Learned Society / Cymdeithas Ddysgedig Cymru

"The Role of Societies in the Development of National Identity" Taliesin Theatre

Swansea University 26 October 2010, 2.45pm

The Learned Society of Wales' inaugural event in the area of Arts, Humanities and Social

Sciences will be held in the Taliesin Centre of Swansea University on Tuesday, October 26th, 2010, and will address the theme of "The Role of Societies in the Development of National Identity". The schedule for the event will be as follows:

2.45pm: Welcome by the Professor Richard B. Davies, Vice Chancellor of Swansea University and Sir John Cadogan, the President of the Learned Society of Wales

3.00pm Professor Robert Evans FLSW FBA, Regius Professor of History, Oxford University:'Learned Societies and the Making of National Identity: A European Perspective'

4.00pm Tea

5.00pm Professor Prys Morgan, FRHistS FSA FLSW, Emeritus Professor of History, Swansea University:'Getting Our Act Together: Welsh Society and Welsh Societies , 1700-2000'

We would be grateful if you could circulate this notice of invitation to the event, which is free and open to all, to members of your organization and to any others who might be interested in attending. It would also be greatly appreciated if those proposing to attend could reply to lsw@wales.ac.uk by Thursday, October 21 at the latest, to allow arrangements to be finalised. We look forward to welcoming you to this notable event. Yours sincerely,
Professor M. Wynn Thomas FBA FLSW Vice President for the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

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"Swyddogaeth Cymdeithasau yn Natblygiad Hunaniaeth Genedlaethol"

Theatr Taliesin, Prifysgol Abertawe26 Hydref 2010, 2.45pm

Cynhelir digwyddiad cyntaf Cymdeithas Ddysgedig Cymru ym maes y Celfyddydau, y Dyniaethau a’r Gwyddorau Cymdeithasol yng Nghanolfan Taliesin, Prifysgol Abertawe ddydd Mawrth 26 Hydref 2010, a bydd yn ymdrin â thema “Swyddogaeth Cymdeithasau yn Natblygiad Hunaniaeth Genedlaethol”. Bydd amserlen y digwyddiad fel a ganlyn:

2.45pm: Croeso gan yr Athro Richard B. Davies, Is-Ganghellor Prifysgol Abertawe a Syr John Cadogan, Llywydd Cymdeithas Ddysgedig Cymru

3.00pm Yr Athro Robert Evans FLSW FBA, Athro Regiws Hanes, Prifysgol Rhydychen:'Learned Societies and the Making of National Identity: A European Perspective'

4.00pm Te

5.00pm Yr Athro Prys Morgan, FRHistS FSA FLSW, Athro Emeritws Hanes, Prifysgol Abertawe:'Getting Our Act Together: Welsh Society and Welsh Societies , 1700-2000'

Byddem yn ddiolchgar pe baech yn cylchredeg y gwahoddiad hwn i’r digwyddiad, sydd am ddim ac yn agored i bawb, i aelodau o’ch sefydliad ac i unrhyw unigolion eraill a allai fod â diddordeb ynddo.

Byddem yn falch iawn pe bai’r rheini sy’n bwriadu dod yn ateb i mailto:lsw@wales.ac.uk erbyn dydd Iau, 21 Hydref fan bellaf, er mwyn gallu cwblhau'r trefniadau.

Edrychwn ymlaen at gael eich croesawu i’r digwyddiad nodedig hwn.Yn gywir,Yr Athro M. Wynn Thomas FBA FLSW Is Lywydd y Celfyddydau, y Dyniaethau a’r Gwyddorau Cymdeithasol

R. S. Thomas: 10th Anniversary Conference / Cyhadledd coffau 10 mlynedd

A one-day conference arranged by CREW (Centre for the Research into the English Literature and Language of Wales), Swansea University with the R.S. Thomas Centre, Bangor University.

The conference is part of this year's Dylan Thomas Festival [Full Details Here].

Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea
Saturday, November 6th


9.15 Daniel Williams. Opening remarks.

Morning: New Directions in R. S. Thomas Criticism

9.30 – 10.30
Tony Brown, Bangor UniversityThe Unpublished R.S. Thomas: The Bangor Archive

Rhian Bubear, Swansea University
The Echoes Return Slow: R.S. Thomas 'song of himself’


10. 30 – 11.00. Coffee


11.00 – 1.00.
Damian Walford Davies, Aberystwyth University
R. S. Thomas and W. B. Yeats

M. Wynn Thomas, Swansea Univeristy
‘The Fantastic Side of God’: R. S. Thomas and Jorge Luis Borges.


1.00 – 2.00 Lunch.


Afternoon: R. S. Thomas Beyond Literature

2.00 – 3.00
Christine Kinsey.
R.S.Thomas: Traversing the Gap between the Word and the Image

3.00 – 4.00
Kieron Smith introduces John Ormond’s film ‘R S Thomas, priest and poet’.
Followed by a showing of the film.


4.00 – 4.30. Coffee

4.30 – 5.30.
Pwyll ap Sion and Menna Elfyn.
Writing with R.S. Thomas – poetry and music in Emyn i Gymro / Hymn to a Welshman


6.00. M Wynn Thomas.
Launch of the volume In the Shadow of the Pulpit on Nonconformity and Welsh Writing in English. A new monograph in the CREW series Writing Wales in English. Sponsored by UWP.


Evening event. This is included within the conference fee.

7.30.
Tony Brown in Conversation with Gwydion Thomas.


The Essential Information / Gwybodaeth Hanfodol
Conference Fee: £20. This includes tea and coffee but no lunch. Food will be available at the Dylan Thomas Centre.

The Book Launch at 6pm is free and open to the public.

Evening event only: Full. £6. Concessions: £4.20. Passport for Leisure: 2.40.
Those who have paid for the conference do not need to pay for the evening event.

Tickets to be booked at the Dylan Thomas Centre.
0792 463980
http://www.dylanthomas.com/

Arranged by Daniel Williams, CREW, Swansea University (daniel.g.williams@swansea.ac.uk)

Raymond Williams: Wales - Japan 2

Dai Smith and Daniel Williams were in Tokyo at the end of September attending a conference on Raymond Williams. ‘Fiction as Criticism / Criticism as a Whole Way of Life’ took place on Saturday, September 25th. In his opening remarks Shintaro Kono noted that the event was a development of the CREW conference ‘Raymond Williams In Transit: Wales – Japan’ that took place in October 2009. Yasuhiro Kondo delivered a paper on Williams’s neglected novel Loyalties, offering a close analysis of the concept of history informing Williams’s intricate novel. Yuzo Yamada drew on Williams’s criticism to offer a fascinating comparative account of Gwyn Thomas and the mother turned poet, writer, and activist, Ishimure Michiko. During the ensuing conversation Dai Smith drew attention to a further connection between what Yamada referred to as the ‘far West’ of Europe and Japan, in the figure of American photographer William Eugene Smith. Eugene Smith’s famous photos of south Wales in the 1950s were a prelude to his more famous photos of the effects of Minamata disease in the 1970s which was the major subject of Michiko’s work. There are certainly grounds for further comparative work here….

In the afternoon Tony Pinkey of Lancaster University delivered a lecture on the role of Utopia in Williams’s thinking, with particular reference to the third volume of the Welsh trilogy, The Fight for Manod and in relation to William Morris’s notions of Utopia. Daniel Williams discussed Williams’s defense of realism against the poststructuralists in the 1970s, and used that debate to explore Williams’s claim that Border Country was an attempt at writing ‘against the grain of the form’. Dai Smith concluded the day with a spirited account of the exceptionalism of the south Walian industrial experience and of Williams’s own understanding and analysis of it.

On the previous Thursday, September 23rd, Hideaki Suzuki, Fuhito Endo, Takashi Onuki and Shintaro Kono all delivered terrific papers on Raymond Williams’s thought and invited responses from Tony Pinkney, Dai Smith and Daniel Williams. This again was a stimulating and intellectually lively session.

