Nations as refrains: Wales and the Festival of Britain 1951

Over the past two decades, cultural geographers have been paying increasing attention to the performative, habitual, affective and atmospheric qualities of nations, nationalist movements and national identities. In this paper I utilise the concept of the refrain (ritournelle) from the writings of Gilles Deleuze and Fèlix Guattari to trace the very different rhythmic refrains and movements which may or may not gain a certain consistency in the world and affect bodies of different kinds. Refrains may be material, embodied and/or vibrational perturbations which attain a certain rhythm and consistency, and I examine how they are central to the processes of individuation and collective individuation by which nations, national subjects and national identities become crystallised and unfold. In the latter part of the paper I draw upon archival research on the Festival of Britain 1951 to argue that it can usefully be approached through the refrain. In contrast to accounts which present the Festival as a largely London affair which positioned Welsh, Scottish and Irish narratives as reflective of the regional diversity of Britain, I reveal the different responses of Welsh individuals and organisations to the idea of a Festival of Britain. I trace the importance of the Welsh language in setting a different tone or refrain for national events, and I examine how a range of material infrastructures, one-off staged events, and celebrations functioned as refrains of Welshness and/or Britishness. The paper outlines the reactions of Welsh nationalists and republicans for whom British refrains were seen as negative affective forces that would continue to subordinate Wales under a nation-state ruled from England (and specifically London).