The day began with an enrapturing lecture on European nationalism, delivered by Tom Lorman. He covered the development of nationalism from the Enlightenment, through its twentieth century iterations to how nationalism is shaped in Europe today. In the current political climate, this topic was even more interesting. Dr Lorman made reference to the both the global and nationalist relationships between European nations and how these relationships have developed over time. He also explored state-building projects of Western Europe and their cultural borrowing from Napoleon.
In the afternoon, we had a language session with our teacher Petroc on Welsh rebellion, resistance and empowerment. We looked at key events which have influenced Welsh national feeling, including the creation of Plaid Cymru (Party of Wales), the fire of Penyberth and the investment of Charles as Prince of Wales. These events saw a huge response from the Welsh language poetry community which reacted strongly against English dominance of Wales. With his help, we read several pieces of Welsh poetry touching on issues of Welsh identity, sexuality and history.
The rest of the afternoon was spent finishing the films and blog posts which will soon be up on the website.
European London 