motivations for consumption and these are best ascertained by the uses and gratifications
approach. This study examines the satellite TV consumption patterns of Libyan students and
in particular explores why they watch western movies and what they derive from the
process of watching these movies. This discussion seeks to understand the impact of these
movies on Libyan students in the context of the media imperialism thesis.
The case of Libya
Students are not an uncommon target audience for Arab researchers. The dependence of
audience research in the Arab world on students at high schools or universities has been noted by
several scholars and the possible un-representativeness of such a group has been commented on.47
However, the problems of undertaking audience research in Arab countries and the importance of
this group in Arab society are seen as reasons for undertaking the study. Hence the focus on the
uses and gratifications study of Libyan university students and their satellite TV viewing habits.
A questionnaire including open and closed questions on TV satellite viewing habits was sent
out to 400 students during the 2011 and 2012 academic years (200 females, 200 males). There were
45
Corey Dahl, American Movies and Foreign Cultures,(2008)
<http://www2.webster.edu/medialiteracy/Term_Paper_2[1].pdf> [accessed 22 December 2024].
46
Ohiagu P. Obiageli, ‘Influence of Information and Communication Technologies on the Nigerian Society and
Culture, (2010),
<http://www.academia.edu/1203435/Influence_of_Information_and_Communication_Technologies_on_the_Nigeri
an_Society_and_Culture> [accessed 13 January 2015].
47
Amin Hussein, ‘Arab media Audience Research: Developments and Constraints’, in Arab Media power and
weakness ed. by Kai Hafez (New York and London: Continuum, 2008), p. 78.
112
45,000 enrolled students at Al-Fateh university, and a simple random sample of 200 (100 female,
100 male) was chosen from different faculties to make up the participants at the University of AlFateh. Also, a simple random sample was selected of 200 (100 female, 100 male) participant
students from Cairo University in Egypt. This study examined two groups of Libyan students in
different countries mainly in response to the changes necessitated by the conflict which broke out in
Libya in 2011.
The questionnaire was divided into several parts with questions related to viewing habits
and the uses and gratifications the student achieved from watching satellite TV and in particular
from watching western ‘foreign’ movies and programmes. The basic purposes of the questionnaire
were: (a) to gather information from respondents about their viewing patterns including how
frequently they watched satellite TV channels; how many times they watched satellite TV channels
during the week; and how many hours they watched every day. These questions sought to provide
data about the extent to which satellite TV watching took up their everyday life; (b) to produce more
information about what kind of satellite TV programmes respondents preferred to watch in order to
explore the extent to which they consumed western (non-local) programmes respondents and how
much and why they liked to watch western movies on satellite TV channels; (c) to acquire
information about respondents’ views regarding the quality of western movies and the particular
genres of movies they preferred from a list which included film types such as comedy, romance,
police and action thrillers, science fiction and so on; (d) to investigate the benefit of watching
western movies and the gratifications achieved from watching them; what they gained from
watching the movies was explored; (e) to gather information from students about their perceptions
and their view of the possible effect(s) of watching western movies. The objective of the survey was
to understand Libyan students’ opinions about the extent to which they believed that western
movies impacted on their behaviour patterns and cultural values.
Research Findings
A number of key findings emerge from the survey in relation to the media imperialism thesis. First,
Libyan students were found, like their counterparts elsewhere in the Arab world, to be heavy
consumers of satellite TV. A significant number of the students surveyed spend more than 4-5 hours
a day watching satellite TV channels (STCs) (see Table 1). The survey reveals only 16% of the sample
are likely to spend less than an hour per day. Libyan students are heavy consumers of satellite TV but
within the sample women are heavier consumers than men. The survey found nearly three times as
many female than male respondents watched television 4 to 5 hours a day. The majority of Libyan
students sampled watch between 2 and 5 hours per day with just under 1 in 3 indicating that they
113
are likely to watch TV channels four to five hours every day. This appears more time in front of the
screen than students in other Arab countries.48
Table 1: Respondents’ Rates of Watching STCs in Hours per Day
Sample
Male
Female
Total
Number of hours
T
%
T
%
T
%
Less than an hour
34
17
30
15
64
16
Two to three hours
113
56.5
64
32
177
44.3
Four to five hours
32
16
86
43
118
29.5
Five to six hours
21
10.5
20
10
41
10.3
Total
200
100
200
100
400
100
When it comes to what students are watching it was found that foreign movies, and in
particularly western movies, are highly popular. US movies the most commonly watched, with MBC
Action and MBC2 the most popular satellite channels. Libyan students prefer to watch MBC Action
(60.2%), and MBC2 (43.1%) which show more western material than other channels. However, many
respondents state they watch Arab movies whenever possible, indicating their desire to consume
regionally produced and culturally relevant content. Differences between male and female viewing
preferences were observed. These apply to the preferred genre of movies and the national origin of
movies. Western movies are watched more by Libyan males than females, for example 61.9% of
Libyan male students were found to be heavy watchers of American and British movies compared to
47.8% of females. Female students are more interested in watching Indian movies than males at
59.6% to 30.9%. When asked what types of western movies are watched, female Libyan students
indicate they most enjoy watching comedy. Romantic movies are the second most preferred type of
western movie where female viewers (41.2%) indicate a significantly higher preference than males
(23.3%). Male respondents have a higher preference for Police, Action and Science Fiction movies,
and with MBC Action proving particularly popular amongst males. It is important to note that Libyan
students, like their counterparts elsewhere in the Arab world, differentiate between different types
of movies which have implications for how they understand the values and attitudes communicated
in these genres. The survey shows that Libyan students are heavy viewers of satellite TV and prefer
48
This is based on comparison with the studies outlined by Amin, Arab media Audience Research, op cit.
114
in general to watch western and in particular American movies – although there is a difference
between men and women. However, it is important to distinguish between different genres of
movies and when offered the choice they would consume local or Arab films. With these caveats
the survey indicates that western and in particular American content dominate the film viewing
habits of Libyan students which is in accordance with the media imperialism thesis.
The second set of findings relate to the mode of engagement with watching western movies
on satellite TV in Libya. Filling in time is a major reason for viewing. Viewing movies plays an
important role in the lives of Libyan students for a variety of reasons but it is clear that it is an
integral part of the leisure time of both men and women. Some 77.5% of those surveyed indicate
that the most important reason for watching movies on STCs was to fill in leisure-time; other
significant reasons include study stress-relief (67.5%) and enjoying entertainment (67%). When
asked what they get out of watching these movies respondents express that it gratifies particular
needs such as acquiring problem solving skills and imbibing cultural values (see Table 2). These
movies wherever they are from provide insights into other cultures and values and learning from
them can be part of the experience of viewing. Respondents identify a number of specific functional
uses of watching movies such as to learn new languages as well as discover other civilizations and
cultures and gain new experiences. Such gratifications indicate they assume they benefit from
watching.
Findings about the reasons for watching such as filling leisure-time, gaining study stressrelief and learning languages relate to the lifestyle and work environment of students. Watching
something ‘just because it is there’ indicates a rather passive attitude to viewing but the notion of
using TV content to learn languages and gain relief from their studies implies a more active
engagement with content. There was a strong correlation between fulfilling personal needs and
watching western movies. This indicates that respondents are active in their engagement with what
appears on their screens and that products are consumed to satisfy particular needs. From the
survey the attraction of values or the inspiration of values amongst respondents is less significant
than the other functions mentioned.
Table 2: Personal Motivations of Respondents to Watch FMs
Sample
Male
Female
Total
115
Personal Motivations
T
%
T
%
T
%
Leisure-time
146
80.7
115
71.4
261
76.3
Romantic episodes
132
72.9
95
59
227
66.4
Habit
113
62.4
106
65.8
219
64
Study stress-relief
110
60.8
107
66.5
217
63.5
Entertainment
66
36.5
51
31.7
117
34.2
Value inspiring
95
52.5
101
62.7
196
57.3
Informative
121
66.9
68
42.2
189
55.3
Learning languages
111
61.3
73
45.3
184
53.8
New experiences
101
55.8
78
48.4
179
52.3
Inducing diversity
84
46.4
91
56.5
175
51.2
Total respondents
181
161
342
The survey contrasts respondents’ views of the impact of watching western movies on social
traits and their personal reasons for watching these films. Irrespective of gender and year of study,
the survey reveals that the majority of respondents believe that viewing these movies strongly
affected certain social traits. Across a number of variables considered the students surveyed believe
that an impact does exist. Individual perceptions of each category of the social traits differ to some
extent but the social trait found to be most impacted on by more than two thirds of the sample was
‘cultural openness’, that is the acquiring of the experience of western culture. The findings in this
study indicated that the majority of Libyan students (70.5%) believe that by watching western
movies they acquired more knowledge of behaviour and values. The second most affected social
trait was ‘the role of women in society’, where 58% believe there is an impact. Family cohesion is
also seen to be affected with around half the sample believing that the impact was high. Just over a
quarter of male respondents (26.5%) and just under 1 in 4 female respondents (21%) watch alone
which has implications for the nature of traditional family life. Other social traits affected included
‘religiosity’ and ‘loyalty to homeland’.
The majority of respondents connect viewing western movies with different types of
negative behavioural acts such as inappropriate sexual behaviour, violence, gambling and smoking.
116
The highest proportion (56.1%) perceive negative sexual behaviour in relation to watching sexual
imagery in such movies which compares to 14.6% of responses that did not perceive that there any
problems with viewing sexual images. The problem of gambling was identified by 48% of
respondents. Other negative behaviour identified included smoking and committing violence (46.5%
and 45.3% of responses respectively). The majority of respondents clearly pointed out that Western
movies expose viewers to many of these negative acts.
The changing relationship between men and women also figures prominently amongst the
list of effects itemised by the respondents (see Table 3). They accounted for 41.5% of the views
expressed but whether this is negative appears to be a matter of some differences between male
and female respondents. The difference between men and women about this finding raises the
question of the different opinions between traditional and modern roles of women in Libyan society.
