Research Context |
The transcultural relationship between the Khasi and the Welsh is rooted in the missionary contact established in the mid-nineteenth century by the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist mission in the Khasi and Jaiñtia Hills, and the cultural processes that are a consequence of this interaction. Until the mission movement in this region came to an end in 1969 its representatives undertook extensive cultural production based on exchange with the local community, leaving behind a rich and complex body of literature and performance. Such materials include letters, hymns and folksongs, religious writing, diaries, magazines, travel writing and films, photography, and creative writing (plays, novels and poetry), most of it scattered between official and unofficial archives in north east India and Wales. This background provides the context for the construction of a series of ‘cultural dialogues’ conducted through creative arts practice, that provide spaces to investigate and respond to a series of research objectives.
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Research Questions
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How do transcultural histories shaped identities in the modern world? The project explores the Welsh-Khasi contact in a postcolonial context, recognises its inherent cultural dynamics and seeks to highlight the way in which transcultural contact may complicate the understanding of colonial histories. The expression of the Welsh-Khasi transcultural relationship was channelled through particular avenues and media, such as religious belief and practices, female experience and expression, literary and visual traditions and oral histories. The research follows closely the questions raised by these avenues and media, e.g. by looking at the way in which cultural exchange has been filtered through religious beliefs and practices or women’s cultural expression. The project also examines broader issues such as how the peripheral situation of both Welsh and Khasi peoples (in relation to broader categories such as the British Empire and the Indian nation) has affected the nature of transcultural exchange and how it impacts on postcolonial identities.
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Research
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Phase one of the project (2015-2017) involved conducting archival research at institutions in India and Wales, as well as ethnographic fieldwork among people associated with the Khasi mission. Phase two (2017-2019) consisted of practice-research workshops following key themes, and from this the making of intermedial performance and film work that explores how the Welsh-Khasi contact shapes contemporary cultural identities in Wales and Northeast India.
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Outcomes |
As well as a range of performance, music and film works, outcomes include conference papers and scholarly publications in a range of journals reflecting the multi-disciplinary nature of the project, and an exhibition.
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