There is little doubt that a secure cultural identity, sense of self and relationships with others are essential for wellbeing (Wilson, Moloney, Parr, Aspinall & Slark, 2021). Identity formation is an extremely complex, ongoing, culturally located process. It begins early (Kukutai & Webber, 2017) as children actively construct their identities in relation to growing understandings of their cultural heritage and the land in which they live. As culture, language and identity are inextricably linked (Rameka, 2018), we are interested in how the re-telling of national and tribal legends, that are often about geographical areas in Wales and New Zealand, might be used in contextualised ways to support national identity and belonging in alignment with national policies.
This research aimed to explore these issues further through studying the interaction of language, culture and identity in New Zealand and Wales and how cultural identity may be framed through the re-telling of traditional and historical stories in Welsh and Māori Early Childhood Settings (ECE, 0-7 years). Drawing on differences and similarities in cultural histories of oral storytelling, the project is supporting researchers in Cardiff and Waikato Universities to strengthen their relationships, establish networks, and identify areas for collaborative research on Māori and Welsh legends, histories, peoples and identities. The project is exploring traditional storytelling in the early years and how legends are adapted and transmitted for child audiences in bilingual and minority language contexts. We are forming a network of Welsh and Māori academics, storytellers, and educational practitioners to exchange knowledge and experiences of how stories of national and tribal legends, and their surrounding philosophical, linguistic, and geographical contexts, can contribute to children’s developing understanding of and belonging to place, history, and culture.
Project Team
- Professor Amanda Bateman, BCU
- Emeritus Professor Sioned Davies, Cardiff University
- Dr Siwan Rosser, Cardiff University
- Dr Lesley Rameka, Waikato University
- Dr Melissa Derby, Waikato University
Project Impacts
Bateman, A. and Kern, F. [forthcoming, 2025] Translanguaging in Welsh traditional storytelling activities, (SI on translanguaging and heteroglossia in children’s interactions)
Several key findings emerged from the seed project, including insight into the types of stories unique to each country and culture, common storytelling techniques and multimodal ways of sharing stories, together with the ways in which stories support local curriculum and learning and unique cultural identity for Welsh and Māori children. Key points of difference between Welsh and Māori storytelling practices in early childhood included traditional stories in Wales being utilised to facilitate children’s literacy learning in the early years whereas traditional Māori stories, with their focus on the land, play a crucial role in positive associations with cultural identities more holistically. The Mudiad Meithrin will be discussing ways of improving their practitioners’ storytelling skills as part of their ongoing CPD provision, while university practitioners responsible for teacher training courses are looking at how storytelling and reading stories aloud to children can become an integral part of their curriculum.
As part of the literature review, a database was produced consisting of versions and editions of Welsh traditional tales for children (in English and in Welsh) since 2000. This could prove to be an extremely useful tool for teachers in early learning education. Ongoing discussions include negotiations with a Welsh publisher with the possibility of translating at least one of the Maori tales for children into Welsh, and with Cardiff University regarding displaying the Welsh traditional stories database on the School of Welsh website in a manner useful for practitioners, together with details about the project.
Contact
For more information on this research project, please contact Amanda.bateman@bcu.ac.uk.