The findings of this study reveal that watching western movies is seen as having an impact on the
role of women in society, in both negative or positive ways in terms of work, study, pattern of life,
language and children care. There were perceptions of negative influence of western movies in the
representation of children while the majority of respondents mention that the exposure to explicit
sexual images in many types of western films has negative consequences for behaviour and
attitudes. Furthermore, it was found that respondents indicate that they believe that those who
spend more hours watching western movies are more exposed to gambling, sexual imagery and
violence. Moreover, Libyan male students were found to be strongly attracted to watching violence
and murder in such films.
Table 3: Perception of Negative Behavioural Aspects in FMs
Degree of effect
Negative Behavioural
To a Certain
Yes
extent
T
%
T
%
Sexuality
192
56.1
100
Smoking
159
46.5
Gambling
164
Violence
No
T
%
29.2
50
14.6
150
43.9
33
9.6
48
129
37.7
49
14.3
155
45.3
142
41.5
45
13.2
Women-men Role
142
41.5
152
44.4
48
14
Change
Child
abuse
118
34.5
178
52
46
13.5
Aspects
Total of respondents
342
117
Libyan students believe that western movies induce negative behavioural conduct and
encourage anti-social behaviour including violence and aggressive behaviour, smoking and gambling.
There is no statistically significant difference in the negative perceptions of western movies held
among the males and females. The study shows that educated Libyans perceive that western movies
have a detrimental impact on their society’s values, cultural attitudes, behaviours, interactions,
social norms and beliefs. The results indicate variations among respondents regarding the different
types of possible negative impacts on their life style and social interactions. In a tangible way the
respondents note an impact on their academic performance and social behaviour. The study found
there was an effect of watching western movies on Libyan students in relation to their academic
performance and social behaviour but interestingly these effects were found to be both positive and
negative. The amount of time students watched these movies instead of using their time for
academic study can be seen as negative. However, the capacity of these films to assist students in
learning a language can be seen as positive. The motivation of learning languages which is a rapidly
growing trend among Libyan students was expressed by or 61.3% of male respondents and 45.3% of
female.
Satellite TV is prevalent in Libyan households and western movies are not only popular but
the primary source of information and entertainment for many Libyan students. The content of
western movies contains elements, such as violence, aggressive behaviours and sexually explicit
material that are not in keeping with and potentially inappropriate for Arab culture, attitudes and
Islamic behaviours. But this is not necessarily the same as exerting an influence over Libyan
consumers. It is clear many Libyan students believe that watching western movies is negative for
their society but less so for them as individuals.
There is little indication that respondents were ‘alienated’ from their society by watching
western movies. The affluenza hypothesis assumes that increased media consumption will correlate
positively with the development of a shallow materialistic lifestyle. This is difficult to measure
through a survey of viewing habits. But there are some indications that materialism is valued. For
example, advertisements or commercials were seen as important reasons for watching western
movies – such films have a high number of commercial breaks - and the cultural insights valued by
respondents in watching western movies can be related to the lifestyles on offer in these movies.
The finding indicated that almost one third of both genders claim that watching commercial ads had
a large effect on their choices, such as purchasing goods and other activities.
Conclusion
118
Libyan students are heavy viewers of satellite TV with women heavier viewers than men.
They watch to gratify or satisfy a number of personal desires or needs of which filling in leisure time
and gaining entertainment are the most important. They also point to benefits from viewing
including gaining knowledge such as the learning of language. Many respondents hold the view that
western movies had a negative impact of their societies.
Violence, the breakdown of family
structures and deviant sexual behaviour were examples of this. These findings needs to be qualified
in two ways. First, different types of movies are watched by men and women and attempts to assess
possible impact needs to be seen in terms of a disposition to particular kinds of movies. The
popularity of action movies and channels that show action programmes with male respondents may
indicate pre-disposition to violence. Second, the notion of negative consequences has to be
tempered by the findings of positive benefits from watching. Findings reveal that while the many
respondents believed that the western movies have had some impact on their behaviours patterns
and cultural values this impact can be both negative and positive.
These consumption habits raise some questions about the media imperialism thesis and the
issues and problems of how TV viewing impacts on audiences in the Arab world. Heavy consumption
of satellite TV and the popularity of western films reinforce the findings of previous research and
lend credence to the growing importance of TV and western programmes to viewers in the Arab
world. However, the survey of Libyan students viewing of western films indicates that the audience
response to western media products is more complicated than many media imperialism theorists
assume. Media imperialism theorists have emphasised the growth in the last 10 years of satellite TV
viewing – which has increased dramatically in Libya and the Arab world in general – but have paid
less attention to the responses of the audience to this development. The response of Arab viewers
to this development has not been the subject of much research due to the particular problems of
researching viewer reactions in Arab countries.
Hence, there is considerable speculation
surrounding possible audience responses to viewing western media products in the Arab world. The
consumption patterns of Libyan students and in particular their understanding of and response to
watching western films challenges some the more speculative interpretations of the impact of
viewing. The students value the films for the entertainment and watching them is primarily a means
of passing or filling in time. This tends to imply they do not actively relate to the content of these
films. This does not mean they are not affected as many respondents acknowledge that they
perceive that there is an impact on behaviour of watching the violence and sexual content of these
films. However, unpacking possible impact needs to acknowledge the variations among men and
women in terms of how much they watch satellite TV and what they watch. The survey indicates
119
that in Libyan male students were found to watch police and action movies more than females,
while the majority of females preferred watching romantic movies.
The survey found a variety of personal and social uses and gratifications Libyan students gain
from watching western films. It found that many Libyan students share the view that these products
have an influence on behaviour and values. The nature of this impact is however more difficult to
identify – and they are not always negative. There is evidence that pleasure, knowledge, information
and enjoyment are acquired. The affinity shown to the values that appear in these movies is less
clear. Viewers are active and distinction between male and female consumption patterns indicate
that people can draw different things from viewing. Being exposed to cultural diversity and
discovering other civilizations and cultures does not necessarily mean being influenced by different
cultures and civilisations. There are a range of different responses which the survey of Libyan
students suggest and media imperialism has to acknowledge that while many assume people are
influenced – and people in the Arab world accept there is a social impact from watching western
films. The evidence from what people do with the material they consume is more problematic.
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121
Othering a Guest: ethnic, economic and gendered complexities of a giant lady
Shan Morgain
Swansea University: department of Welsh
Abstract
This paper’s focus is the Mabinogi, the first prose tales extant in Britain, a national
treasure written in Wales. Their first complete publications 1838-1849 by the
powerhouse Charlotte Guest held dominance for a century, continuing as popular
today. This paper explores three aspects of the othering of Charlotte Guest49; as an
ethnic, economic and gendered outsider.50
English conquest thrust the tales into centuries of obscurity. Guest was English, and
issues of plagiarism of Welsh scholars, and colonialism, have arisen, but assessment
shows her marked fidelity to the Welsh traditions, while failing to give sufficient public
credit. As Sioned Davies remarks, her detractors want it both ways: she exploited the
best Welsh scholars, yet produced a defective translation. A brief section outlines
economic tensions in Welsh labour generating funds for an ironmaster’s wife for her
project. This is compared to the voluntary support for her precursor William Pughe.
Literary epithets like ‘charm’, ‘beauties’, ‘ad usum filioli’, ‘bowdlerisation’, are
analysed as gendered hostility, including her motherhood. The ambivalence Guest
embodied as a formidable achiever, yet dutiful Victorian wife and mother, is outlined.
Her secret statement as a mother, relating to a Mabinogi protagonist, is exposed to
illustrate her gendered strategic skill.
49
Charlotte Guest is known by various names. She was born (1812) Charlotte Elizabeth Bertie, with the title ‘Lady’ because
she was an earl’s daughter. She became Charlotte Guest on her marriage at 21 (1833). She always kept her title of which
she was very proud, so is often listed as ‘Lady Charlotte Guest’. In later life she became Charlotte Schreiber, or Lady
Charlotte Guest Schreiber, due to her second marriage in 1855. For continuity this paper normally refers to her as
‘Charlotte Guest’, ‘Charlotte’, or ‘Guest’; the name she held while she undertook The Mabinogion publications. She does
not appear to have used a bardic name.
50
Originally presented at ‘The Self and the Other’, RIAH, University of Swansea (10/10/2014).
An early draft was published to Academia.edu. Due to an administrative oversight the paper was not included in the
conference Proceedings. This version has been updated for RIAH, Swansea electronic publication, May 2016.
Matt Wall, chairing my panel in 2014, queried me as to who othered Charlotte Guest: scholars or general readership? I
replied that readers who actually read the Introduction sections of most of the popular editions of the tales, would be
exposed to these tensions.
122
Introduction
Once Charlotte Guest published The Mabinogion in the 19thC, it became part of world literature,
repeatedly republished. Her work is now widely known, including internet versions of text,
recordings, and video.51 She was a human powerhouse who, unsurprisingly, raises large issues.
The Mabinogi are the oldest prose stories written in Britain and, quite possibly, in Europe. As
such, they deserve much greater recognition than they often receive. To clarify, the Mabinogi is a
four part work, a unified quartet, which is always included in publications of The Mabinogion. The
Four Branches of the Mabinogi are also published alone, without the rest of the tales in The
Mabinogion. The larger collection of The Mabinogion has little internal connection except the tales
were written down in the Welsh of the same period, in the same manuscripts, in amongst much
other material.52 Although ‘mabinogion’ is a nonsense word, deriving from a scribal mistake in the
14thC or earlier, it became stuck to the Welsh prose tradition, continuing today for convenience.53
Asserting the primary place of the Mabinogi in British and European literature could easily
seem like a mere Guinness Book of Records stake attached to some weird, old, incomprehensible
fragments. Not so. These stories are intricately fascinating literature, charged with strong, wise
heroines, brave and cunning heroes, complex villains and politics, enchantments, beauty, moral
issues, social challenge, and a characteristic humour. The style employs powerful dialogue and
interrelated plots. Locations are frequently well known in Wales today. With all that, the tales can
draw out many years of scholarship, or equally delight a child with their simplicity: a range of
engagement which demonstrates rare skills of composition. This is a national treasure.
