smmg | Entries tagged with decolonisation

I'm always torn between wanting to write here exclusively in Celtic languages, in somewhat of an effort to decolonise and resist anglicisation, and to write everything in English, since I also want to educate people about Celtic studies and the Celtic nations and out of all the languages I can communicate it, English is by far the most widely understood.

I suppose I could write everything bilingually in English and Welsh, or English and Irish, or English and whatever-other-language, but often I don't really have the energy for that. But I think it might be the best compromise. When educating about your own minority cultures, unfortunately a majority language (such as English) is the medium that is going to have the furthest reach and be readable by the most people and raise the most awareness. But I don't want to exclusively write in English and to reinforce English as a "default language that everyone must know", and I think using minority languages online is a good way to draw attention to them and their cultures, struggles, history, etc. So maybe writing everything bilingually is the best compromise.

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Location: home
Current Music: 'march of the jobless corps' by daniel kahn and the painted bird

As I understand it, "British" in its original use simply referred to the peoples who spoke "British" and their language (British/Common Brittonic was the ancestor of Welsh, Breton, Cornish, and Cumbric). The largest island in this archipelago became known as Britain since it was the place where the Britons (British-speaking) peoples lived, and was called "Great Britain" in order to distinguish it from Brittany on the European continent, where Brittonic-speaking peoples migrated to and where their language evolved into Breton. Brittany is actually called "Little Britain" in Scottish Gaelic: A' Bhreatann Bheag. And Wales is also "Little Britain" in Irish: An Bhreatain Bheag.

When the Germanic dialects of the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, and Old Irish came to Great Britain, "British" was still only used to refer to the Brittonic-speaking peoples. After the Acts of Union in the 1700s, the term "British" came to be used by all the inhabitants of the island of Great Britain to refer to themselves, and became a political identifier, rather than an ethnic/linguist one.

Because of the oppression and Anglicisation of the non-English nations of these islands at the hands of the English, I (and others) feel like "British" has basically become a synonym for "English", and the cultures/languages/histories of the non-English nations are erased by labelling them as "British" too. When people talk about "Britain" they are usually only talking about England, and rarely also about Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Mann, and the Channel Islands (and when people online talk about "British accents" they are usually talking about one specific, upper-class English accent. But regional/class-based accents and classism are a topic for another day). Outside of these islands, Britain and England seem to be basically viewed as one and the same. Other people seem unaware of a number of the minoritised cultures here and our histories and struggles.

Because of this conflation of the terms "English" and "British", there has been more and more talk about renaming the "British Isles" to something with less political or colonial connotations. The "Atlantic Archipelago" is something I've seen a number of times in academia, although I've yet to see it be used outside of academic scenarios. The main issue I can think of is that there are other archipelagos in the Atlantic Ocean.

What are some other alternatives? The North Sea Archipelago? There are other archipelagos in the North Sea. The Celtic Archipelago? England is not a The Celtic nation, and Brittany (which is a Celtic nation) is not in the archipelago. The Irish Archipelago? After all, the islands do surround the Irish Sea. The Dogger Archipelago? I think that might be my favourite (but I think Doggerland is very cool and interesting so maybe I'm biased). But why do we need to rename the British Isles at all?

Why do we still all need to be grouped together in that way? As previously mentioned, when people talk about "Britain" they are, 9 times out of ten, actually talking just about England. If we were to rename our islands to "the Atlantic Archipelago" then I feel like this same issue would persist, just under a new name. Maybe instead we should just change the way we talk about ourselves. If you are just talking about England, then just say England. If you're not sure what you're saying applies to just England or elsewhere in the isles too (because we each have our own laws, cultures, history, etc.) then perhaps just do a bit of research to find out, rather than just assuming that because something happens in England then it must be uniform across the islands.

I think "British Isles" is a bad term that we need to retire, but I'm not entirely sure we need to replace it with anything or to continuously lump ourselves in with our oppressors in our day-to-day language.

Current Location: university house

Byw heb Saesneg gymaint â phosib odi fy nod, fi'n meddwl. Ma hynny'n anodd achos dim ond Saesneg sy'n câl ei siarad gan fy nheulu, ond fi isie trïo. Ar hyn o bryd dim ond yn y brifysgol fi'n siarad Cymraeg a Gwyddeleg, ond fi isie dechre defnyddio'r ieithoedd Celtaidd y tu fâs o'r brifysgol hefyd.

