Contemporary Scotland Research Articles

Isolated figures in a remote Scottish Landscape: place and identity in the films of Scott Graham

ABSTRACT The relationship between place and identity has had a very specific significance in the development of Scottish cinema. Until the 1980s Scotland tended to be depicted as an essentially rural and remote, a fantasy space characterised within the interlinked representational discourses of tartanry and kailyard by romantic and picturesque highland and island locations or parochial and backward villages and small towns. With the emergence of a New Scottish cinema in the 1990s, this was subsequently replaced by a focus on more realist narratives located in the urban centres of Glasgow and Edinburgh. In this essay, I will explore the work of Scott Graham, whose three features to date - Shell, Iona and Run – have provided a renewed engagement with a contemporary Scotland that (re)incorporates both the highland and island landscapes that provided the backdrop to the romantic tradition of tartanry, and the small-town setting familiar from the kailyard tradition. These settings are central to the identity and predicament of Graham’s protagonists, who are struggling with a sense of isolation, loneliness or lack of connection, alienated from place, community and even family. Consequently, Graham provides evidence for the continuing relevance of a distinctive Scottish cinematic tradition.

Review of MacLeod & Smith-Christmas (2018): Gaelic in contemporary Scotland: the revitalisation of an endangered language

Review of MacLeod & Smith-Christmas (2018): Gaelic in contemporary Scotland: the revitalisation of an endangered language

"Nordic Aspirations"

This article explores the Scottish discourse on the Nordic region, that is, dominant conceptualisations of the Nordic region in contemporary Scotland in the context of the current Scottish nation-building project. Since the early 2000s, the Nordic region has received wide political attention and been presented as a viable and desirable role model for Scottish development by key political and social actors, including the Scottish Government and the Scottish National Party (SNP). This interest in the Nordic countries and the idea that they offer an alternative for Scotland which is line with dominant self-images of Scotland as egalitarian and social democratic has established itself as a central argument and aspect of the Scottish independence movement and the wider Scottish public debate. This article examines the historical development of the discourse on the Nordic region in Scotland, and its content by showing how the Nordic region is a multifaceted concept which intersects with Scottish nationalism and long-standing associations to the North. The Nordic region, in the Scottish context, is hence both a reality and a myth, a practical example and an idea. This dual quality is at the heart of the appeal and resilience of the Nordic region in contemporary Scotland, making the Nordic region Scotland’s main positive Other. Keywords The Nordic region, Scottish nationalism, the Other, discourse, conceptualisations of North

Possessing the Nations: Immigration and the Changing Landscape of the Church in Scotland

The landscape of Christianity in Britain has changed significantly in the last sixty years. The presence and influence of old and established church institutions have significantly diminished, but many new groups have emerged to keep the heritage of the church alive. This mixed-methods study presents the changes that have occurred in the Christian landscape of the City of Glasgow in Scotland in recent years. It reports the formation of 110 new churches in Glasgow between 2000 and 2016 and the key role of international immigration in boosting theological diversity and numerical church growth in the Christian landscape of contemporary Scotland.

“I name all my plays after places”: David Greig in conversation with Elisabeth Angel-Perez

Abstract: This interview between Elisabeth Angel-Perez and David Greig, which took place on 16 January 2023 over WhatsApp, was conducted specifically for this special issue of Shakespeare Bulletin . The conversation focuses on Greig’s use of Shakespeare as a matrix for contemporary drama. Greig stresses the geographical and linguistic displacements in his play Dunsinane (2010), a sequel to Shakespeare’s Macbeth , which allowed him to map out a conflictual contact zone between an imperialistic power and a country that has been colonized. He explains how Dunsinane serves as a political parable—for contemporary Scotland, but also the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine—while at the same time decentering Shakespeare as a cultural hegemonic matrix.

Nationalism and “sectarianism” in contemporary Scotland

ABSTRACT This article explores the relationship between nationalism and “sectarianism” in contemporary Scotland. Constitutional disruptions have reopened fault lines around religion, ethnicity, and a “clash” of nationalisms. Sectarianism, which had long been ostensibly confined to residual culture, frequently features in media and political discourses. At the heart of debates is the question of contested national identities – Scottish, British, and Irish. Based on qualitative research with football supporters in Glasgow, this article examines how identities are reproduced and negotiated in people’s everyday lives. While Scotland has undergone significant political, socio-economic, and cultural shifts which have disrupted traditional patterns of belonging, the legacy of sectarianism is relevant in how people negotiate these changes and make sense of competing aspects of their identities. Further, participants’ narratives suggest that these tensions can influence political behaviours, particularly as the binary nature of referendums poses challenges for reconciling multiple layers of identity.