The Four Branches of the Mabinogi tell the interlinked stories of three Brittonic families. The
work is coherent, planned, and considered as composed by one (anonymous) person.54 The
51
Charlotte Guest first published The Mabinogion as a series of 7 bilingual volumes 1838- 1849; then 3 vols, 1849; a
reduced edition without French, Latin source texts, but still bilingually Welsh/ English. The one vol. 1877 English text only,
was reprinted 1906 by Everyman; editions and reprints of this version continue today. The 1877 text went online 1999;
then via Gutenberg 2002. Valley Stream published videos 1996, their online version 2004. S4C TV film 2007, recordings
with music by Colin Jones 2008. Excellent video clips from the ‘Moving Being’ performance 1983, with Robin Williamson’s
music, are on Youtube. For full media bibliography use ARTS tag on <http://mabinogistudy.com/bibliog> [accessed
03/02/2015]
52
The twelve tale collection of The Mabinogion is from Guest’s versions. All later publications of The Mabinogion are
eleven tales, omitting Taliesin because it derives from a different manuscipt.
53
This paper uses ‘Mabinogi’ to refer to the unified qiartet; The Mabinogion means the bigger, looser group with the silly
name; sometimes Mabinogi/on is used to show a statement applies to both.
54
One tentative propsal of multiple authorship is: Sioned Davies, ‘Pedeir Keinc Y Mabinogi: A Case for Multiple
Authorship’, in Proc. First North American Congress of Celtic Studies, (ed.) MacLennan, Gordon W. (Univ. Ottawa., 1986),
pp. 443–59.
123
composition is thought to date to c. 1100, the critical period when Wales was facing its first
incursions by the Normans. However, although the compilation as a unified work was 11thC, it draws
on a much older oral tradition. How old is not known, but the style and content suggest it aims to
portray a pre-Roman world.55
The Mabinogi/on has survived in three manuscript sources.56 Llyfr Coch Hergest, or the Red
Book, was produced in the great days of Owain Glyndŵr’s Rising. Among its visionary hopes were
not only political independence and a greatly enlarged Welsh territory, but a National Library and
two Welsh universities, one north and one south. It took 500 years to establish the Llyfrgell
Genedlaethol Cymru, the National Library of Wales, in 1906, and only a little less to found the first
University College of Wales (1872) Aberystwyth. For after the end of Owain Glyndŵr’s Rising Wales
entered into hard times, with bleak economics, and growing suppression of the Welsh language and
culture. Educated Welsh people increasingly spoke English, then English only, with Welsh speakers
caricatured and despised as barbaric.
However a small number of Church clerics sustained the language, much helped by the
publication of a translated Welsh Bible in 1588. Antiquarians pottered among the old manuscripts,
making copies and speculating on their contents. Lacking a Welsh university, Oxford served Welsh
students of literature as the ‘Welsh college.’ In 1707 Llyfr Coch, the Red Book, containing the old
prose tales, arrived safely at Jesus College Oxford. Its materials aided generations of patient scholars
in the slow work of reclamation, and ultimately, Charlotte Guest herself.
In the 18thC researching Welsh history and poetry was fostered by the various London
Welsh Societies, social and philanthropic clubs, frequently boisterous and boozy men-only meetings.
Iolo Morgannwg, inspired poet, and a dreamer about the new Rights of Man, and about Druidry,
tramped the hills of Wales through rain and wind, visiting old manors to copy their manuscripts. Iolo,
Owain Myfyr and William Owen Pughe, together reclaimed old lore from parchments by now
crumbling, damp, even partly eaten by rats.57
55
Space precludes rehearsal of the dating debates, but key issues are the use of Middle Welsh; only three (reliable) French
‘loan-words’ which all relate to trade; a complete lack of Arthuriana which dominates prose literature after 1100. While
manners and laws reflect mediaeval codes, no reference to political events later than early 12thC occurs.
56
There are a couple of early fragments dated c. 1250 called Peniarth 6. Another MS. also survived through the old
Peniarth library as Peniarth 4 and 5, but is better known as Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch, or the White Book. This one holds the
complete Mabinogi quartet but is missing one tale of The Mabinogion. The last MS. the latest in historical dating, is Llyfr
Coch Hergest, or the Red Book. This one has all eleven tales of the collection known as The Mabinogion. The White and Red
Books were publishing marvels of their day, huge, packed compendiums of stories, law, histories, and sayings, part of a
galloping fashion at the time to produce ‘bumper’ books.
57
‘Iolo Morganwg’ was the bardic name of Edward Williams. ‘Owain Myfyr’ was the bardic name of Owen Jones.
124
In 1795 William Owen Pughe published the first tiny piece of the Mabinogi, ten pages, which
he called ‘The Mabinogion, or Juvenile Amusements, being Ancient Welsh Romances.’ He printed it
in the Cambrian Register, the first serious journal of Welsh culture, relying on personal subscriptions
to fund it. Pughe was the leading eminence of Welsh scholarship of the day.58 He won external
recognition for his beloved native culture when in 1802 he presented a paper to the prestigious
Society of Antiquaries in London. On the prose tales of the Mabinogion he declared proudly ‘I have
little hesitation in asserting them to have been the origin of romance writing in Europe.’59
Pughe collected, organised, re-organised, transcribed and translated the complete list of
tales we now call The Mabinogion. He published some more excerpts after 1795, but too many other
projects drained him. He died aged 76, on the 4 June 1835. His complete Mabinogion was ready, and
a printer booked to go ahead. It never happened.
Charlotte Guest: her achievement
When William Pughe died, Charlotte Guest had just had her 23rd birthday (19 May). She was
not long married to the ironmaster John Josiah Guest and they had a baby daughter.60 An expert
linguist in seven languages, she had immediately begun studying Welsh as soon as she arrived in
Wales as a bride.61 A few months after Pughe died, in the autumn of 1835 Charlotte met Elijah
Waring, and delighted in conversation with him on ‘superstitions and legends.’ In her journal she
fancies a collection of Welsh legends might be a good idea.62 The seed was sown, and she published
58
He edited a Welsh-English Dictionary, a book of Welsh bibliographies, and a kind of encyclopaedia, the Myvyrian
Archaiology, and many more publications.
59
William Owen Pughe, ‘Account of the Ancient Welsh Manuscripts’, in Archaeologia: Or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to
Antiquity (London: Society of Antiquaries, 1808), xiv, pp. 211–20, at 219. Although published 1808 Pughe’s letter is dated
Jan. 21 1802.
60
Charlotte met and married John Josiah Guest within three months, 29 July 1835, at the age of 21 (b. 19 May 1812). He
was much older, at 48 (b. 2 feb. 1785). At 21 she was finally free to marry as she pleased, escaping family arrangements,
and a long established, unhappy family life, due to a drunken, feckless stepfather, and weak mother. I am indebted to
Jenny Taylor for her insight on Charlotte’s 21st birthday’s legal implications.
61
Sioned Davies, “A Charming Guest: Translating the Mabinogion’, Studia Celtica , (2004) pp. 157-178, at p. 159. Guest
studied English, French, Italian, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Persian. She translated technical documents for the ironworks, and
once amused herself chatting in his own language with the ambassador of Persia. Guest’s journals are a major source of
our information about her. Davies, whose research comes direct from the journals at NLW, notes they cover ‘almost
seventy years, from 1822 to 1891 (thirty-one volumes in all)’ p. 159. n. 12.
62
Revel Guest and Angela V. John, Lady Charlotte Guest: An Extraordinary Life, (The History Press, 2007), p. 102. A full
length biography of Guest, using the original journals, written in collaboration with her grand daughter.
Waring was editor of a Welsh cultural journal, an admirer and later biographer of Iolo Morganwg, close colleague of Pughe.
Waring undoubtedly knew of Pughe’s death as a major literary event in Welsh literary circles, so it would have been odd if
he did not mention it to the young Guest. Charlotte records in her journal Nov. 1835 ‘our conversation turned much on the
superstitions and legends of Wales - I think it might be desirable to make a collection of them. His love for ancient
literature is quite refreshing to me who have been so long deprived of everything like fellow feeling in that respect.’
Evidently she was lonely for this kind of companionship, although otherwise happy.
125
her first volume only three years later in 1838. The living powerhouse which was Charlotte Guest
would take the project to triumphant completion in 1849.
During her years of working on The Mabinogion she birthed nine of her ten children. She
became manager in, and representative of, her husband’s huge trans-continental industry, the
Dowlais ironworks.63 She supported her husband’s political campaigns as MP and liaised with the
leading scholars of her day. Her marriage into ‘trade’ lowered her aristocratic social status, so she
strategically rebuilt it for her children via London salons.64 She founded pioneering schools for her
employees’ children, and overhauled their houses’ sanitation.65
Subsequent editors of The Mabinogion acknowledged her achievement: Ellis and Lloyd in
1929; ‘its charm and literary qualities will always ensure it a foremost place in the field which Lady
Guest was the first to explore completely.’
66
Jones and Jones in 1949 ‘Her translation was a
charming and felicitous piece of English prose, and has been justly esteemed by every succeeding
generation of readers as a classic in its own right.’67 The latter’s edition would at last dislodge her
pre-eminence, but only after a century.
Charlotte Guest: English incomer
One of her first reviews in 1839 (Monthly Review) declares ‘Lady Charlotte Guest is doing
more to popularise and make the English reader acquainted with the old Welsh National literature
than all the other living antiquaries in the principality ...’68 In 1843 the Review said ‘Lady C. Guest
could not have bestowed a more acceptable gift upon her adopted countrymen ...’69 While highly
complimentary to Guest, these comments are keen to place her as a (superior) outsider to Welsh
culture, and they disparage Welsh scholarship. Certainly Guest had completed the publication
project which Pughe had not, and she reached further into English readership. But the style of praise
ignores the immense support and resources she had been afforded by Welsh scholars.
63
Guest and John, Extraordinary Life, pp. 118-33. The biographical portrait in this paragraph is from this study.
64
Guest and John, Extraordinary Life, pp. 44-45.
65
Guest and John, Extraordinary Life, pp. 73 -79.
66
Thomas Peter Ellis; and John Lloyd, The Mabinogion: A New Translation by T.P. Ellis and John Lloyd, (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1929), p. vii.
67
Gwyn Jones and Thomas Jones, The Mabinogion, (London Everyman.: J. M. Dent, 1949), p. xxvii.
68
Monthly Review, no. 150, (1839), p. 132.
