Women, Identity and Religion in Wales

Manon Ceridwen James

Description

Women, Identity and Religion in Wales is the first comprehensive study of its kind from a present-day perspective. It brings significant and original insights to an understanding of Welsh identity and religion, as well as exploring the distinctive pressures that women in Wales face in their everyday lives. The author provides a qualitatively rich account of the religious and sociological context and interweaves her own experience with that of a number of Welsh women writers, including Menna Elfyn, Jasmine Donahaye and Mererid Hopwood, to offer an in-depth understanding of the dynamic interplay between Welsh female identity and religion. At the heart of the book are conversations with thirteen other women whose lives and experiences reveal how women facing misogyny, repression and stigmatisation are able to respond with resilience and humour. The author concludes that Welsh women have an empowering stereotype, the Strong Woman, and are constructing new identities for themselves beyond the pressures to be respectable and submissive.

Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 What Do We Mean by Identity?
2 Constructed Welsh Identities?
3 Wales, Religion and Identity
4 Religion, Women and Wales
5 Life Stories
6 Welsh Identity and Religion in Women’s Writing
7 In Conversation with the Strong Woman
8 Constructing New Identities
Appendix: Research Methods
Notes
Reference List
Index

Sujets

• Gender Studies
• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique

Informations

• Publié par: University of Wales Press
• Date de parution: 15 février 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781786831941
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

W O M E N , I D E N T I T Y A N D R E L I G I O N I N WA L E S

Gender Studies in Wales Astudiaethau Rhywedd yng Nghymru

Series Editors Dawn Mannay, Cardiff University Rhiannon Marks, Cardiff University Diana Wallace, University of South Wales Stephanie Ward, Cardiff University Sian Rhiannon Williams, Cardiff Metropolitan University

Series Advisory Board Deirdre Beddoe, Emeritus Professor Mihangel Morgan, Aberystwyth University Teresa Rees, Cardiff University

The aim of this series is to ïll a current gap in knowledge. As a number of histori- ans, sociologists and literary critics have for some time been pointing out, there is a dearth of published research on the characteristics and effects of gender differ- ence in Wales, both as it affected lives in the past and as it continues to shape present-day experience. Socially constructed concepts of masculine and feminine difference inuence every aspect of individuals’ lives; experiences in employ- ment, in education, in culture and politics, as well as in personal relationships, are all shaped by them. Ethnic identities are also gendered; a country’s history affects its concepts of gender difference so that what is seen as appropriately ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’ varies within different cultures. What is needed in the Welsh context is more detailed research on the ways in which gender difference has operated and continues to operate within Welsh societies. Accordingly, this interdiscipli- nary and bilingual series of volumes on Gender Studies in Wales, authored by academics who are leaders in their particular ïelds of study, is designed to explore the diverse aspects of male and female identities in Wales, past and present. The series is bilingual, in the sense that some of its intended volumes will be in Welsh and some in English.

W O M E N , I D E N T I T Y A N D R E L I G I O N I N WA L E S

Theology, Poetry, Story

Manon Ceridwen James

CARDIFF UNIVERSITY OF WALES PRESS 2018

© Manon Ceridwen James, 2018

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (includ- ing photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the University of Wales Press, 10 Columbus Walk, Brigantine Place, Cardiff, CF10 4UP.

www.uwp.co.uk

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN e-ISBN

978-1-7868-3193-4 978-1-7868-3194-1

The right of Manon Ceridwen James to be identiïed as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with 77, 78 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

The University of Wales Press acknowledges the ïnancial support of the Isla Johnston Trust.

Typeset by Mark Heslington Ltd, Scarborough, North Yorkshire Printed by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, Wiltshire

I Dylan, Miriam, Catrin a Harri, Mam a Dad, gyda chariad a diolch

Religion, Women and Wales

Wales, Religion and Identity

2

Constructed Welsh Identities?

4

3

Index

8

Constructing New Identities

Notes

Reference List

x

1

8

0

117

8

6

In Conversation with the Strong Woman

7

2

2

3

4

7

5

0

i

1

6

143

130

134

9

4

104

Welsh Identity and Religion in Women’s Writing

1

What Do We Mean by Identity?

Appendix: Research Methods

Acknowledgements

5

Life Stories

Introduction

Contents

Acknowledgements

My grateful thanks go to the women in this study who shared so willingly and generously their life stories with me. Their resilience and strength has inspired me, as will become clear throughout the book. I have had the privilege of being taught by many excellent teachers and lecturers as well as having been inspired by several people who have either made an impact on me from a distance or encouraged me personally along the way. I would particularly like to mention Christine Evans, Heïn Elias, Alan Hill, Deirdre Beddoe, John Sweet, Ian Stubbs, Jeremy Begbie and John Parr. This part of my journey was inspired by Stephen Pattison’s bookShamewhich introduced me to a new way of doing theology that is both relevant and transformative. I was very fortunate to have him as the supervisor for my thesis and I am very grateful to him for all his support and insight which have made a huge contribution to this book. His writings within Practical Theology have been very inuential to both my thinking and practice. I am also grateful to Chris Shannahan and Martin Stringer who contributed to my supervision and very much to my thinking and learning. Mark Pryce has also been a great encouragement to me in seeing the connections between theology and poetry. Sarah Kennedy, Kim Moore and Nigel Jenkins were key inuences as I started to ïnd my poetic voice again and I thank them, along with John Fraser Williams, Gillian Clarke and Fiona Sampson for help with the drafting of some of the poems in this book. I have gained much encouragement and stimulation from belonging to a symposium of feminist qualitative theological researchers. Thanks to Nicola Slee, Anne Phillips and Fran Porter in particular for including my work in their edited collections of papers arising from this symposium and for the help of many good friends made there. As well as Nicola, Anne and Fran, the following women have all contributed to my thinking as a theologian and researcher: Jennie Hurd, Allison Fenton, Alison Woolley, Kim Wasey, Ruth Perrin and Emma Rothwell. I want to thank those who commented on parts of my original PhD thesis: Paula Yates, Graeme Smith, Fur Dafydd, Dylan James, Dilys Williams and Ruth Russell-Jones.Iwasverygratefultothemfortheirobservationswhichhelpedme improve my writing. Ruth especially did a great job of ïnding my inconsistencies. Thanks especially to Dawn Llewellyn for her comments and help with the ïnal draft of the book. I also acknowledge with gratitude the ïnancial support of the Isla Johnston Trust and Gladstone’s Library. Much of the initial groundwork was completed