The Media and Modernity: Film and New Media in the Highlands and Islands 1946–1971: Introduction

Abstract

The Highlands and Islands Film Guild is briefly surveyed in this article that introduces the Special Issue on Media and Modernity. The foundations, principles and manner of operation are outlined, as well as the interdisciplinary research project. The article starts with a review of literature on the nature of society in the Highlands and Islands, and the way that researchers regard it as ‘the other’ in historical and ethnographic research within the United Kingdom. We note the work undertaken in cultural history that has tended to treat the Highland zone as disjoined in governance and everyday life. The researchers’ different approaches and methods are then discussed, moving through specialists in film and television, creative arts, religious and cultural history, and social geography. Finally, the article introduces the articles that follow in the Special Issue.