WALES AND ISLAM: CONTACT, COEXISTENCE AND CONFLICT IN NINE CENTURIES OF LITERATURE

The Welsh relationship with Islam is not a new phenomenon, but dates back as far as the Crusades and can be traced through a wealth of literary material not previously viewed as part of a continuum. In researching hundreds of examples of Welsh literary portrayals of Islam and Muslims, this study shows extensive evidence of contact and encounter, and, for most of the nine centuries under discussion, reveals a general picture of Welsh participation in the negative stereotyping common in British and Western perspectives. Assumptions that Welsh attitudes would prove to be distinctively enlightened are shown to be unfounded. Only since the Second World War do more positive portrayals emerge, with nationalism proving a particular driver of positive representation. Nonetheless, whether the depictions are negative or positive, the general picture is that Muslims are portrayed in service of non-Muslim agendas, and a literary relationship of mutual understanding and respect, and a Muslim literature of Wales, is still emerging.

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