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Post-Devolution Welsh Identity in Porthcawl: an ethnographic analysis of class, place and everyday nationhood in 'British Wales' Daniel John Evans Bangor University School of Social Sciences July 2014 1 To Mum and Dad 2 Abstract Wales is commonly divided into ‘more Welsh’ and ‘less Welsh’ places, although very little is known about the ‘least Welsh’ parts of Wales (dubbed ‘British Wales’ in Balsom’s ‘Three Wales Model’). Indeed, some contemporary analyses claim that devolution has made Wales ‘more Welsh’ to the extent that British Wales no longer exists. However, these claims of cultural homogeneity overlook the persistence of regional class divisions in Wales, with the ‘least Welsh’ parts of Wales remaining the most affluent. This thesis contributes to the understanding of this overlooked region by exploring Welsh identity in the British Wales town of Porthcawl. Using a longitudinal ethnographic approach, I investigate how locals negotiate a Welsh identity and whether class and place influence this process. Yet this is not just a study of local place: my analysis of everyday Welshness is located within a wider Gramscian theoretical framework which conceptualises devolution as a process of passive revolution. My study finds that locals feel very Welsh, undermining ideas that British Wales is ‘unWelsh’, and that place influences local identification with Welshness. Locals understand Welshness to be hierarchical, and measure their own Welshness against discursively constructed ideals of linguistic Welshness and working class Welshness (the latter being more prominent). Using Bourdieu, I show how locals work to reconcile the clash between their local (middle class) habitus and the national (working class) habitus. Understood as a working class habitus, Welshness has both positive and negative connotations. Locals subsequently move towards and away from Welshness in different contexts. The micro helps illuminate the macro, and everyday life in Porthcawl is punctuated by Welshness, rather than being structured by it. Whilst the molecular changes of devolution are observable in Porthcawl, locals occupy a British cultural world, and the national deixis remains British. These findings are indicative of a post-devolution interregnum. 3 Contents List of Maps, Tables, Plates and Appendices 5 Introduction 13 Section One Chapter 1 British Wales From Above 29 Chapter 2 British Wales From Below 56 Chapter 3 Introducing Porthcawl 80 Section Two Chapter 4 Wales and the ‘integral’ British State: the theoretical 95 foundations of a Gramscian analysis of state restructuring Chapter 5 Devolution as a Passive Revolution 120 Chapter 6 Methodology: Researching everyday Welshness 144 Section Three Chapter 7 Everyday Welshness, Place and the Welsh Language 189 Chapter 8 Class, Place and ‘Proper Welshness’: the national 223 habitus as a class habitus Chapter 9 Situating the self in Porthcawl- young peoples’ 256 responses to class and popular culture Chapter 10 The unreflexive elements of everyday nationhood: 292 flags, ceremonies, and the national deixis Conclusion 324 Appendices 345 Bibliography 371 4 List of Maps, Tables, Plates & Appendices Maps Map 1 The Three Wales Model 30 Map 2 Regional Distribution of Yes/No Votes in 1997 Referendum 41 Map 3 ‘Welsh Only’ identity by region, 2011 46 Map 4 Wales Spatial Plan, 2008 49 Map 5 Regional Deprivation in Wales, 2011 51 Map 6 Porthcawl’s location within South Wales 81 Map 7 Bridgend Borough County 81 Map 8 Porthcawl within the Swansea City/Bay network 82 Map 9 Porthcawl within the Cardiff ‘city coastal zone’ 82 Tables Table 1 Regional dispersion of national identity groups in Wales (1979) 32 Table 2 Regional dispersion of national identity groups in Wales (2011) 47 Table 3 Social profile of Porthcawl within local, regional and national context 92 Table 4 Porthcawl’s ‘Welshness’ indicators within local, regional and national 94 context Plates Plate 1 Porthcawl’s evolution as a resort 171 Plate 2 The ethno-symbolic geography of a Porthcawl primary school 173 Plate 3 British symbols in primary schools 175 Plate 4 The ethno-symbolic geography of Porthcawl Comprehensive 176 Plate 5 Porthcawl Comprehensive Eisteddfod 178 5 Plate 6 Trading on the Welsh flag in Porthcawl 179 Plate 7 Individual flaggings of Welshness in Porthcawl 180 Plate 8 Porthcawl on tour 181 Plate 9 Heating Welshness in Porthcawl 182 Plate 10 Locals getting into the swing of things 184 Plate 11 Heating Britishness in Porthcawl 185 Plate 12 State ceremonies in Porthcawl 186 Plate 13 Porthcawl town council’s diamond jubilee medals 187 Plate 14 Welsh and British flags flown side by side 188 Appendices Appendix 1: Maps displaying Porthcawl’s status within the divided Bridgend borough 347 Appendix 2: Selections from interview transcript 349 Appendix 3: Sample field notes 358 Appendix 4: ‘Warm up’ survey handed out to students 