‘Part of my Heritage’: Ladies’ Pipe Bands, Associational Culture and ‘Homeland’ Identities in the Scottish Diaspora

Abstract

Throughout the imperial and non-imperial destinations to which Scots gravitated, they expressed their ethnic identities in various ways. To date, scholars have generally focused on either one particular aspect of Scottish expressions of identity, such as ethnic societies, or provided fleeting mentions of individual elements, such as pipe bands, without sustained analysis. Since most Scottish migrants did not join a Scottish association, it was their personal sense of Scottishness, which overshadowed their ethnic affiliations. This chapter will build on current scholarship by surveying Scottish ethnic identities through two new approaches: public group expressions of Scottishness as revealed by ladies’ pipe bands and their various connections to other forms of Scottish associational culture; and in the personal expressions of individual band members and their audience members across the diaspora. Further, this chapter sheds light on a glaring gap in scholarship regarding ethnic identities: the sense of identity held by multi-generational descent groups, as well as the extent to which these were articulated and reinvented.