Abstract

This special issue of Historical Refl ections/Refl exions Historiques derives from panel sessions for the Irish-Scottish Academic Initiative (ISAI) conference held at the University of Aberdeen in October 2009. The conference marked the tenth anniversary of the founding of Aberdeen’s Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies. It was also the fi rst ISAI conference to feature panel sessions dedicated to the study of gender in Irish and Scottish history. The overarching theme of the conferenceGlobal Nations? Irish and Scottish Expansionencouraged discussion of the ways in which the history and heritage of Ireland and Scotland are interpreted and understood both within those countries and abroad. In the two panels on gender, history, and heritage we sought to interrogate past and present notions of Irish and Scottish identity through the lens of gender by bringing together speakers from universities and the heritage sector. Anniversaries often generate public debate about the nature and role of history and its relationship to national identity. In North America, Australia, and France, such debate was given momentum by signifi cant anniversaries during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The 500th anniversary of Columbus’s arrival in the New World, the 200th anniversary of white settlement at Botany Bay, and the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution saw a range of events and initiatives inspired by the theme of commemoration. In the lead-up to these anniversaries, motives for refl ecting upon the relationship between history and national identity have been as varied as the commemorative events and initiatives themselves. For historians and their publishers, signifi cant anniversaries open up new opportunities to expand the audience for works of history. For politicians, meanwhile, a party for electors with a bit of cultural glitter offers a seemingly useful distraction from the intractable problems of government usually featured in the media. Yet, as with most parties, questions about who is invited and who is excluded can rise like so many bubbles in a champagne bottle, bursting forth into the public arena before you can say “bon anniversaire.” Just as anniversaries provide good opportunities for drinking champagne, so they are useful to historians for provoking some general refl ec-

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