69
‘Welsh Fiction: The Mabinogion by Lady Charlotte Guest Parts I, II, III, and IV’, Monthly Review (April 1843), pp. 440-453,
at p. 453.
126
Guest herself did remarkably little to publicly credit her Welsh associates. They do not
appear at the front of her books. We know (some of) them instead, from her journals. It should be
remembered she was writing before the development of strict modern academic criteria on
crediting.70 The most prominent were Thomas Price (‘Carnhuanawc’) and John Jones (‘Tegid’).71
She met Thomas Price (‘Carnhuanawc’) first, Aug. 28 1833, through her great friend Augusta
Hall, Lady Llanover. He was a senior, eminent scholar of Welsh bardic circles, who appears after that
first meeting to mentor her, helping her with corrections as she was completing her first volume in
1838.72 She was acquainted with the Rev. John Jones (‘Tegid’) by 29 Oct. 1836,73 and he was the
crucial associate who prepared fair copies of the manuscript text in Middle Welsh for her.74
A major scandal accusing Guest of plagiarising and appropriating the work of these Welsh
scholars was sent to the Western Mail, April 1921, under the pseudonym ‘Ap Dowlais.’ The
accusation was rebutted in 1921 by David Phillips via publishing excerpts of Guest’s journals;
followed by Donna White’s articles (1995, 1997) and Sioned Davies’ 2004.75 Yet the taint persisted.
W. J. Gruffydd sustained it.76 Even such as Ronald Hutton today, current Professor of History at
70
See note under Economics.
71
Carnhuanawc is mentioned 10 times in the published journal content, between Aug. 28 1833 and 22 Dec 1838. Tegid is
mentioned 11 times between 29 Oct. 1836 and 17 July 1839. She refers specifically to Tegid’s collaboration with her in her
journals November 30, December 8 1837; February 26 1838; March 13; April 9 1839. Also other dates when Tegid visited
her in this period. Carnhuanawc is specifically referenced in collaboration November 30 1837; February 5, December 10
and 11, staying with her until the 15th; again December 17 to 22 1838; May 14, staying over December 18 and 19 1839;
staying over February 27 and 28; July 29 1840; October 5 and 6 1841. See my ‘Index of Guest Journals’, (2014)
<http://mabinogistudy.com/bibliog/index-of-guest-journals/>
72
The Carnhuanawc visits are all in Phillips copy of the journal text, except the first meeting. David Rhys Phillips, Lady
Charlotte Guest and the Mabinogion; Some Notes on the Work and Its Translator, with Extracts from Her Journals,
(Carmarthen: W. Spurrell & Son., 1921).
<https://archive.org/stream/cu31924026877849/cu31924026877849_djvu.txt>
The first meeting is in Sioned Davies, ‘Charming Guest’, p. 171. Davies’ excerpts are especially of interest, researched direct
from the journals, as is Angela John’s in Extraordinary Life). Philllips version is derived second hand from a transcription by
Guest’s daughter Blanche, not an academic, so the other sources are preferred for accuracy, if available.
73
Davies, ‘Charming Guest’, p. 169. See also 5 Nov. 1836. Guest attends church sermons in Welsh by Tegid.
74
Tegid had about 20 years before as an Oxford scholar, made a copy of the Llyfr Coch manuscript for Sir John Bernard
Bosanquet of Dingestow Court, who now lent it back for the Guest project.
75
Phillips, Extracts. It was this scandal which prompted Phillips publcation although the material was supplied to him by
Guest’s daughter Blanche, Countess of bessborough at his request before WWI. Rachel Bromwich also contributed a paper
(1987, repr. 1996, 2001) based on Phillips’ text. Davies S., ‘Charming Guest’; and Donna Rae White,. The Crimes of Lady
Charlotte Guest. Proc. Harvard Celtic Colloquium 15, (1995 ), pp. 242 –9; and ‘The Further Crimes of Lady Charlotte Guest’,
Proc. Harvard Celtic Colloquium, 16-17, (1997), pp. 157–166. See also Guest and John, Extraordinary Life, pp. 114-115.
76
William John Gruffydd, Rhiannon: An Inquiry into the Origin of the First and Third Branches, (Cardiff:
University of Wales Press, 1953) p. 1. ‘the main credit for this work should go to the two scholars who
“devilled” for her, the Rev. John Jones (Tegid) . . . and the Rev. Thomas Price (Carnhuanawc)’
127
Bristol, subscribes to it.77 No such complaint ever appeared on record from the Welsh scholars
themselves.
A study by Judith Johnston frames Guest as a coloniser, ‘appropriating’ the text as an English
literature, quoting the Monthly Review saying the Guest text is ‘strictly and purely British.’ 78 In the
mid-19thC though, ‘British’ was only just completing its loss of ancient meaning, as found in the
Mabinogi, where it means the ancestral Welsh, or the Britons, who once possessed the mainland.
Union with Scotland was comparatively recent, and James VI and I’ innovative name ‘Great Britain’
did not become popular for a long time. John Koch saw the old usage as over by the mid-19thC, but
also observes usage as ‘confused’ for another century.79 It is therefore opaque to interpret quite
what the Monthly Review meant in this instance. J. Johnston then quotes from Guest’s own
Introduction stating that the Mabinogion ‘in their present form, are not wholly Welsh.’80 However
this is standard Mabinogion scholarship, which recognises that outside the Four Branches, there is
considerable Anglo-French exchange.
As shown above, the Monthly Review did praise Guest at Welsh scholars’ expense, so
cultural appropriation there certainly was, and an arrogant kind. But Guest herself shows no sign of
it, rather the reverse. She saw the tales in that same Introduction as ‘the cradle of European
Romance.’81 She champions them against the Classics in which she had been highly educated as a
scholarly English aristocrat:
Why should we disregard our own traditions . . . because they have not been handed
down in Greek or Latin? For my own part, I love the old Legends and Romances as
they teach us so naturally the manners and opinions of those who were, in fact, much
77
Examples, not a comprehensive list: W. J. Gruffydd is especially sharp in Rhiannon, p. 1. The taint is traceable 1959 ‘In
this work she was aided by Thomas Price (Carnhuanawc), John Jones (Tegid) and others.’ T. H. Parry-Williams extract in
The Dictionary of Welsh Biography down to 1940, Lloyd, John Edward and R. T. Jenkins, (eds.) (1959, London), p. 322. Also
Meic Stephens,’Guest, Charlotte’ (encyclopedia entry), The New Companion to the Literature of Wales, (Univ. of Wales
Press, Cardiff, 1998 ), p. 288. Also Katie Gramich, ‘Lady Charlotte Guest 1812 - 1895: British translator, diarist and
collector,’ in Encyclopedia of Literary Translation Into English: A-L, Olive Classe, (ed.) (2000), pp. 592 -3 at p. 592. Most
recently Prof. Ronald Hutton, ‘Medieval Welsh Literature and Pre-Christian Deities,’ Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies, 61,
(2011), pp. 57-86.
78
Judith Johnston, ‘Victorian Appropriations: Lady Charlotte Guest Translates The Mabinogion’, in Studies in Medievalism:
Appropriating the Middle Ages: Scholarship, Politics, Fraud, (eds.) Shippey, Tom and Arnold, Martin, (2001), pp. 145–66, at
p. 46. She quotes The Monthly Review, (1842) pp. 284-7, at p. 284, which views Guest’s ‘Kulhwch and Olwen’ text as
‘strictly and purely British.’
79
John Koch, ‘British’, in Koch (ed.), Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, (2006) pp. 289-291, at p.290.
80
Charlotte Guest, The Mabinogion, Everyman’s Library (London and NY.: J. M. Dent and Sons and E. P. Dutton, 1906), p. 8.
See earlier note about dating and origins of the Mabinogi; here the reverse is true, as in other tales there are many more
‘loan-words’ and Arthur is a stock character. In addition manners and customs show feudal codes, and notions of chivalry
different to the native traditions.
81
Guest, The Mabinogion, (Everyman), p. xxiii.
128
more nearly connected with us of the present day than were any of the heroes of
Rome.82
Notably she refers to ‘our own traditions’ i.e. Welsh traditions, suggesting she herself has
assimilated.
By translating The Mabinogion Guest promoted it to a much wider audience, yet translation
can all too easily appropriate a source text for the target culture. The acquiring culture inevitably
distorts source meanings, and categorises the text itself to suit its own perceptions.83 It is therefore
of concern that Guest is typically, ubiquitously, presented as ‘the translator’ of The Mabinogion, as if
her main achievement were to transform it into an English text.
But Guest’s achievement was far greater than that, and different. Her first edition in seven
volumes, and her second, three volume edition, were both bilingual texts.84 (It should be recalled
that the Welsh text was transcribed and modernised by Tegid, not Guest, but it was her editorial
decision to include it.) Also both editions were simultaneously published in Wales and London.
Nonetheless Johnston queries the usefulness of
Guest’s Welsh text at all as she doubts
contemporary Welsh literacy as adequate to reading it.85 In the 18thC the Circulating schools had
achieved very high Welsh literacy. But with booming immigration in the 19thC matching American
levels, Welsh literacy certainly diminished. Johnston however, overlooks the tradition of reading
aloud in families and clubs, between friends or lovers, so one reader serviced many listeners. Guest
herself polished her text by reading it aloud not only to family and friends, but to her Welsh
scholarly colleagues.86
82
Undated journal excerpt, on a visit to Warwick Castle, possibly 1834. Guest and John, Extraordinary Life, p.
103. Compare Lady Llanover, as a similarly powerful incomer wife, her total identification with Welsh culture.
Celyn Gurden-Williams, ‘Lady Llanover and the Creation of a Welsh Cultural Utopia’, (unpublished PhD thesis,
University of Cardiff, 2008), p. 22. Maxwell Fraser compares the two ladies, but he is extremely biased in
favour of Llanover. ‘Lady Llanover and Lady Charlotte Guest.’, Anglo-Welsh Review, 13, (1963), pp. 36–43.
83
Andre Lefevere, ‘Translation: Its Genealogy in the West,’ in Susan Bassnet & Andre Lefevere, (eds.), Translation, History
and Culture, London, (Pintner, 1991), p. 26.
