Passion for the past at Eisteddfod 2018

There’s a local flavour to Cardiff University’s activities at the 2018 National Eisteddfod as the capital city hosts the country’s largest cultural festival – with experts in Archaeology and History sharing their passion for the past too.

Talks and discussions have been inspired by Cardiff’s culture, history, creativity and wildlife in the first Eisteddod in the capital for a decade.

Among a host of University experts are three leading academics from the School of History, Archaeology and Religion: Emeritus Professor Bill Jones, Dr Marion Loeffler and Dr Jacqui Mulville.

Lecturer in Welsh History Dr Marion Loeffler gives two talks Judge Hardinge, the French Revolution and the Martyrs of Cathays, Cardiff, 1801 (6 August, 10:30) and Mirror of the Nation: La Marseillaise in Wales 1848, 1871 and 1914 (7 August, 15:00).

Fellow of the Royal Historical Academy and frequent commentator for the media, Dr Loeffler is interested in the interplay of individual lives and politics, and the role of language and translation in the transfer of knowledge and concepts, especially between 1789 and the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

Emeritus Professor in Modern Welsh History Bill Jones delivers four talks including prestigious annual lectures for Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlathol, Cardiff Centre for Welsh American Studies and Wales International. His talks are Wales, emigration and the Welsh overseas between the World Wars (7 August,11:00, Literary Pavillion), Morgans in Patagonia, American and on the Hayes (7 August, 15:00), The Welsh of the Land of Gold: Welsh emigrants in Victoria, Australia in the second half of the 19^th century (9 August, 13:15) and Hattie Williams’s “shame”. Welsh tinplate works in America in the 1890s (10 August, 15:00).

Frequently lending his expertise to programme makers and broadcasters at home and overseas, Professor Jones is particularly interested in Welsh emigration and Welsh communities outside Wales (19^th and early 20th centuries), Wales and the British Empire and Industrial, social and cultural history of modern Wales.

Head of Archaeology and Conservation Dr Jacqui Mulville is the guest of the National Trust, sharing her hugely popular engagement work in Making the past present: From future animals to Guerrilla Archaeology on 8 August (16:30).

By combining her specialist knowledge of archaeological science with her love of arts, Dr Mulville regularly shares her passion for the past with thousands each year through Guerrilla Archaeology, the Cardiff collective she established in 2011. Her innovative workshops were voted in the ‘Glastonbury Festival Top Five to Do’ at the world-famous festival in 2017.

The University is running a wide-ranging programme at Eisteddfod 2018 (3-11 August, Cardiff Bay).  For latest information, follow #CUEisteddfod2018.