Both events were primarily arranged by Professor Yasuo Kawabata and took place at Japan Women University, Mejiro Campus. It is hoped that further events and projects will develop from in the future.

The symposium was hosted by Raymond Williams Kenkyukai (the society for Raymond Williams Studies in Japan) with the support of the Faculty / Graduate School of Humanities, JWU, and the JSPS/MEXT Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research.

The information for the event can be found here.
http://www.jwu.ac.jp/grp/lecture_news/2010/20100925.html

Bu Dai Smith a Daniel Williams yn Tokyo ar ddiwedd mis Medi yn mynychu cynhadledd ar Raymond Williams. Cynhaliwyd y gynhadledd ‘Fiction as Criticism / Criticism as a Whole Way of Life’ ar Ddydd Sadwrn 25 Medi. Yn ei sylwadau agoriadol nododd Shintaro Kono fod y digwyddiad yn ddatblygiad ar y gynhadledd ‘Raymond Williams In Transit: Wales – Japan’ a gynhaliwyd ym mis Hydref 2009. Cyflwynodd Yasuhiro Kondo bapur ar y nofel Loyalties gan ddadansoddi’r cysyniad o hanes yn nofel gymhleth Williams. Tynnodd Yuzo Yamada ar feirniadaeth Raymodn Williams i gynnig dadansoddiad cymharol, hynod ddiddorol, o Gwyn Thomas a'r fam a ddaeth yn fardd, llenor, ac ymgyrchydd, Ishimure Michiko. Yn ystod y sgwrs a ddilynodd tynnodd Dai Smith sylw at gysylltiad pellach rhwng yr hyn y cyfeiriodd Yamada ato fel yr 'Gorllewin pell' yn Ewrop a Siapan, yn ffigwr y ffotograffydd Americanaidd Eugene William Smith. Tynnodd Eugene Smith luniau enwog o dde Cymru yn y 1950aumac yn 1960au a 1970au fe dynnodd luniau enwog o effeithiau clefyd Minamata a oedd yn destun pwysig yng ngwaith Michiko. Mae testun gwaith cymharol diddorol yma....Yn y prynhawn traddododd Tony Pinkey o Brifysgol Lancaster ddarlith ar rôl Iwtopia yng ngwaith Williams meddwl, gan gyfeirio'n benodol at drydedd gyfrol y ‘drioleg Cymreig’, The Fight for Manod, ac at syniadau Iwtopaidd William Morris. Trafod ‘realaeth’ Raymond Williams wnaeth Daniel Williams, gan archwilio honiad Williams fod Border Country yn ymgais i ysgrifennu 'yn erbyn graen y ffurf'. Daeth y gynhadledd i ben wrth i Dai Smith drafod neilltuolrwydd profiad diwydiannol de Cymru a dealltwriaeth Williams, mewn theori a ffuglen, o’r profiad hwnnw.

Ar y dydd Iau blaenorol, Medi 23ain, cyflwynodd Hideaki Suzuki, Fuhito Endo, Takashi Onuki a Shintaro Kono bapurau hynod ddiddorol ar Raymond Williams, gan wahodd ymatebion gan Tony Pinkney, Dai Smith a Daniel Williams. Roedd hon eto yn sesiwn ddeallusol fywiog. Trefnwyd y cyfan gan yr athro Yasuo Kawabata a cynhaliwyd y ddau ddigwyddiad ym Mhrifysgol Merched Japan, Campws Mejiro. Y gobaith yw y bydd rhagor o ddigwyddiadau a phrosiectau yn datblygu o hyn yn y dyfodol.Trefnwyd y digwyddiadau gan y Raymond Williams Kenkyukai (y gymdeithas ar gyfer Astudio Raymond Williams yn Siapan) gyda chefnogaeth y Gyfadran / Graddedigion Ysgol y Dyniaethau, JWU, a ‘JSPS/MEXT Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research’.
Ceir y wybodaeth am y digwyddiad yma:
http://www.jwu.ac.jp/grp/lecture_news/2010/20100925.html

