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President and Princess of Hereward Count

David Maile & Maria Eugenia Peltzer just prior to meeting Ambassador Mark Kent in Buenos Aires

Hereward the Wake in Argentina

In September 2019 David Maile and Maria Eugenia Peltzer of the WakeHereward Project had the great pleasure and honour of meeting the British Ambassador to Argentina, in his residence in Buenos Aires. 

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Mark Kent has been ambassador to Argentina since 2016 and is well versed in the Hereward legend as he hails from Hereward country, the county of Lincolnshire.

Maria and David spoke at length about the WakeHereward Project in the United Kingdom and how Hereward could be utilised as a cultural heritage icon to forge links between the United Kingdom and Argentina.

 

This had been exemplified by the pair when they lectured on Hereward in at the Universidad Nacional des Artes in Buenos Aires (National University of the Arts) on International Folklore Day in August. The event was organised by Dr. Maria Ines Palleiro, head of the department of Folklore at the university.

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David and Maria spoke about Hereward´s resistance against the Normans at the time of the Norman Conquest and analysed similarities in the resistance of Argentinian folklore heroes of the  19th century. This ´we tell you about our folklore heroes and you tell us about your folklore heroes´ approach, met with a fantastic response from the students of Folklore at the university and a follow up talk is being scheduled for 2020.

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Hereward was also the lead topic of conversation when the two Hereward champions were invited to talk at the British Institute in the city of La Plata, Argentina´s second city and the hometown of Maria, who also works at the Universidad de La Plata as Professor in Chair of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and is the Director of Arqueologia Historica de La Plata (Archaeology History of La Plata).

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The talk was built around the monthly 'Tea-Time' event and was an overview of six separate talks to be scheduled in 2020 that, as well as Hereward, include the stories of English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh immigration into Argentina, the legacy they left and the cultural connections that still exist to this day. David and Maria were well received by the guests and dignataries present and the event has opened up the door to similar talks in towns and cities across Argentina. 

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A further important development on Hereward in Argentina will be made in due course...

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BA lecture 1.jpg
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