Only in Patagonia: Welsh Heritage and Prestige in Chubut Province

• In Event: Arts, History and Memory

Abstract

In the last 20 years, Welsh heritage has become not only the most widely recognized cultural heritage of the Chubut Province, Argentina, Welshness is now inextricably linked to both the provincial and city governments throughout the region. Visually, symbolic markers of Welshness are commonplace, and have been appropriated by some non-Welsh descendants for perceived economic gains. Socially, Welshness and the contributions the Welsh community has made to the historical trajectory of the province are widely acknowledged by politicians, municipal employees, scholars, heritage industry workers, among others. This paper explores the ways in which Welsh heritage is used as a strategic political and economic resource for both members of the Welsh diaspora community, as well as those without direct Welsh descent. This paper uses Brian Graham’s concept of the knowledge economy as it is applied to both ‘official’ and unofficial forms of heritage in the construction of places. That is, this paper will delineate the formal structures that compose the ‘external’ cities through which the Welsh heritage tourism network in Chubut operates, in addition to highlighting the ‘internal’ cities created by the regional and individual values associated with participating in Welshness. This paper will expose the complexities of promoting a European diaspora heritage, still very much linked to and influenced by the homeland, in Argentinian Patagonia to provide one regional example of the tangible economic and political benefits such heritage affords those who participate in Welshness, as well as the social and individual values attributed to Welsh Patagonian place-making in Chubut.

Author

• Kimberly Berg, State University of New York at Albany