Re(4): RE: Miscellaneous and Paradox

From: Martin Owen (mowen@rem.bangor.ac.uk)
Date: Sat Jan 22 2000 - 15:26:46 PST


Phillip writes:
"how do people learn to live with irreducible tensions - irresolvable
tensions."

The area I live in has a complicated history. It would be simple to say
that we have been a colony of England since 1273, but that does not tell
the full story. However there are about 250, 000 people who speak Welsh on
the island of Britain, and we have not had any language rights until the
past 30 years (eg the ability to use our language in a court of law). They
are still tenuous. Somehow we have lived alongside one of the most dominat
cultural forces for this period of time. Currently with political action
it is able to sustain itself even though we have had a century of US
culture further promoting the English langauge, and Welsh language tv did
not exist in any meaningful form until the 1980's.

There are probably as many Welsh speakers now as there were in 1273.

I was careful to use word "reproduction" of culture, because I am not the
same kind of welsh person as the person who lived say a cenury ago. I am
not interested in being a static curiosity for anthropologists or
tourists. Welshness , and users of the Welsh lanagauge change with every
generation. My children who were born and had their early education in
South London speak better Welsh than I ever did, and have a clearer
conception of their identity than I ever did, because they are
benefitting for assertive, radical, political action around the language
issue from people of earlier twentieth century generations. <<the world
success of Welsh speakers in popular music and the film industry has done
a lot for them to assert their self esteem.. although we could have done
better in the Rigby World Cup>>

If you want a culture or language, you've got to fight. You might not
win... but you've got to fight.

Hwyl fawr am y tro
Martin



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