Comparative American Studies Special Issue: The Celtic Nations and the African Americas

Volume 8: Issue 2 of the journal Comparative American Studies appeared during the Summer and is a special issue entitled 'The Celtic Nations and the African Americas'. It is guest edited by Daniel Williams whose introduction to the issue is free to view online for all. The journal contents are as follows:




TI: Introduction: Celticism and the Black Atlantic
AU: Williams, Daniel G.
URL: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/cas/2010/00000008/00000002/art00002

TI: 'Did you hear about the Gaelic-speaking African?': Scottish Gaelic Folklore about Identity in North America
AU: Newton, Michael
URL: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/cas/2010/00000008/00000002/art00003

TI: 'Assimilation through Self-Assertion': Aspects of African American and Welsh Thought in the Nineteenth Century
AU: Williams, Daniel G.
URL: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/cas/2010/00000008/00000002/art00004

TI: 'Me zo bet sklav': African Americans and Breton Literature
AU: Williams, Heather
URL: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/cas/2010/00000008/00000002/art00005

TI: Dissimilation and Federation: Irish and Caribbean Modernisms in Derek Walcott's The Sea at Dauphin
AU: Malouf, Michael
URL: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/cas/2010/00000008/00000002/art00006

TI: 'Imaginary hinterlands': Travel and Displacement in the Writings of Denis Williams and Charlotte Williams
AU: Edwards, Justin D.
URL: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/cas/2010/00000008/00000002/art00007

Review of Rhys Davies

Kirsti Bohata reviews Rhys Davies: Writers of Wales, by Huw Edwin Osborne
Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2009, 144pp, £16.99

"Within the constraints of the Writers of Wales series, Huw Osborne has done an admirable job of presenting Rhys Davies in a new and refreshing light. Positioning Davies as a man and writer existing on multiple borders, Osborne provides an outstanding introductory chapter which makes a liminal identity seem a fresh concept rather than the critical cliché it is in danger of becoming, for all its legitimacy. Citing physical, geographical and internal boundaries, Osborne references the ‘internal difference’ of M. Wynn Thomas, the liminal interstices of Bhabha, and makes excellent use of Bakhtin, who argues that the‘realm of culture has no internal territory: it is entirely distributed along the boundaries, boundaries pass everywhere, though its every aspect… Every cultural act lives essentially on the boundaries: … abstracted from boundaries it loses its soil, it becomes empty, arrogant, it degenerates and dies.’ This book makes light work of its theoretical paradigms, yet remains productively informed by them throughout"

Read the full review on the CREW website.

Bazm-E-Adab yn yr Eisteddfod / Welsh and Urdu Poetry at the Eisteddfod

On the morning of Friday, August 6th, the Swansea University stand at the National Eisteddfod was host to a dialogue between Welsh and Urdu poetry. Swansea University’s Tudur Hallam (who went on to win the Eisteddfod Chair later that day) was joined by Grahame Davies and by members of the Cardiff based Urdu poetry group Bazm-E-Adab, including the groups’ Chair, Mian Abdul Majeed, Mohammad Husain, and Dr Nafis Ahmad. The cultural dialogue developed as the poets read poems in secession in Welsh and in Urdu, allowing the sounds a words to reverberate around the stand.

The event was arranged by Daniel Williams and Tom Cheeseman and supported by Academi as part of a collaborative exploration of the NEW (Not English or Welsh) literatures of Wales.