ADAPTIVE MODERNISM AND BEYOND: TOWARDS A POETICS OF A NEW SCOTLAND

The idea of a ‘New Scotland’, and the role of ‘New Scots’ in it, is being debated critically. This essay contextualises this debate with reference to historical antecedents contemporary protagonists draw on, sometimes extensively. It introduces the Scottish Renaissance, which can be regarded as an expression of ‘adaptive’ modernism. The Scottish Folk Revival after the Second World War, as a form of ‘adaptive’ modernism, shares the key concerns of that Renaissance, connecting with it through the Carrying Stream (Hamish Henderson). The two movements share more than their ethnological foundations, a focus on language and identity, and a generalist interest in civic improvement. Reflecting on the significance of heritages, authenticity, resources, and sustainability in this context, the discussion concludes with an appraisal of the (anti-)modern/post-modern ethnopoesis at work in contemporary Scotland.

‘They've got an absolute army of women behind them’: The Formation of a Women's Cooperative Constellation in Contemporary Scotland

This study argues that a new women's cooperative constellation has been established in Scotland around the issue of the Scottish Government's proposed reforms of the Gender Recognition Act. This constellation includes women politicians, researchers, journalists, writers, and activists from all sides of mainstream political opinion in Scotland. The constellation works together to support its politician members, share information and form a supportive community. The constellation acts together to show support for those in the public eye, such as politicians or members being publicly attacked, to make them aware they have ‘an army of women behind them’. The role social media plays has been an important one for the formation and continuance of the constellation, particularly during the pandemic. It has been game-changing in allowing women to identify each other, communicate, arrange to work together and show public support for others. It has also been important in raising awareness of the issues, both with politicians and the general public because, unlike previously identified constellations, this network has needed to generate broad public awareness and support because they have not been working as Government insiders. However, all interviewees were aware that it was not enough to engage in online activism and that they needed to be ‘in the room’ with politicians in order to make any impact.

‘Everybody’s Always Here with Me!’

Social distancing has been the central public health strategy for tackling the coronavirus pandemic worldwide. But the ‘Stay Home, Stay Safe’ order in the United Kingdom and the consequent closure of nurseries and schools also created an unprecedented degree of proximity within households. Based on interviews with mothers of young children in Scotland, this article provides early insight into the ways that mothers manage the forced intimacies of family life under lockdown and the opportunities they create through the innovative management of space and time. The result is a more expansive understanding of the family in contemporary Scotland and a notion of intimacy characterised as much by the necessity of distance and distinction as by proximity and mutuality.

Micro Aggressions and Connections in the Context of National Multiculturalism: Everyday Geographies of Racialisation and Resistance in Contemporary Scotland

AbstractThis paper is organised around geographies of encounter, power and living together. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, in‐depth interviews and focus groups in the West and North of Glasgow, I explore the micro connections and aggressions shaping everyday encounters for some (ethnic and cultural) minorities, contributing to debates on the potentials and challenges of multicultural living. The research contributes to this work by offering a detailed embodied/felt account of belonging and racism in contemporary Glasgow, challenging dominant narratives that construct Scottishness as having “no problem with racism”. As worrying shifts around immigration and multiculturalism continue on a broader political level, including in Scotland, I use the conceptual frame of micro connection, to detail how people actively resist being racialised and othered, and attempt to transform public spaces in Glasgow by “quietly” carving out and inhabiting alternative spaces of belonging.

Politics and football fandom in post- ‘indyref’ Scotland: nationalism, unionism and stereotypes of the ‘Old Firm’

Electoral politics is strongly influenced by unfolding events, some of them leading to major shifts in alignment. There has been renewed interest in the ‘floating voter’ in contemporary Europe, not least because of increased electoral support for right-wing political parties. In Scotland, however, the clearest example of realignment is to be found not so much in support for specific political parties, although that should not be ignored, but rather in a shift of sections of the population from UK unionism towards support for Scottish independence, despite the result of the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. We explore past contentions from certain authors that the ethno-religious, socio-economic and political stratification of supporters of the two largest football clubs in Scotland, Celtic and Rangers, may be linked to their personal voting dispositions with regards to the issue of Scottish independence. These past findings are discussed in light of our interviews with fans of Scottish football teams which explore their perceptions of the interconnection between football club support, nationalism, unionism, and political voting in contemporary Scotland. Our interviewees suggest that the shifting dynamics of contemporary Scottish politics in an era of constitutional evolution has been reflected in shifting political and social affiliations of Scottish football clubs: although the traditional political allegiances of Celtic and Rangers were argued to persist to a degree, consensus emerged that these traditional allegiances have been destabilised by broader political, socio-economic and ideological developments.

