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What Does It Mean to Be Welsh?
By Nicola Bryan and Sarah Shaffi
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Rugby, rolling hills, castles, coal and choirs – these are some of the images often associated
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with Wales and the Welsh. But what are the experiences of Welsh people who have plural
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ethnic and cultural identities? What prejudices might a hijab-wearing Muslim in Cardiff or a
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black child in the Welsh countryside face?
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One of them, writer and filmmaker Kandace Siobhan Walker, 27, says when she and her family
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moved from east London to Brecon Beacons National Park, Wales, in 2003 they were "poster
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children for multiculturalism, for globalisation". [1] From the age of nine until she left for university at
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18, home was a remote house at the end of a lane somewhere in Wales. For example, she explains
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that there was nobody around who knew how to work with afro-textured hair. So a hairdresser from
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over the border in Hereford would travel to see the family at home. [2] "My mum's family are
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Jamaican Canadian and my dad9s family are African American. We've never fitted into a specific
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pattern or group, neither in London nor here in Wales," Walker says.
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In her essay Lights in the Dark, Walker writes about being 'tolerated nowhere, questioned
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everywhere'. There's that implicit idea, 'she can't be from here'. She writes that, for example, hikers
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were often surprised to see a young black girl in the rural Welsh hills: "Even if I was just in my own
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garden, they would be thinking I9m another hiker. [3] For a long time I tried not to let it matter too
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much where people thought I came from, but eventually I just found out it was an integral part of my
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life. Despite the negative experiences I had, I realised how much it meant to me to have grown up
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here and be Welsh, especially through my writing. [4] I think Wales is fundamentally plural, in its
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history, culture and language," she says.
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In fact, the Welsh Government has aimed to support a common Welsh national identity through the
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'One Wales' strategy. [5] The 2021 Census was the first survey to contain a question about national
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identity. The results were that 8% of people living in Wales say they are Welsh and British, while
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55% identify as Welsh only. In contrast, just 17.8% reported that they could speak the Welsh
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language. [6] National consciousness is obviously more complex and nuanced than is often
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suggested in political debates about nationhood, citizenship and belonging.
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"Welshness should be seen as a spectrum, like a patchwork quilt, rather than a hierarchy," says
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writer Hanan Issa, 35, from Cardiff. She is one of a number of contributors to the book Welsh Plural,
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a collection of articles on the future of Wales. The author was disappointed about how narrow the
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perception of Welshness was. This led her to contribute an essay to the book. [7] "It doesn't work,
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this idea that you have to look Welsh. I'm mixed race; I've got Welsh and Iraqi heritage," she said
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in an interview.
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Hanan Issa has recently been rewarded for her work by being named the 5th National Poet of
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Wales. [8] Issa, who is due to serve a three-year term, will represent the diverse cultures and
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languages of Wales and act as an ambassador for the people of Wales. Over her term, Issa aims to
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introduce more people to the ancient Welsh poetic form of cynghanedd, as well as encourage them
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to engage with and appreciate poetry in general. She also wants to add to conversations around
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identity and belonging.
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So, what does it mean to be Welsh? Issa's answer to this question reflects her open-mindedness.
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"Perhaps Wales and Welshness belong to all those who care for Wales and who call the country
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their home."
Adapted from: Bryan, Nicola. Identity: What Does it Mean to Be Welsh? [online on: https://www.bbc.com]
Shaffi, Sara. Wales Appoints Hanan Issa as its First Muslim National Poet [online available on: https://www.theguardian.com]