361 Appendix 5: ‘Pub quiz’ game used as engagement with younger students 365 Appendix 6: Excerpt from Porthcawl town council memo on Jubilee Celebrations 367 Appendix 7: Historical pamphlets produced by Welsh language chapel in Porthcawl 369 Appendix 8: List of respondents 370 6 Acknowledgements Writing this thesis has been an extraordinary journey, and has been simultaneously the hardest and most rewarding thing I have ever done. Throughout, I have relied on the support of my family, friends and supervisors, without whom I would never have got to this stage. I am eternally grateful to my supervisors, Howard Davis and Graham Day, for all their guidance and patience. Their encouragement and detailed critical analysis of the many iterations of this thesis have been invaluable in honing this final work. As well as imparting their unparalleled knowledge, their obvious passion for sociology has been a constant source of inspiration, as has their warmth and good humour. I have learned so much from them both. I am also indebted to Robin Mann for his encouragement, feedback and support over the years, for alerting me to interesting papers and for giving me the chance to present my work at conferences. I am grateful to all those at WISERD who have provided me with constructive comments and encouragement in my presentations over the years, and of course thank you to Bangor University for generously providing me with a scholarship, without which I would never have been able to undertake this research. I am also grateful to the numerous academics kind enough to respond to my unsolicited requests for advice on particular theories. Thank you to Ronald Rogowski, Christian Karner and to Adam David Morton in particular for catalyzing a ‘eureka’ moment in my thesis. Thank you to Neil Evans and Huw Pryce for their advice and for helping me get to grips with Welsh historiography, and to my friend Dai Moon for encouragement and knowledge of all things Welsh Labour. I am also grateful to Rhodri Evans for solidarity and encouragement when I was at a low point. Thank you also to the administrative staff at Bangor social sciences and library for their help with technical issues and patience. Thank you to all my friends in Bangor who made my time there incredibly enjoyable, in particular to all my friends in BUFC (Green Army!) for an amazing two years. Without you I would surely never have stayed the course. Moving back to Porthcawl has been a fantastic experience which has allowed me to finally understand the nature of my own ‘cleft habitus’. Thank you to all my friends from Porthcawl, old and new, and to the good people of Porthcawl for being so warm and interesting. I am incredibly grateful to the ‘gatekeepers’ who facilitated my research, all my participants for their enthusiasm and openness, and to everyone else who wished me well and encouraged me: I hope you will enjoy reading about Porthcawl as much as I enjoyed researching it. A particular mention should go to local historian Gwyn Petty, who sadly passed away shortly after I had interviewed him and before he had a chance to read this work. Gwyn almost single handedly 7 ran Porthcawl town museum for decades, and his knowledge of Porthcawl was unparalleled. His passion for local history and his acute awareness of the role of place was infectious, and he provided me with invaluable advice about the historical development of Porthcawl. His responses alone in this thesis are not anonymized. A huge thank you to my employers and my amazing colleagues in The Atlantic Hotel for their flexibility and tolerance of my strange shift patterns, and thank you to PTAFC for welcoming me back home. And because I won’t get the chance to do so again, this thesis is also dedicated to the memory of my friends, Elis White, Thomas Hughes and Nathan Maund: sons of Porthcawl. ‘Go easy, step lightly, stay free’. Finally and most importantly, I would like to thank my incredible family for their love and support, for this has very much been a ‘family thesis’. Thank you to my beloved grandmother, Gu, for your support, enthusiasm and encouragement: your inquisitions helped me refine this work. Thanks to Auntie Dil for your support and financial help, and thanks also to the Williams and John families for your support and encouragement, and thanks to Mags, Alan and Kate for encouragement, and likewise to Peter and Pam. To Granny, Bamps and Pa, I think of you always. Thank you to Lucy and Math and Tim and Sarah for your encouragement and love, your kindness and good humour kept me going. Thank you to Siân for your love, emotional support and remarkable patience, and also for your invaluable help with ‘technology /fiddly stuff’: you have been amazing throughout all this. Most of all, however, this thesis is dedicated to my incredible, inspirational parents. Mum and Dad, no words can do justice to the unbelievable support you have shown me over the years.