Growing up Healthy in Families Across the Globe: Cross-Cultural Harmonisation of Childhood Risk-Factors Using Longitudinal Studies from Ireland, Scotland and New Zealand

The Growing Up Healthy in Families Across the Globe project is an international collaboration examining the potential for harmonised analysis using five longitudinal studies (from New Zealand, Ireland and Scotland). All five studies follow the lives of children, are interested in the dynamics of family change and work to inform policy to potentially improve population well-being across the life-course. Comparative analysis from harmonised longitudinal studies, where change over time is emphasised, provides a unique view to determine how and why environments change, which environments are supportive and which are not. This paper discusses the challenges and tasks involved when preparing and conducting harmonised analysis, and initial findings from the Growing Up Healthy project are discussed. The studies were, from New Zealand, Te Hoe Nuku Roa, the Pacific Island Families Study and Growing Up in New Zealand, and from Scotland and Ireland Growing Up in Scotland and Growing Up in Ireland. Post hoc data harmonisation of measures resulted in the identification of several closely aligned variables. The harmonised descriptive variables from the five studies highlight many similarities across the studies. A risk factor model to predict child development outcomes (using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire) was developed and resulted in very similar patterns of risk in New Zealand, Ireland and Scotland. Risks included: maternal relationship status, maternal education, smoking in pregnancy, maternal self-reported health and maternal long-standing illness. The insights will be of interest to all those concerned with child development in contemporary New Zealand, Ireland, Scotland and other similar countries.

The “Civic” Road to Secession: Political Ideology as an Ethnic Boundary Marker in Contemporary Scotland

Civic nationalism is a weak vessel for secession. Nonetheless, contemporary Scottish nationalism has proven unusually successful, using the characteristically civic marker of political ideology as its signature boundary mechanism. Because a civic form of nationalism funnels toward civic markers of national identity, nationalist elites define Scotland as social democratic and England as neoliberal. This symbolic cultivation of a Scottish social democratic essence is deeply ethnic, however, through a mythological fusion of ideology with genealogy characteristic of ethnic myths of descent. Scotland’s “civic” nationalism points up the confused nature of the ethnic-civic dichotomy itself.

Encountering Each Other in Glasgow: Spaces of Intersecting Lives in Contemporary Scotland

AbstractThis paper uses the concept of intersectionality to think about the ways people negotiate diversity on a daily basis in Glasgow, Scotland. The paper draws on ethnographic fieldwork, in‐depth interviews and focus groups carried out in semi‐formal spaces such as public libraries, community‐centres and local cafes. Discussing the ways in which people speak about their experiences of encountering others across ethnicity, age, gender, religion, and class, the paper examines situations where different positionalities interconnect to produce mundane and fleeting moments of relation. Despite tensions, misunderstandings and moments of uneasiness, the paper finds that connections and relations are built. Set in the political context of contemporary Scotland, the paper argues that being together in diversity can be a decisive act that marks the everyday as political. It contends that an openness to and through these intersectional relations can counteract notions of crisis and emergency normatively constructed around issues of immigration and multiculturalism in Scotland.

Everyday Use of the City Cemetery: A Study of Environmental Qualities and Perceived Restorativeness in a Scottish Context

As the number of historical urban cemeteries where interment is no longer available continues to grow, the everyday use and restorative benefit of these spaces (beyond commemoration and remembrance) is worthy of further exploration. This study primarily investigates the everyday use of two historical urban cemeteries in Edinburgh through behavioural observation (N = 185). We also explore further the relationships between cemetery qualities and perceived restorativeness through an interviewer-administered survey (N = 134) and face-to-face interviews (N = 24) at the sites. The survey findings showed that usage and aesthetics in the cemeteries were both significantly and positively associated with various restorative qualities including ‘being away’, ‘fascination’ and ‘compatibility’. The data provided from the interviews and behavioural observations complement the survey findings that the everyday use of urban cemeteries (i.e., using them as an alternative route for pedestrian journeys or simply walking the dog) could facilitate users’ mental restorative process. After controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, provision of facilities (e.g., benches and toilets) was found to have no significant association with any restorative qualities. Using a mixed method approach, this study provides a novel understanding of how the urban population uses, and perceives, old urban cemeteries in contemporary Scotland.

