'Wittgenstein in Swansea': a panel discussion chaired by Alan Sandry
Schedule
Wed Oct 08 2025 at 03:00 pm to 04:00 pm
UTC+01:00Location
Tabernacle URC Church, Newton Road, Mumbles SA3 4AR | Swansea, WA
Advertisement
Wittgenstein in Swansea Edited by Alan SandryA multidisciplinary and accessible approach to a key period of Wittgenstein’s work.
This edited volume covers aspects of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s time in Swansea from 1942 to 47. It covers his interaction with Rush Rhees, his stimulus for the Swansea School, and his broader influence on students, academics, and a plethora of writers from a range of disciplines and interests. It looks at his philosophy and legacy through various lenses and perspectives. These include explanations and assessments of Wittgenstein’s time and work at Swansea from Ray Monk, Jonathan Smith, and Alfred Schmidt; historical and cultural scene setting from Jeff Towns; analyses of the Swansea School from Mario von der Ruhr, and Huw Williams; literary comparisons from Daniel Williams; ideological evaluations from Rhianwen Daniel; and a range of intimate reflections and commentaries from James Kelman, Jamie Bill, and M. Wynn Thomas. Editor Alan Sandry also offers some psychogeographical observations and considers Wittgenstein’s present-day significance within Swansea.
Chair
Dr Alan Sandry is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Strategy at School of Management, Swansea University. He is the editor of Wittgenstein in Swansea: Philosophy and Legacy (University of Wales Press, 2025). He was Programme Devisor and Researcher for the BBC Radio Wales documentary Wittgenstein: From Austria to Abertawe (December 2022). That year he also convened a major international conference and exhibition about Wittgenstein, Rush Rhees and the Swansea School at Swansea University. His play From Linz to Langland - A Journey with Ludwig Wittgenstein will be premièred at Taliesin Theatre, Swansea University on 24th October 2025.
Panel
Daniel G. Williams is Professor of English Literature, Director of the Richard Burton Centre for the Study of Wales and Co-Director of the Centre for Research into the English Literature and Language of Wales at Swansea University.
He is a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales and is President of NAASWCH (The North American Association for the Study of Welsh Culture and History).
His publications include Black Skin, Blue Books: African Americans and Wales (2012), Wales Unchained: Literature, Politics and Identity in the American Century (2015) and The Werner Sollors Reader: Ethnicity, Cosmopolitanism and Particularism (2025). He contributes regularly on Welsh literature and culture on the media and is a saxophonist with the jazz-folk sextet ‘Burum’.
M. Wynn Thomas is Emeritus Professor of English at Swansea University and has twice been Visiting Professor at Harvard. The author of more than two dozen volumes on American poetry and the two literatures of Wales, he is a Fellow of the British Academy and a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales. His All That is Wales won a Welsh Book of the Year Award in 2018, while his The History of Wales in Twelve Poems is a best seller.
Dr Rhianwen Daniel is a researcher specialising in the relationship between national identity, language, and social cohesion. Specifically, she is interested in how language functions as a repository of its speakers' historically-accumulated cultural heritage and influences cognition accordingly. She currently teaches at City Lit, London, and is undertaking research on rural cultural and economic disintegration in Wales and Poland, having recently been awarded the Cronfa Goffa Saunders Lewis grant for the project.
Black Hawk Hancock is a Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professor. His work focuses on Culture, Theory, and Qualitative Methodology. He is the author of the ethnography American Allegory: Lindy Hop and the Racial Imagination (University of Chicago Press). He has also written new introductions to the 2nd editions of John Fiske’s books Power Plays, Power Works (Routledge), and Media Matters (Routledge). His articles engage theorists as diverse as Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Erving Goffman, Jean Baudrillard, Jaques Derrida, and Georg Simmel, amongst others. His most recent book, co-authored with Roberta Garner, is Change and Disruption: Sociology of the Future (Routledge).
In partnership with Cover to Cover bookshop
and University of Wales Press
*Please note: Event delivered in English
Wittgenstein in Swansea Golygwyd gan Alan Sandry
Ymagwedd amlddisgyblaethol a hygyrch at gyfnod allweddol yng ngwaith Wittgenstein.
Mae'r gyfrol wedi'i golygu hon yn ymdrin ag agweddau ar amser Ludwig Wittgenstein yn Abertawe, o 1942 i 1947. Mae'n trafod ei ryngweithio â Rush Rees, ei symbyliad ar gyfer Ysgol Abertawe, a'i ddylanwad ehangach ar fyfyrwyr, academyddion a llu o awduron o amrywiaeth o ddisgyblaethau a diddordebau. Mae'n edrych ar ei athroniaeth a'i waddol drwy sawl lens a safbwynt. Mae'r rhain yn cynnwys esboniadau ac asesiadau o amser a gwaith Wittgenstein yn Abertawe gan Ray Monk, Jonathan Smith ac Alfred Schmidt; Jeff Towns yn rhoi'r cyd-destun hanesyddol a diwylliannol; dadansoddiadau o Ysgol Abertawe gan Mario von der Ruhr a Huw Williams; cymariaethau llenyddol gan Daniel Williams; gwerthusiadau ideolegol gan Rhianwen Daniel; ac amrywiaeth o atgofion personol a sylwebaethau gan James Kelman, Jamie Bill ac M Wynn Thomas. Mae'r golygydd, Alan Sandry, hefyd yn cynnig rhai arsylwadau seicoddaearyddol ac yn ystyried arwyddocâd Wittgenstein yn Abertawe heddiw.
