Global Politics of Welsh Patagonia: Settler Colonialism from the Margins

Inspired by decolonial thinking, this book challenges romantic images of Y Wladfa, the Welsh Patagonian settlement founded in 1865. Drawing on archives in Spanish, Welsh and English, it exposes the complex human relationships of this settler colony. In particular, it disrupts the myth of Welsh-Indigenous friendship by foregrounding Indigenous experiences and revealing less rosy events from the archives. This rethinking is driven by a newly-developed framework using three logics: possession, racialization/barbarization and assimilation. These make sense of settler colonialism in Patagonia and, for the first time, in Wales revealing Wales’ complex position as both colonized and colonizing. Also new is analysis of contemporary cultural products – TV, film, school-books – which demonstrate how the romantic view continues to shape racial stereotypes today. It concludes that settler origin countries, like Wales, are vital sites of decolonial debate and suggests policy initiatives to promote practical action.