Global Politics of Welsh Patagonia : Settler Colonialism from the Margins

A necessary examination of Wales and its Patagonian settlement Y Wladfa through a decolonial lens.

Inspired by decolonial thinking, Global Politics of Welsh Patagonia challenges romantic images of Y Wladfa, the Welsh Patagonian settlement founded in 1865. Drawing on archival sources written in Spanish, Welsh, and English, it exposes the complex human relationships of this settler colony and disrupts the myth of Welsh–Indigenous friendship by foregrounding Indigenous experience and revealing underrepresented accounts in the record. A newly developed framework applies three logics—possession, racialization/barbarization, and assimilation—to make sense of settler colonialism in Patagonia and to debate Wales’s complex position as both colonized and colonizer. A new analysis of contemporary cultural products (television, film, textbooks) further demonstrates how the romantic view continues to shape racial stereotypes today, concluding that such settler-origin countries as Wales are vital sites of decolonial debate.

To read the PDF of Global Politics of Welsh Patagonia: Settler colonialism from the margins for free, follow the link belowGlobal Politics of Welsh Patagonia: Settler colonialism from the marginsThis book is freely available on a Creative Commons licence thanks to the kind sponsorship of the libraries participating in the Jisc Open Access Community Framework OpenUP initiative. Inspired by decolonial thinking, this book challenges romantic images of Y Wladfa, the Welsh Patagonian settlement founded in 1865. Drawing on archival sources written in Spanish, Welsh and English, it exposes the complex human relationships of this settler colony, and in particular disrupts the myth of Welsh–Indigenous friendship by foregrounding Indigenous experience and revealing less familiar accounts in the record. A newly-developed framework applies three logics – possession, racialization/barbarisation, and assimilation – to make sense of settler colonialism in Patagonia and to debate Wales’s complex position as both colonised and coloniser. A new analysis of contemporary cultural products (television, film, textbooks) further demonstrates how the romantic view continues to shape racial stereotypes today, concluding that such settler origin countries as Wales are vital sites of decolonial debate. Dr Lucy Taylor - Herio stori draddodiadol Y Wladfa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69OHDvETtu8Dr Lucy Taylor - Challenging the traditional telling of Welsh Patagonia’s story https://youtu.be/6PJe300cVjY?si=BJdkYxglWAjVYJASWatch Lucy Taylor in conversation with Paul O’Leary at the National Library of Wales here.