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Corff Cymro: Gwynfor Evans a Sianel 4 Cymru, Johanna Karlsson

‘Darlun y corff benywaidd – delwedd ffrwythlon a charedig – ac elfen hanfodol wrth greu cenedl-wladwriaethau Ewrop a’r ymerodraeth Brydeinig. Ond beth sy’n digwydd pan fo dynion yn ymgorffori’r genedl? Pa fath o nodweddion a gysylltir â’r wlad wedyn?

Y gwladgarwr Gwynfor Evans oedd AS cyntaf Plaid Cymru yn San Steffan wedi iddo ennill sedd yn is-etholiad Caerfyrddin ym 1966. Ym 1980, yn sgil datganiad swyddogol gan y llywodraeth Geidwadol na fyddai’n sefydlu sianel deledu Gymraeg, cyhoeddodd Evans ei fwriad i ymprydio tan i’r llywodraeth newid ei meddwl. Gweithiodd Evans yn ddiflino dros Gymru a’r iaith Gymraeg drwy gydol ei oes.

Rwyf yn ymchwilio i’r modd yr aeth Evans ati i ymgorffori ei hun a pherfformio, yn enwedig yn ystod yr ymgyrch ymprydio dros sefydlu Sianel 4 Cymru, a thros y genedl Gymreig a’r gymuned Gymraeg ei hiaith. Sut y cyflwynwyd corff Evans yn y cyfryngau cyfoes yn ystod y chwe mis rhwng datgan ei fwriad i ymprydio ym mis Mai a’r dyddiad cychwyn arfaethedig ym mis Hydref? Trwy gymharu gweithredu heddychlon Evans â streic newyn o’r un cyfnod gan garcharorion gweriniaethol yng Ngogledd Iwerddon, a arweiniodd at farwolaeth eu harweinydd Bobby Sands ym mis Mai 1981, rwy’n gobeithio dod i ddeall sut y defnyddiodd heddychwr fel Evans ei gorff fel arf effeithiol dros ei wlad.

Mae Johanna Karlsson yn fyfyrwraig ymchwil yn Adran Astudiaethau Theatr, Ffilm a Theledu Prifysgol Aberystwyth ers 2017. Mae ganddi BA ac MA mewn Astudiaethau Theatr a Pherfformiad o Brifysgol Stockholm. Teitl ei phrosiect doethurol yw: “Trans-Forming the Nation: Postcolonial States Performed by Male Bodies”, lle mae’n archwilio ffyrdd amrywiol o gynrychioli’r Wladwriaeth ôl-drefedigaethol drwy ddefnyddio’r corff gwrywaidd.

Trefnwyd y seminar ymchwil hwn ar y cyd rhwng Cangen De Cymru’r Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol a’r Ganolfan Astudio’r Cyfryngau a Diwylliant mewn Cenhedloedd Bach.

A Welshman's Body: Gwynfor Evans and Sianel 4 Cymru, Johanna Karlsson

The image of the female body – a fertile and dear image – and an essential element in the creation of European nation-states and the British empire. But what happens when men embody the nation? What kind of characteristics are then associated with the country?

The patriot Gwynfor Evans was the first Plaid Cymru MP in Westminster after winning a seat in the Carmarthen by-election of 1966. In 1980, following an official statement by the Conservative government that it would not establish a Welsh language channel, Evans declared his intention to fast until the government changed its mind. Evans worked tirelessly for Wales and the Welsh language throughout his lifetime.

I am researching into the way in which Evans embodied and performed, in particular during the staging of his fasting campaign for the establishment of Sianel 4 Cymru, and for the Welsh nation and the Welsh language community. How was Evans’s body presented in contemporary media of the time, during the six months between declaring the fast in May and the planned start date in October?

Through comparing Evans’s peaceful action and another hunger strike from the same period by republican prisoners in Northern Ireland, which led to death of their leader, Bobby Sands, in May 1981, I hope to understand how a pacifist such as Evans used his body as an effective instrument for his country.

Johanna Karlsson is a PhD student at the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies, Aberystwyth University, since 2017. She has a BA and MA in Theatre and Performance Studies from Stockholm University. Her research project is entitled ‘Trans-forming the Nation: Postcolonial States Performed by Male Bodies’. In it, she examines various approaches to representing the post-colonial State using the male body.

This Research Seminar is a collaboration between the University of South Wales Branch of the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol and the Centre for Media and Culture in Small Nations.