David Spurr, The Rhetoric of Empire: Colonial Discourse in Journalism, Travel Writing and Imperial Administration,
(Durham, NC and London: Duke U. Press, 1993), p. 28.
84
I have mentioned this to a number of eminent Welsh scholars, and to my own surprise even they were amazed at how
they had completely overlooked it.
85
J. Johnston, ‘Victorian Appropriations’, p. 149.
86
S. Davies ‘Charming Guest’, p. 170. Davies attributes some of Guest’s known grace of style to this habit.
129
Guest has also been criticised for introducing the erroneous ‘mabinogion’ title, where we
have seen above that the usage dates back to the 18thC.87 Conversely she is credited with the ‘cradle
of romance’ concept which Pughe had proposed in 1802.88 In all these things, publishing bilingually
in both Wales and London, using the erroneous Mabinogion title and the concept of a source
romance tradition, Guest was being faithful to established Welsh culture.
From another angle she was not at all faithful to Wales, for after 22 years here, she left for a
new life based in England and Europe. In 1877 she republished The Mabinogion as one volume, in
English translation only. She died far away in England. This is suggestive of an aristocratic English
dilettante.
However there is rather more to it. In 1855 she remarried, to an Englishman, and there were
other family reasons why she left.89 It bears noting that 22 years is a full length career. Thomas
Stephens, the brilliant Welsh scholar who the Guests sponsored, put in only six years more work
before he died.90 She famously refers to her own driven perfectionism in her journal,91 which
together with her diverse ‘powerhouse’ aspects, strongly opposes any hint of shallow commitment.
On her move to publish the English translation alone, in her Preface she explains it as a response to
‘a much wider circle of readers’ beyond the scholarly, creating demand for a ‘more popular edition
of my work.’92
The ethnic divide Welsh/ English is never so sharp as when it is defined by the Cymraeg, the
Welsh language. While typically seen as a translator, Guest has been attacked as an inferior one. T.
P. Ellis & John Lloyd critique her for ‘faults of the translation [which] are few though at times
87
The occasional careful writer says that Guest ‘popularised’ the Mabinogion title, which is true as her publications have
had such a long and widespread distribution. But unless this is expanded, to the uninitiated or hurried reader, the
impression is that Guest introduced the title.
88
Pughe, ‘Ancient Welsh Manuscripts’, pp. 211–20, at 219.
89
This needs the gendered analysis, below.
90
Thomas Stephens (April 21, 1821 – January 4, 1875), eisteddfod winner, and author of The Literature of the Kymry: Being
a critical essay .. language and literature of Wales during the twelfth and two succeeding centuries, (London: Longmans
Green, 1849, repr 1876).
91
Guest wrote in her journal (27 April 1839) ‘I cannot endure anything in a second grade. I am happy to see we
are at the head of the iron trade. Otherwise I could not take pride in my house in the City and my Works at
Dowlais, and glory (playfully) in being (in some sort) a tradeswoman. Then again, my blood is of the noblest
and most princely in the Kingdom, and if I go into Society, it must be the very best and first. I can brook no
other. If I occupy myself in writing, my book must be splendidly got up and must be, as far at least as
decoration and typography are concerned, at the head of literature . . .’ S. Davies, ‘Charming Guest’, p.170.
Also J. Johnston, ‘Victorian Appropriations’, pp. 154-5.
92
Guest, Charlotte, The Mabinogion, 1 vol. (London: Quaritch., 1877), p. vii.
<www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/mab/index.htm>
130
important’.93 Jones and Jones condemn her ‘lack of strict scholarship’94 (and a good deal more,
below). It is perhaps relevant that these are voices attempting to replace her as the canonical
translation. But as Sioned Davies acutely observes, critique of Guest is contradictory. She supposedly
appropriated and exploited the most excellent of Welsh scholars, yet she is damned for her inferior
translations!95
Charlotte Guest: economic tension
She was the titled daughter of an English Earl, born and bred to the highest social elite. She
married John Josiah Guest, the greatest and richest ironmaster of the period. Since 1760 the Welsh
had migrated overwhelmingly to the exploding economy of the south-east, building Wales as the
world’s first industrial nation.96 The Guests’ Dowlais ironworks supplied rail track across Britain,
Europe and Russia, leading the industrial boom in Wales where massive immigration equalled
America. Welsh iron and steel funded The Mabinogion publications in luxurious style: leather covers
with gold tooled lettering, lavish artwork, eleven volumes all together.97 The meticulous labour of
which Guest was so proud demanded many, many hours of supported leisure to carry out.
The ironmasters were hated as the exploiters of the working class. Charlotte Guest lived in
Merthyr, the centre of the Chartist Rising. She records in her journal how the uprising confined her
family at home, guarded by militia, desperately being brave.98 There were mass attacks on shops and
offices, burning down the hated Court of Requests (a bailiffs' office which took away debtors' goods
and furniture).99 Guest’s attitude was a maternal condescension: she writes of ‘these poor deluded
creatures’.100 The Dowlais workforce, she was pleased to note, did not strike.101 After her husband
died, Guest managed a volatile economic period with widespread strikes across the industry. Her
93
Ellis,, and Lloyd, Mabinogion, p. viii.
94
Jones & Jones, Mabinogion, p. xxvii.
95
S. Davies, ‘Charming Guest’, p. 166.
96
National Museum of Wales, ‘Wales – the first industrial nation of the world.’
<http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/articles/2007-04-18/Wales---the-first-industrial-nation-of-the-World/> [Accessed
2/10/14]
97
A series of seven volumes 1838-45, then a combined three volume set 1849; then a single volume version 1877.
98
R. Guest, and John, Extraordinary Life, pp 67- 70. I am indebted for personal provision from Angela John of the text of her
talk at the Dic Penderyn Society, ‘Deference in Dowlais? Lady Charlotte Guest and the Chartists. (2008, Merthyr Tydfil).
John traces how Guest moved from an initial, youthful idealism about Chartism and labour movements, to a classically
‘paternalistic’ (sic) attitude in political terms.
99
Socialist Party Wales, <www.socialistpartywales.org.uk/news227.shtml> [Accessed 2/10/14].
100
John, ‘Deference in Dowlais?’ p. 5.
101
John, ‘Deference in Dowlais?’ p. 9.
131
success may have been due to her philanthropy in providing innovative schools, and healthy
sanitation in workers houses,102 plus her fine- tuned communication skills.
She may have been respected, but this wealthy lady wore silken dresses, sat in her pretty
boudoir, with fresh flowers and books around her. It is undeniably impressive that she gave birth to
ten children, while achieving so much in so many spheres of life; but then there was an army of
servants tending her ten children for her. Meanwhile, her Welsh workers lived harsh, shortened,
exploited lives to provide her comforts and her free time to work on The Mabinogion.
She restored a Welsh national treasure, making it available to Welsh and English speaking
people, alike. Pughe’s attempted project was funded by predominantly Welsh subscribers, freely
purchasing a stake in the publication. The Dowlais workers had no say in the English lady’s decision
to use their sweat to publish a gold embellished book of their legends. Welsh comment on this
anomalous heroine may sound strained at times, but curiously, none confront her economics. Yet
later resentment on her lack of acknowledgement of her Welsh associates, noted above, was very
likely rooted in her economic dominance, her class arrogance. To her elite perspective, all others
exist to be of service; Welsh, English, or any other ethnic group.
Gendering a Guest
‘The history of Welsh people has been camouflaged in British History yet women have also
been rendered inconspicuous within their own Welsh history …’103 Attention on Welsh women can
then also exclude Charlotte Guest because she was not Welsh. Angela John has been a leading
corrective in recovering women’s history in Wales, and it was she who researched the most
substantial biography of Charlotte Guest, aptly titled An Extraordinary Life.104
Guest was not an isolated female phenomenon when she produced The Mabinogion. She
was one of a circle of remarkable women gathered by Augusta Hall, Lady Llanover, ‘Gwenynen
102
Guest and John, Extraordinary Life, pp. 73 -79.
103
Angela. V. John, (ed.), Our Mothers’ Land, (Cardiff, 1991), p. 1. See also as examples of reclaiming 19thC women’s
history in Wales: Jane. Aaron, S. Betts, T. Rees & M. Vincentelli (eds.), Our Sisters’ Land: The Changing Identities of Women
in Wales, (Cardiff, 1994); D. Beddoe, ‘Images of Welsh Women’ in T. Curtis (ed.), Wales: The Imagined Nation, (Bridgend,
1986); D. Jones, ‘Serfdom and Slavery: W omen’s Work in Wales 1890-1930’ in D. R. Hopkin, & G. S Kealey, (eds.) Class
Community and the Labour Movement: Wales and Canada 1850-1930, (Llafur, 1989).
104
Revel Guest and Angela V. John, Lady Charlotte Guest: An Extraordinary Life, (The History Press, 2007).
Revel Guest is the grand daughter of Charlotte Guest.
132
Gwent’,105 around Abergavenny.106 The two ladies quickly became close friends and associates when
Guest arrived in Wales as a bride. Hall was ten years older, also an English incomer and aristocrat
wife, already established as a social leader and eisteddfod activist, so she helped Guest with her
social entrée.107 The two English-Welsh couples, together with Carnhuanawc and other Welsh
patriots, founded the Cymdeithas Cymreigyddion y Fenni, Abergavenny Welsh Society (2 Nov 1833.).
Prys Morgan acknowledges Hall’s great talent for publicity in promoting her personal vision of
Wales, particularly in exploiting ‘pageantry, colour, [and] glamour’.108 Striking examples of Hall’s
campaigning themes include the magnificence of the triple Welsh harp,109 and a colourful Welsh folk
costume she designed.110 Guest had a similar flair for marketing when she published The
Mabinogion.
Her translation has been noted for its ‘charm.’111 Sioned Davies comments that this is ‘the
word most often associated with her work.’112 Patrick Ford notes her ‘graceful and romantic
rendition’.113 These are not tags attached to male scholars: the term ‘charm’ serves to remind that
Guest ‘is, after all, merely a woman.’114 Such praise seems to accompany accusations of inaccuracy,
though without specifics.115 This gendered detraction then slides into the critique that she merely
published for (her) children. Here are Jones and Jones in full cry:
105
‘Gwenynen Gwent’ was Augusta Hall’s bardic name, meaning ‘the Bee of Gwent’, apt to her queenlike
cultural role, and her sharply effective personality.
