Through revolutionary methods . . . ? A conference to evaluate five decades of language campaigning.

On Friday and Saturday 16-17 November, the School of Welsh at Bangor – in conjunction with Aberystwyth University’s Institute of Welsh Politics (and with the financial support of the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol) – will host a major interdisciplinary conference in order to evaluate the influence of more than fifty years of language campaigning on the political and cultural life of Wales.  

Among the conference highlights will be two keynote lectures, delivered by Professor Jane Aaron (Friday) and Ned Thomas (Saturday). The programme also includes sessions on such varied themes as

 

  • Responses to the language campaign
  • The language campaign in Wales in a comparative context
  • The influence of the language campaign on the creative and cultural life of Wales
  • The language campaign and contemporary issues

According to Professor Peredur Lynch, one of the conference organizers and the Head of Welsh at Bangor:

'There has never been such an opportune time for a conference of this nature. It was in 1962, fifty year ago, that Saunders Lewis delivered his famous radio lecture Tynged yr Iaith (The Fate of the Language); during the same year Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (The Welsh Language Society) was also founded. We are also, at present, awaiting the results and language data of the 2011 Census.’

Dr Huw Lewis of Aberystwyth’s Institute of Welsh Politics, a co-organizer of the conference also added:

'It is imperative that an event such as this takes place. As we reach this historical milestone it is important that we look back in a critical manner upon the events of past decades and evaluate their influence and significance. We should do that not only to gain a rigorous understanding of the past, but also in order to produce balanced conclusions regarding the present state of the language movement in Wales’.   

Further Details:

  • Gwenan Creunant: 01970 622336
  • Huw Lewis: 01970 628638

Click for a copy of the Conference Programme.

 

Publication date: 13 November 2012