The revitalization of a craft economy: The case of Scottish knitting

Abstract In the 1980s, Vivienne Weir knitted for money at home, her skills – little remunerated – realizing in luxurious yarns the fashionable imaginings of a local designer. In 2018, Kate Davies knits at home, her skills the foundation of a successful eponymous knitwear design, yarn production and publishing business. What separates these women is more than time – in contemporary Scotland, knitting is a valid and valued entrepreneurial pursuit, and so-called home-knitters form part of a vast network of crafters whose turn from home-craft to design-focused entrepreneurship represents a significant contribution to the £1 billion per annum that the fashion and textile industries generate for Scotland. Through analysis of the business activities of both women, collected through personal testimony interviews, this article examines the revitalization of knitting in Scotland as a viable and lucrative entrepreneurial activity. It compares and contrasts the historical case study of Vivienne who was not afforded the opportunity to realize her potential and make a business from her skills, with the contemporary story of Kate who has translated her skills in hand-knitting and passion for design into a profitable enterprise. It argues that the revitalization of the craft economy of knitting in Scotland has been galvanized by the rise of a new generation of knitters determined to rewrite the Scottish aesthetic lexicon in knitwear design; a new appreciation for the heritage and tradition of skilled knitting, and a newfound understanding of the economic, social and cultural value of knit-craft. In an age of increasing automation in fashion and textiles, and concerns around the social and environmental impacts of mass-manufacturing, this article demonstrates the importance of a dynamic craft economy in knitting to the Scottish fashion and textile industries. The article and the research undertaken focus on the particularities of Scottish hand-knitting through the two case studies and the specific context of Scottish developmental initiatives. However, it is also intended to indicate the resonances of this specific research with other instances of the burgeoning of ‘traditional’ craft practices and products (often undertaken by women) as marketable within a global environment. Such marketability involves complex interactions between notions of the ‘traditional’, cultural identity and affiliation and how these might be displayed or affirmed in clothing (by designers/producers and consumers). The notion of ‘authenticity’ and how this interacts with ideas of innovation and the fashionable are also explored, along with the importance of the Internet and social media to the success, or otherwise, of such entrepreneurial endeavours.

Celebrating a Scottish past: construction, contestation and the role of government

ABSTRACTThis article explores the use of the Scottish past in the production and promotion of official national celebrations in contemporary Scotland. Through the examination of the devolved Scottish Government’s role in the creation of Themed Years and related staged events, this article reveals a political and economic desire to use the country’s diasporic heritage to promote an international profile independent from the United Kingdom, and to capitalize on the lucrative global tourist market. However, the Scottish Government’s reliance on the economic value of Scotland’s diaspora heritage leads to an uncomfortable tension between this and the brand of civic nationalism the Government is eager to promote. Finally, through close examination of government-orchestrated heritage events during the Scottish independence referendum in 2014, this article reveals how specific narratives of the Scottish past were contested by heritage consumers and the rival political agenda of the United Kingdom Government.

Migration and identity in post-referendum Scotland

ABSTRACTThis paper examines migration and identity in contemporary Scotland and engages with ongoing debates about the relationship between nationalism and cosmopolitanism. The paper employs Arendt’s maxim of the ‘right to have rights’ to suggest that while identity would not be the sole or specific focus of policy, more well-developed social policy attuned to the complexities of identity formation would facilitate multicultural and multi-ethnic social identification.

Voices of social dislocation, lost work and economic restructuring: Narratives from marginalised localities in the ‘New Scotland’

Political discourse in contemporary Scotland increasingly revolves around the vision of a ‘New Scotland’, more prosperous and meritocratic than the rest of the United Kingdom. This has a convoluted relationship with Scotland’s industrial past, and specifically the social dislocation experienced through deindustrialisation. This article analyses the deployment of this narrative within regeneration efforts in former industrial communities in Lanarkshire and Inverclyde, West Central Scotland, before counterpoising it with the reflections of former industrial workers and their families. It does so through an analysis of monuments to the industrial past, comparing those erected as part of regeneration schemes by local authorities with community efforts to commemorate past struggles and industrial disasters. This examination is accompanied by the use of oral history narratives to argue that there are two distinct understandings of the nature of place, space, struggles over social justice and communal identities within these localities, which lean heavily on the memory of the industrial past in contrasting ways.

Missives and Deposit in Scots Law: Diachronic and Comparative Reflections about the Concept of Arrha

A jurisdiction such as the Scottish one, reputedly with solid Roman roots, is practically bereft of the fundamental concept of a deposit in the concluding passage of the missives. Conversely, the relevant ‘ancestor’ (Roman law) has been profoundly permeated, throughout the course of its history, by the notion of an arrha (the earnest) in the conclusion of a contract annexed to the transfer of heritable properties. Moreover, in contemporary times and outwith Scotland, a Continental jurisdiction (the Italian one) is resolutely lingering on the Roman caparra penitenziale while, ironically, the English system (comprehensively ‘un-Roman’ in its formation) has expressly adopted the ‘deposit’ as part of the closing particulars. These asymmetries, brim-full with inviting legal ingredients, seem, in the present work, to conjure up an intriguing and captivating plot worthy of an Indiana Jones’ film, where the lost treasure can be deemed replaceable, for the distracted reader, by the ancient Roman notion of an arrha, so evidently not inherited by the contemporary Scottish jurisprudence. Ultimately, the contribution engenders the usual unsettling query: in the light of the phenomenology of the arrha so neglected in Scotland in contemporary times, is Scottish law still a mixed legal system or, conversely, a jurisdiction progressively getting closer to the English common law counterpart?