Addressing the Roman Colonial Story in South-East Wales

This PhD will investigate under-studied Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales collections, and new finds reported by the public through the Portable Antiquities Scheme Cymru, to understand the colonial encounter between the Roman Empire and communities in South-East Wales. The project will build on current Amgueddfa Cymru programmes of publications on key Roman period sites to ask how power relations, material culture and identities changed in response to Roman imperialism. Such themes in the Roman past and their legacies in the present have been explored in depth through the lens of post-colonial theory in several parts of the former Roman empire, but not in Wales. By synthesising the archaeology of the region's first four hundred years of history for the first time through a post-colonial framework, this PhD will produce insights that will dramatically advance knowledge of Roman Wales, and – vitally - will be explored in partnership with diverse communities and stakeholders. A major part of the PhD will be undertaking in-person and digital engagement and co-creation activities with diverse audiences using the Amgueddfa Cymru collections and facilities in collaboration with pioneering Cardiff University (CU) civic mission initiatives such as the CAER heritage project and CU Community Gateway, widening participation in heritage and embedding skills, education and lifelong learning in these initiatives. Building relationships between diverse communities and places through re-telling south Wales' first historic colonial encounters will create greater engagement with, and safeguard the future of, the local historic environment and involve a wider range of people in Amgueddfa Cymru collections and education.