Cynhaliwyd deialog unigryw rhwng barddoniaeth Gymraeg a Urdu ar fore Dydd Gwener 6 Awst, yn stondin Prifysgol Abertawe yn yr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol. Ymysg y cyfranwyr roedd Tudur Hallam (a aeth ymlaen i ennill y Cadair yr Eisteddfod yn ddiweddarach y diwrnod hwnnw), Grahame Davies, ac aelodau o’r grŵp barddoniaeth Urdu yng Ngaherdydd, Bazm-e-Adab, gan gynnwys Cadeirydd y grŵp, Mian Abdul Majeed a Dr Nafis Ahmad. Datblygodd y ddeialog diwylliannol wrth i’r beirdd ddarllen eu cerddi yn eu tro yn y Gymraeg ac yn Urdu, gan ganiatáu i synau’r geiriau adleisio o amgylch y stondin.Trefnwyd y digwyddiad gan Daniel Williams a Tom Cheeseman a'i gefnogi gan Academi.

Celebrating and Discussing the Library of Wales

On Wednesday, August the 4th, CREW, the Welsh Books Council and Parthian Press arranged an event at the Swansea University stand at the National Eisteddfod to celebrate and discuss the Welsh Assembly Government funded series of classic Welsh Anglophone Literature, The Library of Wales. Proceedings were opened by Swansea University’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Richard Davies who celebrated the institution’s connections with the series and discussed the establishment of Welsh Writing in English as a significant field of research in Swansea by Professor M. Wynn Thomas. The Welsh Government’s Heritage Minister, Alun Ffred Jones, expressed his admiration for the series and the role of some the key texts of the tradition in his own views of Wales and the world. Daniel Williams, Director of CREW and the Richard Burton Centre, made the case for the significance of the series and the need now to make these texts part of the inheritance of all the people of Wales through the English literature curriculum in our secondary schools. This might be the next stage in the long revolution. This message was reinforced by Dai Smith who discussed, in Welsh, the formation of the series and the importance of literature and culture in the fostering of a civic Welsh identity. The WAG Minister for Education, Leighton Andrews, brought the session to a close with a powerful description of the inclusive cultural vision that informed the series and the need to disseminate these works as widely as possible. Ebbw Vale, due to its history and location, seemed a particularly appropriate place to in which to hold the event, which attracted a good audience and was widely reported in the press and in the blogosphere.



Ar ddydd Mercher, Awst y 4ydd, dathlwyd a thrafodwyd y gyfres The Library of Wales, mewn digwyddiad yn stondin Prifysgol Abertawe a drefnwyd ar y cyd gan CREW, Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru a gwasg Parthian. Agorwyd y drafodaeth gan Is-Ganghellor Prifysgol Abertawe, yr Athro Richard Davies a dathlodd gysylltiadau y Brifysgol gyda'r gyfres a maes Llen Saesneg Cymru. Mynegodd Gweinidog dros Dreftadaeth y Cynulliad, Alun Ffred Jones, ei edmygedd o’r gyfres a’r rôl y chwaraeodd rhai o destunau allweddol y traddodiad yn ei ddealltwriaeth o Gymru a'r byd. Dadleuodd Daniel Williams, Cyfarwyddwr CREW a Chanolfan Richard Burton, yr achos dros arwyddocâd y gyfres a'r angen yn awr i wneud y testunau yn rhan o etifeddiaeth holl bobl Cymru drwy'r cwricwlwm llenyddiaeth Saesneg yn ein hysgolion uwchradd. Atgyfnerthwyd y neges hon gan Dai Smith a drafododd, yn y Gymraeg yn bennaf, y rhesymau dros greu’r gyfres a phwysigrwydd llenyddiaeth a diwylliant wrth feithrin hunaniaeth Gymreig ddinesig. Leighton Andrews, y Gweinidog dros Addysg yn y Cynulliad, a ddaeth a’r sesiwn i ben mewn modd grymus wrth ddisgrifio’r weledigaeth gynhwysol sy’n symbylu’r Library of Wales, a’r angen i ledaenu’r gwaith mor eang â phosibl. Roedd Glyn Ebwy, oherwydd ei hanes a'i leoliad, yn lle arbennig o briodol i gynnal y digwyddiad. Denwyd cynulleidfa dda a cafwyd sawl adroddiad yn y wasg ac ar draws byd y blogiau.