106
Jane Aaron, Nineteenth-Century Women’s Writing in Wales: Nation, Gender and Identity, (Cardiff, 2007), p. 73. Others
included Angharad Llwyd, antiquary and multiple eisteddfod prize winner; and Jane Williams (‘Ysgafell’), historian and
essayist.
107
Llanover Hall was a centre for gatherings of Welsh, English, but also European wide scholars. Geoffrey Powell, ‘The
Llanover Project: The European Dimension’, NLW website.
<http://www.llgc.org.uk/gwyb/cyfeillion/geoffrey-powell-s.pdf> Accessed 15/04/2016.
108
Prys Morgan, ‘Lady Llanover (1802-1896), “Gwenynen Gwent”’, Cymm., vol. 13, (2006), pp. 94-106, at p. 134.
109
Rachel Ley, Arglwyddes Llanofer: Gwenynen Gwent, (Caernarfon, 2001).
110
Christine Stevens, ‘Welsh Costume and the Influence of Lady Llanover’, NLW website.
<https://www.llgc.org.uk/fileadmin/fileadmin/docs_gwefan/amdanom_ni/cyfeillion/darlithoedd/cyfn_dar_CStevens_0009
16S.pdf>
But see critique: Michael Freeman, ‘Lady Llanover and the Welsh Costume Prints’, NLW Journal, Vol. 34, No. 2, (2007), pp.
235- 251, at p. 235. Freeman challenges the design credit to Hall.
111
Matthew Arnold, On the Study of Celtic Literature and Other Essays, Intro. (London, 1976 [1910]), p. 49. Ellis
& Lloyd, Mabinogion, p. viii. Jones & Jones , Mabinogion, p. xxvii.
112
S. Davies, ‘Charming Guest’, p.166.
113
Patrick K. Ford, The Mabinogi and Other Welsh Tales, (Berkeley, Caifornia; UK: UCP; 1977), p. ix.
114
S. Davies, ‘Charming Guest’, p.167.
115
Ellis & Lloyd, Mabinogion, p. viii. Jones & Jones , Mabinogion, p. xxvii.
133
Her translation was a charming and felicitous piece of English prose, and has been
justly esteemed by every succeeding generation of readers as a classic in its own
right. The present translators believe themselves to be in as favourable a position to
assess her merits as anyone now alive, and they cannot too emphatically pay tribute
to so splendid an achievement. But the absence of texts, the lack of strict scholarship,
and the ever present sense of an undertaking ad usum filioli have left their tell-tale
marks. Hers are beauties indeed, but too often they are not the beauties of her
wonderful original.116
The two men compliment her in high flown style, with the ‘charm’ tag, already noted, and
with non-specifics: e.g. ‘classic’, ‘splendid.’ They set themselves up as peerlessly qualified to judge
her, then deliver their shafts; like the compliments, mainly empty of specifics. Reference to her
‘beauties’ is uneasily suggestive of the female body, as such phrasing is unlikely in relation to a male
scholar.
Her work is allegedly tainted ad usum filioli (for the use of children).117 It was Pughe who
attached a ‘juvenile’ definition to the tales, but even he only used it for his first two instalments in
the Cambrian Register.118 It is true Guest dedicates her work to her two baby sons,119 but dedications
to wives or lovers by male scholars do not imply marital or erotic content.120 Guest’s scholarly notes
take up 145 pages, half as long as her translated text itself: hardly children’s literature.121 She found
she needed to publish a ‘more popular edition’ going beyond her first scholarly readership.122
116
Jones, Gwyn, and Jones, Thomas, The Mabinogion, Everyman’s Library, (London: J. M. Dent, 1949), p. xxvii.
Compare Jones & Jones in this quote’s ‘felicitous piece of English prose, … justly esteemed by every succeeding
generation of readers as a classic in its own right’ and Ellis & Lloyd, where her text’s ‘literary qualities will
always ensure it a foremost place in the field’. Ellis & Lloyd, Mabinogion, p. viii.
117
Ellis & Lloyd had also made this mistake; ‘The intention of Lady Charlotte Guest appears to have been to produce a
version which could be used for the instruction and amusement of her own children, with the result that parts of her
translation are either inaccurate or bowdlerised.’ Mabinogion, p. vii.
118
William Owen Pughe,, ‘The Mabinogion, or Juvenile Amusements, Being Ancient Welsh Romances’, Cambrian Register, I
(1795), pp. 177–87. William Owen Pughe, ‘The Romantic Tales called Mabinogion, or Juvenile Amusements’, Cambrian
Register, II (1799), pp. 322–27. Pughe presented his subsequent concept of the tales as Romances, in 1802, ‘Account of the
Ancient Welsh Manuscripts’ (see above).
119
Charlotte Guest, The Mabinogion.(1 Vol.), (London: Quaritch., 1877). Dedication page, dated Dowlais, August 29th,
1838. This edition is a reduced single volume version of the 7 vols. series she began in 1838.
120
‘Some authors dedicate their books to their cats or to deceased relatives, but no one assumes an intended feline
readership or an audience of ghosts.’ Donna R. White, ‘The crimes of Lady Charlotte Guest’, Proceedings of the Harvard
Celtic Colloquium, XV (1995), pp. 242–9, at p. 246.
121
White, ‘Crimes of Guest’, p. 245.
Guest, The Mabinogion, 1877 edition: notes follow each tale, total in brackets: pp. 31-65 (34); 66 (1); 67-76 (9); 77 (1); 12528 (3); 136-37 (2); 186-213 (27); 214 (1); 259-61 (3); 315-17 (2); 360-365 (5); 385-93 (8); 411-12 (2); 434-440 (7); 453-56 (3);
466-68 (2); 495-504 (9). Full total: 119. Introduction is xi-xx (9) making 128. A conservative estimate of 17 pages covers the
134
Jones and Jones vaguely critique an ‘absence of texts’ due to publishing for children (quoted
above), which Ellis & Lloyd deplored as ‘bowdlerised’ text.123 The gentlemen are pointing to Guest’s
omission of sex scenes.124 Here they fall foul of the assumption noted above, of limiting Guest to her
translation role, for she gives the scenes, in full, in her Welsh text. Her (English text) omission may
well be gendered, as she was astute enough to realise that a Victorian lady editor, facing
trivialisation by male literary circles, could not afford to add scandal to her marketing.125
When Guest came to Wales as a young bride, she was already an excellent linguist making it
easy to assume that is why she immediately learnt Welsh,126 which she admitted she found tough
going.127 This is to overlook the colossal dominance of patrilocal tradition. A man could marry and
absorb into his wife’s culture, but did not commonly do so.128 John Josiah Guest did not change his
name, or his home. He did not have to leave his friends and family. His wife did all that, and she also
learned his country’s native language. Had her husband been less patriotic of his native Wales, she
might not have become so involved with its language and literature. But within three months the
couple become founder members of Cymdeithas Cymreigyddion Y Fenni.129 John Josiah clearly
approved and actively supported The Mabinogion project.130 Had he not, the history of this crucial
literature would have been very different.
Judith Johnston suggests
copious footnotes, to total approximately 145 pages. In the original 7 vols. there were also substantial French and Latin
source texts, and facsimile pages of MSS.
122
Guest, Charlotte, The Mabinogion, (1877), p. vii.
123
Ellis & Lloyd, Mabinogion, p. vii.
124
Guest, The Mabinogion, 1877 edition: Pwyll’s chaste nights in Annwfn, omission p. 342; Arawn’s bedroom talk with his
wife about it, omission p. 343. The result is to almost excise the Queen of Annwfn from the text, which is unfortunate as
she presents very interesting issues. However Rhiannon’s wedding night is explicit in Guest, after the wedding: ‘And the
time came that they should sleep, and Pwyll and Rhiannon went to their chamber.’ p. 351. Guest glosses Goewin’s rape,
Fourth Branch, p. 417, although her meaning is clear.
125
Donna White remarks it is unlikely that one who much enjoyed Chaucer’s ‘The Miller’s Tale’ would flinch at
Mabinogi sexual references. ‘The Further Crimes of Lady Charlotte Guest’, Proc. Harvard Celtic Colloquium, 16 17 (1997), pp. 157–66, at pp. 163-64.
126
Guest arrived 15 August 1833. S. Davies, ‘Charming Guest’, p. 170, n. 80. Guest, R. John, Extraordinary Life, p. 43. She
began her first lesson in Welsh with the Rector, Evan Jenkins (‘Tegid’), just nine days later, 24 August. Guest, R. John,
Extraordinary Life, p. 102.
127
‘I worked busily at my translation, which is rather difficult for me, being so little conversant with the Welsh.’
Phillips, Extracts, entry for January 6, 1838, as she began her The Mabinogion work. Also referenced Guest, R.
and John, Extraordinary Life, p. 112. Though not an expert linguist as she was, I am a varied one in six
languages of Europe and Asia, and Welsh is the toughest language to learn I have ever encountered.
128
A man in patrilocal, patrilineal culture can adopt his wife’s location, even her name, where her status or wealth is
markedly greater than his.
129
130
Society of Welsh Scholars of Abergavenny, founded 22 November 1833. Guest, R. and John, Extraordinary Life, p. 105.
She refers to her husband actually working beside her at times e.g. Phillips, Extracts: 30 Mar. 1839, p. 24; 8 Oct 1841, p.
30; and he gave her emotional support in the Villeneuve publishing crisis, 20 May 1842, p. 33.
135
her elaborate production of a translated Mabinogion represents her own attempt to
locate a place for herself that was different from her husband’s world yet well within
the accepted parameters of the ideology of the day: the woman’s sphere.131
Over all, before, during, and after The Mabinogion project, Guest shows great dedication to her
husband’s interests, as an industrialist, an MP, and in his final years of grave sickness. Her fight to
regain her elite status benefited him, and her children, to whom she shows consistent devotion.