Felly, fi isie defnyddio fy ieithoedd eraill yn fwy aml ar-lein. Fi'n meddwl bo' hynny'n le da i ddechre. Fi isie gweld mwy o ieithoedd Celtaidd, ac ieithoedd (lleiafrifol) eraill yn gyffredinol ar-lein, er mwyn gwrthwynebu globaleiddio Saesneg a chreu cymunede ieithoedd Celtaidd.

Current Mood: excited
Current Location: university house

A couple more links to things I've read recently - the second isn't Celtic-nations-related, but still extremely relevant to the general topics of this journal and definitely worth the read.

Can a song save a language? - Eluned Haf, on nation.cymru

During the post-performance Q&A, Dutcher, struck by the Welsh commitment to their language, remarked, “If you can aim for a million speakers of Welsh, I can aim for a thousand speakers of Wolastoqey.” An endangered Algonquian language with only a few fluent speakers remaining [...]

Colonised by Christopher Columbus and later subjected to the ongoing conquest by millions of settlers, including the Welsh, these communities have faced immense cultural and linguistic destruction, much of which we have overlooked or misunderstood.

What has become clear to me is that, as Welsh people, we often avoid acknowledging our direct and indirect role in colonisation and imperialism, even through the medium of Welsh.

Zionism isn't what people think it is (it's worse) - Shel, on Cohost (an Internet Archive capture of the post, since Cohost will be closing down at the end of this year)

There is a misconception that Zionism is the belief that Jews from across the diaspora should all live together in the Land of Israel, AKA where Palestine is now. They might even think it's just the belief that the country called Israel should be allowed to exist at all, and that the Jews who live there should be allowed to continue living there. But that is not what Zionism is.

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: university house

(Copi o dudalen ar fy ngwefan)

Bwriadau'r Cylch We Ieithoedd Celtaidd Modern yw:

Hybu defnydd yr ieithoedd Celtaidd ar-lein.
Cysylltu siaradwyr yr ieithoedd Celtaidd o gwmpas y we.
Gwrthwynebu globaleiddio diwylliant Seisnig/Eingl-Americanaidd a thra-arglwyddiaeth Saesneg, sy'n cymryd lle ein diwylliannau ac ieithoedd eu hun.
Cadarnhau'n bodolaeth ni fel pobloedd lleiafrifol, y mae'n diwylliannau ac ieithoedd ni'n fyw ac yma o hyd.
Dangos y byd nid yw "cymdeithas cynhwysol" ddim yn golygu dylen ni orfod i siarad Saesneg er mwyn gwneud y bobl uniaith Saesneg yn teimlo'n gynwysedig - yn lle, dylen ni fod yn falch o'n diwylliannau ni, a dylen ni ddangos y byd bod gwahaniaethau'n dda a dylen nhw gael eu dathlu o gwmpas y byd ac ar-lein. Dyw gwahaniaethau ddim yn eu rhannu. Ddylai'r byd a'r we ddim bod yn ddiwylliant Saesneg, homogenaidd

Anghenion ymuno:

Gwefannau'n unig. Does dim modd rhoi widget y cylch we ar gyfryngau cymdeithasau megis Twitter, Facebook, ayyb.
Rhaid i chi ddefnyddio un o'r ieithoedd Celtaidd o leiaf rhywle ar eich gwefan, sef Cymraeg, Gaeilge, Gàidhlig, Brezhoneg, Gaelg, a/neu Kernewek (mae unrhyw orgraff Cernyweg yn iawn). Does dim rhaid bod yn siaradwr rhugl, jysd rhywun sy'n fodlon i ddefnyddio'r ieithoedd Celtaidd er y we. Does dim rhaid i'ch holl wefan mewn iaith Celtaidd, ond dylai'r cynnwys yn amlwg ac hawdd i gyrchu oddi wrth eich tudalen hafan.
Does dim rhaid i'ch gwefan ganolbwyntio ar bethau Celtaidd yn unig. Mae cynnwys eich gwefan yn gallu bod yn fron unrhyw beth: adnoddau ieithoedd Celtaidd, blogio personol, adolygu ffilmia, neu beth bynnag dych chi'n wneud. Mae gwefannau 18+ yn cael eu caniatáu, cyhyd â bod rhybudd amlwg ar eich hafan ar gyfer y cynnwys oedolion. Dyw gwefannau sy'n cynnwys dallbleidiaeth ddim yn cael eu caniatáu.
Does dim rhaid i chi ddod o wlad Geltaidd. Mae unrhyw siaradwyr a dysgwyr ieithoedd Celtaidd yn gallu ymuno.

