My Original Contribution to Knowledge:

I am on schedule to defend my dissertation, Festivals and Identity: A Comparative Study of Cultural Resilience in Wales, Brittany, and Nova Scotia, for April 2025. In my dissertation, I focus on three specific communities—the Welsh, the Acadians of Nova Scotia, and the Bretons—and their unique cultural festivals. My research utilizes individual participant insights obtained through interviews and examines how individuals within these communities perceive and engage with festivals as a means of expressing and maintaining their language and cultural identity. During the summer of 2023, my research took me to the Festival Acadien de Clare in Nova Scotia, and to the National Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Cymru held in Northern Wales. In August 2024, I traveled to the Festival Interceltique de Lorient in the Brittany region of France. The rationale for selecting Wales, Brittany, and Nova Scotia, as well as the three respective festivals, lies in the historical, migratory, cultural, and linguistic connections shared between these regions. Each summer, I conducted ethnographic fieldwork, bringing together ethnographic, literary, and historical perspectives. I selected grounded theory as the qualitative tradition for this study, a methodology that develops theory directly from the data through systematic coding. By utilizing a grounded theory approach through a constructivist lens, I recognized and developed a new theory which I have called the “Cultural Resilience Paradox.” This theory provides insight into how cultural communities navigate the tension between preserving tradition and embracing modernity. As a supplement to my dissertation, I am creating a documentary film titled Triangulating Traditions: Wales, Brittany, and Acadia, which will be completed in August 2025.