The Edward Lhuyd Annual Lecture of the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol and the Learned Society of Wales 2024 was delivered by Professor Paul O'Leary at the National Library, Aberystwyth, on 27 November 2024.
Why do leading politicians refer to history so often? And what kind of history appeals to them? This lecture shows that politicians mold history for the purposes of the present and weave mythologies in order to legitimize their views today. The intention of the lecture is to examine these mythologies in an attempt to show how they affect our political culture and the discussion of history in the public arena. It is shown how politicians have produced mythologies for devolved Wales in an attempt to create a version of the past that suits the new way of governing the country - a new parliament, a new history.
Paul O'Leary is Professor Emeritus at Aberystwyth University and is a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales. He was Sir John Williams Professor of Welsh History at Aberystwyth. Among his books are: Ffrainc a Chymru, 1830–1880: Dehongliadau Ffrengig o Genedl Ddi-wladwriaeth (Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, 2015); Claiming the Streets: Processions and Urban Culture in South Wales, c.1830–1880 (2012); and Immigration and Integration: the Irish in Wales, 1798–1922 (2000). With Beth Jenkins and Stephanie Ward he edited the book Gender in Modern Welsh History: Perspectives on Masculinity and Femininity in Wales from 1750 to 2000 (2023).
