The Library is pleased to launch a new collaborative digital exhibition on the history of Welsh settlement in Patagonia from the perspective of the Tehuelche, Mapuche and Mapuche Tehuelche peoples in Chubut.
The story of Welsh settlement in Patagonia is often portrayed as a harmonious meeting of cultures between the indigenous peoples, Welsh immigrants and the Argentine State. The Library is home to a number of diaries, letters and other documents that offer insights into the plans to create a colony, the migration and everyday life of Welsh settlers in ‘Y Wladfa’. These insights, however, are almost exclusively from a Welsh point of view.
One of the aims of the 'Problematising History: Indigenous perspectives on Welsh Settlement in Patagonia' project is to provide a platform for the underrepresented indigenous voices in this story. Led by Dr Geraldine Lublin of Swansea University, the project has invited Mapuche Tehuelche artists to share their own reflections on the history of Chubut and Welsh settlement. The exhibition showcases four creative indigenous projects and encourages us to acknowledge the importance of listening to different perspectives on history.
This project was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and led by Swansea University in collaboration with The National Library of Wales, Wales Arts International and the Grupo de Estudios sobre Memorias Alterizadas y Subordinadas (GEMAS).
Browse the Problematising History: Indigenous Perspectives on Welsh Settlement digital exhibition
Category: News