Singing in Welsh, Becoming Welsh: ‘Turfing’ a ‘Grass Roots’ Identity  

Oleh:

Wray, Alison ; Evans, Betsy ; Coupland, Nikolas ; Bishop, Hywel

Jenis: Article from Journal - ilmiah internasional
Dalam koleksi: Language Awareness (Full Text) vol. 12 no. 1 (Jan. 2003), page 49-71.
Fulltext: 12.1.49-71.pdf (283.29KB)

Isi artikel

This paper explores the adoption of aspects of Welsh social identity by members of an American college choir specialising in Welsh repertoire. Drawing on questionnaires, face-to-faceande-mail interviews,and recordings of the choir in performance,a picture is built up of the singers’ attitudes towards Welsh people, culture and language, and their linguistic practices in relation toWelsh songs. Using the metaphor of ‘turfing’, in which a cultural practice is adopted by individuals with no ‘grass roots’ affinitywith the originating culture, we propose that a social identity can be ‘grown’. Whilst a subjective sense of belonging normally precedes and underlies the development of knowledge and awareness of a culture and the practice of culturally specific activities, in turfing that senseof belonging can, rather,be their product. The studyunderlines the potential for individuals to createmultiple cultural identities for themselves,by taking ownership of geographically distant local cultural practices made available through globalisation.

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