Sut i ymuno:

Rhowch y cod isod i mewn i'ch hafan, neu rhywle arall ar eich gwefan sy'n hawdd i gyrchu megis tudalen dolennau. Fydd y cylch we ddim yn gweithio os bydd hi'n galed i ddod o hyd i'r widget. <script src="https://twitchcoded.neocities.org/webring/webstring.js"></script>
Cwblhewch y ffurf isod ac anfonwch hi at twitchcoded@gmail.com!

Ffurf:

Eich enw/llysenw:
Enw eich gwefan:
Dolen eich gwefan:
Disgrifiad eich gwefan:
Dolen botem eich gwefan:
Ieithoedd a ysgrifennwyd y gwefan ynddyn nhw:

Enghraifft:

Eich enw/llysenw: Twitch
Enw eich gwefan: An Celtlyver
Dolen eich gwefan: iaith.twitch.cymru
Disgrifiad eich gwefan: Adnoddau ieithoedd Celtaidd modern a marw. Resources for modern and extinct Celtic languages.
Dolen botem eich gwefan: https://twitch.cymru/images/button3.gif
Ieithoedd a ysgrifennwyd y gwefan ynddyn nhw: Cymraeg, Gaeilge, Kernewek, English

Gallai fod cwpl o ddyddiau/wythnosau cyn i chi gael eich ychwanegu at y cylch we, achos bod y cylch we'n cael ei rheoli gan un berson yn unig.

Anfonwch e-bost eto os dych chi angen diweddaru eich manylion!

Mae'r .json ffeil rhestr gwefannau ar gael yma. Dych chi'n gallu gweld ffeil .js y cylch we yma. Mae'r Cylch We Ieithoedd Celtaidd Modern yn defnyddio webstring.js.

(Copied from a page on my site)

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Fill in the form below and e-mail it to twitchcoded@gmail.com!

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Current Mood: excited
Current Location: university house
Current Music: 'vltava' from 'má vlast' by smetana

Hello! Just one link for this one! Not specifically about Celtic nations, but I thought the discussions of (anti-)colonialism in games was interesting.

Can you make an anti-imperial empire game?

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: home

i think this stupid meme i threw together in like 5 seconds explains why i find it hard to engage in a majority of conversations around independence.

i had a brief look on the internet to see what other people were saying about things like this, and i've found some articles i've saved for later, but also a lot of people on reddit saying that we as humans would have to have only one culture and language in order to have no countries?? countries as they exist now are not zones that only contain one culture and one language within their borders, with absolutely no overlap into other countries (there were some bad takes on borders in relation to colonialism, but it's reddit so i sort of expected that. i do not like reddit). but that seems to be what a number of people think. a world with no countries doesn't mean everyone would have to share one unified culture/language. what a bizarre interpretation....??

Current Mood: curious
Current Location: home

siarad y gymraeg bob dydd gyda phobl erill odi'r peth gore ŷch chi'n gallu neud i helpu'r gymraeg, fi'n meddwl. ma neud postiau ar-lein am gymraeg a'i brwydre'n iawn, ond odych chi'n defnyddio'r iaith o ddydd i ddydd? odych chi'n cadw hi'n fyw neu jysd yn siarad ac yn ysgrifennu amdani fel pwnc?

Current Mood: cynical
Current Location: university house
Current Music: 'the crew of the hms terror' by jessica law

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S.H.M. Mac Giolla Íosa Gilbert

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Language compromises on this blog
Do we need to rename the "British Isles"?
Byw heb Saesneg
Link round-up #4
Cylch We Ieithoedd Celtaidd Modern | The Modern Celtic Languages Webring
Link round-up #2
Countries shouldn't exist!
Siarad yr iaith bob dydd

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Page generated Feb. 11th, 2026 04:50 pm

Supposedly some sort of Celtic Studies blog

Entries tagged with decolonisation

Language compromises on this blog

Do we need to rename the "British Isles"?

Byw heb Saesneg

Link round-up #4

Cylch We Ieithoedd Celtaidd Modern | The Modern Celtic Languages Webring

Link round-up #2

Countries shouldn't exist!

Siarad yr iaith bob dydd