Everything she did was bound up with being a wife and a mother; she records that as her ideal in her
journal.132 Her extraordinary achievements, with The Mabinogion and all else, are indeed ‘well
within the accepted parameters of the ideology of the day: the woman’s sphere.’133
Guest left Wales in 1855, and did no new work within Welsh culture. Erica Obey compares
Guest’s intellectual Welsh research with her later role as a famous collector, seeing a continuity of
intellectual tracking skills in both.134 Nonetheless this departure was a whole new life. Significantly
she left Wales by way of a new marriage, taking a new name from her new husband, making an
English life with an Englishman. During that period she did not abandon The Mabinogion; as noted
above she published a ‘more popular’ version in 1877. This publication fits her second stage English
life, as the translated English text without the Welsh source. I see a much larger continuity than
Obey’s here: Guest was always a devoted wife who worked in close partnership with both of her
husbands. Her titanic Welsh achievement was, tellingly, a timed product of her Welsh marriage.
Above we saw that her 22 years sojourn in Wales can open Guest to the taint of
dilettantism. Her departure, besides commitment to her new marriage, also derives from her
maternal devotion. She records how she persuaded her husband to add a drastic clause to his Will,
so if she remarried she must relinquish all involvement with Dowlais. Charlotte hated her own
stepfather, and deeply wished to protect her children from a similar unhappiness.135 Having brought
131
Johnston, 2001: p. 151, ibid.
132
The quote is given at the conclusion of this paper.
133
Guest, R. and John feel that Guest may have been a ‘dutiful wife’ but never allowed her own intellectual aspirations to
be held back by it. Extraordinary Life, p. 99. Guest certainly felt passionate about how women were perceived, and valued
John Josiah’s (usual) respect for her intellect. Guest, R. and John, Extraordinary Life, p. 47, quotes her, undated; observing
her hurt when John Josiah failed her here. Also Davies, S. Charming Guest, p.177, quoted undated. See also Guest, R. and
John, p. 48, on her delight in her difference.
134
135
Erica Obey, The Wunderkammer of Lady Charlotte Guest, ( USA: Lehigh University Press, 2006).
John Josiah Guest made a series of Wills. Each showed his increasing trust in his wife. She records her own request to be
excluded from control of the business if she remarried ref. the Will of 1837. The 1847 Will gave her control of properties
for the children. Wills in 1850 and codicils 1852 sustained the limiting of business control to her widowhood. Guest, R. and
John, Extraordinary Life, pp.174 -5.
136
the ironworks safely through a major strike, and out of slump, she only then remarried and left,
handing control to her eldest son, as she considered best for her children.
The inner struggle:136 Rhiannon and Branwen
Finally Guest demonstrates a striking and significant polarity in her treatment of the two
most prominent women of the Mabinogi, Rhiannon and Branwen.137 Both of these are married
women and both, like Guest, are incomer wives. She refers to Branwen openly with admiration, in
contrast she barely mentions Rhiannon.138 She even makes a striking literary innovation which retitled the Second Branch as ‘Branwen ferch Llyr’ (instead of her brother’s name, as previously).139
Both Mabinogi heroines are of high birth, both are beautiful, and politically crucial via their
marriages and motherhood. They hold sustained presences in their Branches. Otherwise they are in
contrast. Branwen, the one Guest favoured so, is a gentle, pliant maiden, who speaks little and
obediently marries a husband who then abuses her. Her infant son is murdered, and although
rescued by her brother with the armies of Britain, she dies, gracefully and tragically. Rhiannon, by
contrast, refuses to marry as directed; she has a strong, commanding and frequent voice. She
strategically directs events. She enjoys a long and loyal marriage, and her son becomes a hero king
who esteems her. Guest was similarly strong willed, a woman of achievements, who enjoyed a
happy marriage, a long life, and successful motherhood. She has far more in common with Rhiannon
than with Branwen.140
136
S. Davies, ‘Charming Guest’, p. 164, notes Guest’s ‘inner struggle.’ For fuller quote see below.
137
Arianrhod of the Fourth Branch, is also a prominent female protagonist. However she does not equal Rhiannon and
Branwen’s stature. She only appears in the middle episode of her Branch. She is certainly pivotal to it, and her action is the
basis of the following and final one. By comparison Rhiannon dominates two of the episodes of her Branch (and I argue
elsewhere that the first is integral to her pivotal choice of husband). Branwen is a persistent presence through her Branch
though largely reactive.
138
Guest, The Mabinogion, 1877 edition, p. 388. ‘The beautiful Branwen (or Bronwen, the "white-bosomed," as she is more
frequently called), is one of the most popular heroines of Welsh romance. No less celebrated for her woes than for her
charms, we find that her eventful story was a favourite theme with the bards and poets of her nation.’ Guest continues at
some length about a possible discovery of Branwen’s grave, later discredited. Compare her terse note on Rhiannon, p. 363,
mainly concerned with her Birds, not Rhiannon herself.
139
John T. Koch, ‘Branwen Ferch Llyr’, in Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, (ed.) John Koch, (ABC Clio., 2006), p. 239.
The Four Branches in their mediaeval manuscripts do not display titles, but later antiquarians referred to them by their
incipits, which are all male names, until Guest firmly established Branwen as titular. The other three Branch titles have
always remained the same: the Second is the only Branch to change name courtesy of Guest.
140
The comparison Guest – Rhiannon is richer and more detailed than the outline given here. See 'A Mabinogi
Sisterhood, intimate parallels between Rhiannon, mythic queen of mediaeval Dyfed and her Victorian
publisher Charlotte Guest,' West of England and South Wales Women's History Network, (June 2016)
forthcoming.
137
The literary context of Guest’s Mabinogion partly explains her apparently preferred heroine.
The 19thC
gothic revival reimagined the Middle Ages as a glorious age of … chivalrous knights,
and honored ladies. The Lady of Shalott—celebrated in poetry by Alfred Lord
Tennyson (1833) and in painting by John William Waterhouse 1888)—epitomized the
feminine in Victorian medievalism, loosely lifted from Arthurian legend, she was
young, beautiful, pure, and tragic.141
The stereotypical Arthurian heroine fitted Branwen, but not Rhiannon, and it was Arthurian Gothic
which was the market for Guest’s magnum opus. As analysed above, Guest also had to navigate
considerable tensions between the contemporary ideal of Victorian wife and mother, a submissive,
self-sacrificial mode, against her personal ambitions as publisher and translator.
However, although Guest discreetly says nothing directly in her texts about her alter ego
Rhiannon, she left a living testament on how she privately felt about her. As she often did during her
main translation years, she gave birth as she translated Rhiannon’s story. She named this daughter
‘Constance Rhiannon.’ Only one other of her ten children were given names from her literary work;
this was ‘Edith’, a blamelessly obedient Arthurian maiden.142 Significantly ‘Rhiannon’ was given as
her daughter’s second name, quietly hidden from public view.143
As she approached the end of her grand project, Guest expressed herself thus.
[My] babies are growing up and require so much attention, it is quite right that I
should have done with authorship. I am quite content with ... the present work... if a
woman is to do her duty as a wife and mother, the less she meddles with pen and ink
the better. I shall feel very glad when the last number is out of the press .…144
141
Judith M. Bennett, and Ruth Mazo Karras, ‘Women, Gender, and medieval Historians’, Ch. 1, in The Oxford
Handbook of Women and Gender in Medieval Europe, (Oxford: OUP, 2013), pp. 1-17, at p. 3. See also S. Davies,
‘Charming Guest’, p. 159.
142
On the heroine Edith, Guest wrote 22 July 1843: ‘Enid is such a favourite character with the elder children (as well as
with myself) that they begged hard that she might be called so’. S. Davies, ‘Charming Guest’, p. 164. No such family
clamour is recorded about Rhiannon.
143
Sioned Davies remarks this naming of the two daughters as ‘reflecting Guest’s inner struggle … Enid, ‘an
ancient role model for the ideal Victorian wife’, and Rhiannon, an independent and strong individual who, like
Guest herself, refuses to marry her parents’ choice of husband.’ S. Davies, ‘Charming Guest’, p. 164.
144
S. Davies, ‘Charming Guest’, p. 39.
138
We might note here the timing: that Guest shows a natural author fatigue as the work approaches
publication, which may well favour retreat to family life for refreshment. More cogently, Guest is
happy to ‘have done with authorship’ now she has what she wants: the work is completing. Yet her
gendered dedication is very real, as she never overstepped it.
In conclusion, it is evident that this extraordinary person embodies simultaneously, complex
tensions of ethnic identity, unexplored economic ambiguity, and gendering which layers
conventional duty over discreet subversion.
Works cited
[Many of these entries have much more extensive annotations in my Mabinogi Bibliography, which
is searchable on terms, and on categories. <http://mabinogistudy.com/bibliog/>]
Aaron, Jane, Nineteenth-Century Women’s Writing in Wales: Nation, Gender and Identity, (Cardiff,
2007).
Aaron, Jane; S. Betts; T. Rees; & M. Vincentelli, (eds.), Our Sisters’ Land: The Changing Identities of
Women in Wales, (Cardiff, 1994).
Arnold, Matthew, On the Study of Celtic Literature and Other Essays, Intro. (London, 1976 [1910]).
Beddoe, D., ‘Images of Welsh Women’ in T. Curtis (ed.), Wales: The Imagined Nation, (Bridgend,
1986).
Bennett, Judith M., and Ruth Mazo Karras, ‘Women, Gender, and medieval Historians’, Ch. 1, in The
Oxford Handbook of Women and Gender in Medieval Europe, (Oxford: OUP, 2013), pp. 1-17.
Bromwich, Rachel, ‘Lady Charlotte Guest and the Mabinogion’, Cymm., (1987), pp. 127–41. Based on
Phillips 1921.
139
Davies, Sioned, ‘Pedeir Keinc Y Mabinogi: A Case for Multiple Authorship’, in Proc. First North
American Congress of Celtic Studies, (ed.) MacLennan, Gordon W. (Univ. Ottawa., 1986), pp. 443–59.
Davies, Sioned, ‘A Charming Guest: Translating the Mabinogion’’, Studia Celtica, (2004), 157–78.
Based on direct access to the journals.
Ellis, Thomas Peter; and John Lloyd, The Mabinogion: A New Translation by T.P. Ellis and John Lloyd,
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1929).