Cadeirydd
Mae Dr Alan Sandry yn Uwch-ddarlithydd mewn Athroniaeth a Strategaeth yn Ysgol Reolaeth, Prifysgol Abertawe. Fe yw golygydd Wittgenstein in Swansea: Philosophy and Legacy (Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru, 2025). Roedd yn Gynlluniwr Rhaglenni ac yn Ymchwilydd ar gyfer rhaglen ddogfen BBC Radio Cymru Wittgenstein: From Austria to Abertawe (Rhagfyr 2022). Y flwyddyn honno, cynhaliodd hefyd gynhadledd ryngwladol bwysig ac arddangosfa am Wittgenstein, Rush Rhees ac Ysgol Abertawe ym Mhrifysgol Abertawe. Bydd perfformiad cyntaf ei ddrama From Linz to Langland - A Journey with Ludwig Wittgenstein yn Theatr Taliesin, Prifysgol Abertawe ar 24 Hydref 2025.
Panel
Mae Daniel G. Williams yn Athro Llenyddiaeth Saesneg, yn Gyfarwyddwr Canolfan Richard Burton ar gyfer Astudio Cymru a Chyd-gyfarwyddwr y Ganolfan Ymchwil i Lên ac Iaith Saesneg Cymru ym Mhrifysgol Abertawe.
Mae’n Gymrawd o Gymdeithas Ddysgedig Cymru ac yn Llywydd NAASWCH (Cymdeithas Gogledd America ar gyfer Astudio Diwylliant a Hanes Cymru).
Ymhlith ei gyhoeddiadau mae Black Skin, Blue Books: African Americans and Wales (2012), Wales Unchained: Literature, Politics and Identity in the American Century (2015) a The Werner Sollors Reader: Ethnicity, Cosmopolitanism and Particularism (2025). Mae’n cyfrannu’n gyson ar lenyddiaeth a diwylliant Cymru ar y cyfryngau ac mae’n sacsoffonydd gyda’r band jazz-gwerin ‘Burum’.
Mae M Wynn Thomas yn Athro Saesneg Emeritws ym Mhrifysgol Abertawe a bu'n Athro Gwadd yn Harvard ddwywaith. Ac yntau'n awdur mwy na dau ddwsin o gyfrolau am farddoniaeth Americanaidd a dwy lên Cymru, mae'n Gymrawd o'r Academi Brydeinig ac yn Gymrawd o Gymdeithas Ddysgedig Cymru. Enillodd ei lyfr All That is Wales Wobr Llyfr Cymreig y Flwyddyn yn 2019, ac mae ei gyfrol The History of Wales in Twelve Poems yn llyfr llwyddiannus dros ben.
Mae Dr Rhianwen Daniel yn ymchwilydd sy'n arbenigo yn y berthynas rhwng hunaniaeth genedlaethol, iaith a chydlyniant cymdeithasol. Yn benodol, mae ganddi ddiddordeb yn sut mae swyddogaethau iaith fel storfa o etifeddiaeth ddiwylliannol a hanesyddol siaradwyr yn dylanwadu ar wybyddiaeth. Ar hyn o bryd, mae'n addysgu yn City Lit, Llundain ac mae'n cynnal ymchwil ar chwalfa ddiwylliannol ac economaidd wledig yng Nghymru a Gwlad Pwyl, ar ôl derbyn grant Cronfa Goffa Saunders Lewis am y prosiect yn ddiweddar.
Mae Black Hawk Hancock yn Athro Gwadd Ymddiriedolaeth Leverhulme. Mae ei waith yn canolbwyntio ar ddiwylliant, damcaniaeth, a methodoleg ansoddol. Ef yw awdur yr ethnograffeg American Allegory: Lindy Hop and the Racial Imagination (University of Chicago Press). Mae hefyd wedi ysgrifennu cyflwyniadau newydd i ail argraffiadau llyfrau John Fiske, sef Power Plays, Power Works (Routledge) a Media Matters (Routledge). Mae ei erthyglau'n cynnwys damcaniaethwyr amrywiol megis Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Erving Goffman, Jean Baudrillard, Jaques Derrida a Georg Simmel, ymhlith eraill. Ei lyfr diweddaraf, a ysgrifennwyd ar y cyd â Roberta Garner, yw Change and Disruption: Sociology of the Future (Routledge).
Mewn partneriaeth â Siop Lyfra Cover to Cover a Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru
*Sylwer: Cyflwynwyd y digwyddiad yn Saesneg
Advertisement
Where is it happening?
Tabernacle URC Church, Newton Road, Mumbles SA3 4AR, Tabernacle Art Centre, Newton Road, Swansea, SA3 4AU, United KingdomEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
