What Does It Mean To Live Together? Memories of Communality at Felin Uchaf
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36399/GroundingsUG.16.470Abstract
The following oral history paper explores how narratives surrounding communes and counter-cultural movements in the 1960s and 70s have often been distrusted within by academics within oral history. My mother and her siblings grew up in North Wales, on a 'commune.' This project was made up of series of interviews conducted with the people who were a part of the creation of these spaces, and explores how memories of this period can be distrusted.
References
Abrams, L. (2016). Oral History and Theory. London: Routledge.
Abrams, P., & McCulloch, A. (1976). Communes, Sociology and Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Davis, R. M. (2012). Utopia and Beyond: Commune Narratives of the 1970s. Hungarian Journal of English and American Studies, 18(1/2), 239-258.
Donnelley, M. (2005). Sixties Britain. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
Green, A. (2004). Individual Remembering and Collective Memory: Theoretical Presuppositions and Contemporary Debates. Oral History, 35-44.
Janovicek, N. (2013). 'If you’d told me you wanted to talk about the ’60s, I wouldn’t have called you back': Reflections on Collective Memory and the Practice of Oral History. In A. Sheftel, & S. Zembrzycki, Oral History Off the Record: An Ethnography of Practice (pp. 185- 200). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Morgan, S. (2015, April 17th). The Story of West Wales' Hippie Invasion: Fun, laughter, misunderstandings and ultimately acceptance. Wales Online.
O'Farrell, P. (1983). Oral History: Facts and Fiction. Oral History Association of Australia, 3-9.
Portelli, A. (1991). The Death of Luigi Trastulli and Other Stories. New York: State University of New York Press.
Rigby, A. (1974). Alternative Realities: A Study of Communes and Their Members. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Sheftel, A., & Zemrzycki, S. (2010). Only Human: A Reflection on the Ethics and Methodological Challenges of Working with 'Difficult' Stories. The Oral History Review.
Shenker, B. (1986). Intentional Communities: Ideology and Alienation in Communal Societies. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
'This Family Threatens Our Way of Life,' Claims Councillor. (1975, April 9th). Denbighshire Free Press.
Thompson, A. (1994). The Memory and History Debates: Some International Perspectives. Oral History, 22(2), 33-43.
Winterson, J. (1985). Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. London: Grove Press.
Wong, A. (2013). Listen and Learn: Familiarity and Feeling In the Oral History Interview. In A. Sheftel, & S. Zembrzycki, Oral History Off the Record: Toward an Ethnography of Practice (pp. 97-111). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Yow, V. (2015). Recording Oral History (3rd ed.). London: Rowman and Littlefield.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Olive Morgan

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The CC BY 4.0 license is a Creative Commons license. This is a non-copyleft free license that is good for art and entertainment works, and educational works. It is compatible with all versions of the GNU GPL; however, like all CC licenses, it should not be used on software. People are free to: Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format; Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms. But they must conform to the following terms: Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use. No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Please check individual article PDF copies to see if any additional restrictions apply.