Ford, Patrick K., The Mabinogi and Other Welsh Tales, (Berkeley, Caifornia; UK: UCP; 1977).
Fraser, Maxwell, ‘Lady Llanover and Lady Charlotte Guest’, Anglo-Welsh Review, 13 (1963), pp. 36–
43. Very biased comparison, heavily favouring LLanover.
Freeman, Michael, ‘Lady Llanover and the Welsh Costume Prints’, NLW Journal, Vol. 34, No. 2,
(2007), pp. 235- 251.
Gramich, Katie, ‘Lady Charlotte Guest 1812 - 1895: British translator, diarist and collector,’ in
Encyclopedia of Literary Translation Into English: A-L, Olive Classe, (ed.) (2000), pp. 592 -3.
Gruffydd, William John, Rhiannon: An Inquiry into the Origin of the First and Third Branches, (Cardiff:
University of Wales Press, 1953).
Guest, Charlotte, The Mabinogion; from the Llyfr Coch O Llergest and Other Ancient Welsh
Manuscripts; with an English Translation and Notes, 7 vols (Tonn Press, Llandovery, Wales; and
Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, London; simultaneously., 1838 -1849). Vol. I, 1838; Vol. II,
1839; Vol. III, 1840; Vol. IV, 1842; Vol. V, 1843; Vol. VI, 1844; Vol. VII, 1849.
———, The Mabinogion, 3 vols (Llandovery, Wales; and London; simultaneously: Tonn Press,
Llandovery; and Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1849).
<http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/author?name=Schreiber%2c%20Charlotte
%2c%20Lady%2c%201812-1895> [Accessed 28/12/2013].
140
———, The Mabinogion, 1 vol (London: Quaritch., 1877).
<www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/mab/index.htm> [Accessed 28/12/2013].
———, The Mabinogion, Everyman’s Library series, (London and NY.: J. M. Dent and Sons and E. P.
Dutton, 1906).
———, ‘Mabinogion’, Missgien.net, (1999) First online text by Miss Gien, NL, Arthurian site.
<http://www.missgien.net/arthurian/mabinogion/> [Accessed 02/12/2013].
———, ‘The Mabinogion’, Gutenberg, (ed.) Price, David,(2002). From the 1849 3 vols. version,
English only.
<http://www.gutenberg.org/files/5160/5160-h/5160-h.htm> [Accessed 01/12/2013].
Guest, Revel; and John, Angela V., Lady Charlotte Guest: An Extraordinary Life, (The History Press,
2007). Based on direct access to the journals, and collaboration with Revel, grand daughter. The
biography covers the whole of Guest’s life so only parts are relevant to her Welsh years.
Gurden-Williams, Celyn, ‘Lady Llanover and the Creation of a Welsh Cultural Utopia’, (unpublished
PhD thesis, University of Cardiff, 2008).
Hutton, Ronald, ‘Medieval Welsh Literature and Pre-Christian Deities,’ Cambrian Medieval Celtic
Studies, 61, (2011), pp. 57-86.
Angela. V. John, (ed.) Our Mothers’ Land, (Cardiff, 1991).
John, Angela V., ‘Deference in Dowlais? Lady Charlotte Guest and the Chartists’ (presented at the Dic
Penderyn Society, Merthyr Tydfil, 2008); available to me by kind personal provision of the author.
Johnston, Judith, ‘Victorian Appropriations: Lady Charlotte Guest Translates The Mabinogion’, in
Studies in Medievalism: Appropriating the Middle Ages: Scholarship, Politics, Fraud, (ed.) Shippey,
Tom and Arnold, Martin, (2001), xi, 145–66. Parts are available on google books.
141
Jones, D., ‘Serfdom and Slavery: W omen’s Work in Wales 1890-1930’ in D. R. Hopkin, & G. S Kealey,
(eds.), Class Community and the Labour Movement: Wales and Canada 1850-1930, (Llafur, 1989).
Jones, Gwyn; and Thomas Jones, The Mabinogion, (London Everyman.: J. M. Dent, 1949).
Koch, John T., ‘Branwen Ferch Llyr’, in Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, (ed.) John Koch, (ABC
Clio., 2006), p. 239.
Koch, John, ‘British’, in Koch (ed.), Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia, (2006) pp. 289-291.
Lefevere, Andre, ‘Translation: Its Genealogy in the West,’ in Susan Bassnet & Andre Lefevere, (eds.),
Translation, History and Culture, London, (Pintner, 1991).
Ley, Rachel, Arglwyddes Llanofer: Gwenynen Gwent, (Caernarfon, 2001).
Monthly Review, ‘Welsh Fiction: The Mabinogion by Lady Charlotte Guest Parts I, II, III, and IV’, (April
1843), pp. 440-453.
———, no. 150, (1839).
Morgain, Shan, ‘The Mabinogi Bibliography’, <http://mabinogistudy.com/bibliog/> Annotated.
Searchable on terms, dates, and category tags. The raw feed on Zotero enables a selected
bibliography with (most) formatting. Also desktop client, to make your own bibliography.
———, ‘Index of Guest Journals’, (2014).
<http://mabinogistudy.com/bibliog/index-of-guest-journals/>
———,'A Mabinogi Sisterhood, intimate parallels between Rhiannon, mythic queen of mediaeval
Dyfed and her Victorian publisher Charlotte Guest,' West of England and South Wales Women's
History Network, (June 2016) forthcoming.
Morgan, Prys, ‘Lady Llanover (1802-1896), “Gwenynen Gwent”’, Cymm., vol. 13, (2006), pp. 94-106.
142
Moore, Geoff, ‘The Mabinogi’ (Moving Being)’ (Cardiff Castle, 1981)
———, ‘The Mabinogi’ (Moving Being)’ (Caernarfon Castle., 1983).
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y9a63XOHYc> [Accessed 7/02/2015].
1983 music by Robin Williamson, ‘Pryderi’s Lament’ is a fine excerpt
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y9a63XOHYc Mabinogi 3> [Accessed 7/02/2015].
National Museum of Wales, ‘Wales – the first industrial nation of the world.’
<http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/articles/2007-04-18/Wales---the-first-industrial-nation-of-theWorld/> [Accessed 2/10/14].
Obey, Erica, The Wunderkammer of Lady Charlotte Guest, (USA: Lehigh University Press, 2006)
Parry-Williams, T. H., The Dictionary of Welsh Biography down to 1940, Lloyd, John Edward and R. T.
Jenkins, (eds.) (1959, London). Article p. 322.
Phillips, David Rhys, Lady Charlotte Guest and the Mabinogion; Some Notes on the Work and Its
Translator, with Extracts from Her Journals, (Carmarthen: W. Spurrell & Son., 1921). Excerpts
selected relating to the Welsh work, by Blanche, youngest daughter of Guest, Lady Bessborough.
<https://archive.org/stream/cu31924026877849/cu31924026877849_djvu.txt> [Accessed
17/12/2013].
Powell, Geoffrey, ‘The Llanover Project: The European Dimension’, NLW website, PDF.
<http://www.llgc.org.uk/gwyb/cyfeillion/geoffrey-powell-s.pdf> [Accessed 15/04/2016].
Pughe, William Owen, A Dictionary of the Welsh Language, Explained in English; with Numerous
Illustrations from the Literary Remains and from the Living Speech of the Cymry, Vol 1, (London: E.
Williams, 1793). Repr. 1821 in The Cambro-Briton. His name until 1806 was ‘William Owen’.
———, A Dictionary of the Welsh Language. [Preceded By] A Grammar of the Welsh Language, Vol 2,
(London: E. Williams, 1804)
143
———, ‘The Mabinogion, or Juvenile Amusements, Being Ancient Welsh Romances’, Cambrian
Register, I (1795), pp. 177–87. The first printed text of the Mabinogion, consisting of the first episode
of Pwyll. Bilingual, bicolumnar.
———, ‘The Romantic Tales called Mabinogion, or Juvenile Amusements’, Cambrian Register, II
(1799), pp. 322–27. Second episode of Pwyll, up to the rides to reach Rhiannon. Bilingual,
bicolumnar.
He publ. further Mabinogion text 1818, 1827, 1829, 1833.
———, ‘Account of the Ancient Welsh Manuscripts’, in Archaeologia: Or, Miscellaneous Tracts
Relating to Antiquity, (London: Society of Antiquaries, 1802), xiv, pp. 211–20. Published 1808, but
the text is dated at its conclusion as 1802.
Pughe, William Owen; Morgannwg, Iolo; and Jones, Owen, (eds.), Myvyrian Archaiology, 2 vols,
(1801-07).
Socialist Party Wales, <www.socialistpartywales.org.uk/news227.shtml> [Accessed 2/10/14].
Spurr, David, The Rhetoric of Empire: Colonial Discourse in Journalism, Travel Writing and Imperial
Administration, (Durham, NC and London: Duke U. Press, 1993).
Stevens, Christine, ‘Welsh Costume and the Influence of Lady Llanover’, NLW website PDF. Critiqued
by Freeman 2007.
<https://www.llgc.org.uk/fileadmin/fileadmin/docs_gwefan/amdanom_ni/cyfeillion/darlithoedd/cyf
n_dar_CStevens_000916S.pdf> [Accessed 2/10/14].
Stephens, Meic,’Guest, Charlotte’ (encyclopedia entry), The New Companion to the Literature of
Wales, (Univ. of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1998 ), p. 288.
144
Stephens, Thomas, The Literature of the Kymry: Being a critical essay .. language and literature of
Wales during the twelfth and two succeeding centuries, (London: Longmans Green, 1849, repr
1876).
Valley Stream, ‘The Mabinogion’, (Videos), (2004). Music by Llewellyn, Medwyn Goodall and Chris
Conway. A DVD "The Bride of Flowers" was published 1996. Some parts available free on Youtube.
<http://www.valleystream.co.uk/mabinogion-tube.html> [Accessed 17/12/2013].
White, Donna Rae, ‘The Crimes of Lady Charlotte Guest’, Proc. Harvard Celtic Colloquium, 15 (1995),
pp. 242–49.
———, ‘The Further Crimes of Lady Charlotte Guest’, Proc. Harvard Celtic Colloquium, 16 -17 (1997),
pp. 157–66.