Scottish Immigrants Research Articles

Why <em>Monopoly</em> Monopolises Popular Culture Board Games

Why <em>Monopoly</em> Monopolises Popular Culture Board Games

In My Ain Countrie: Thomas MacLaren, Walter Farquhar Douglas, and Thompson Duncan Hetherington; a transnational case study of Scottish migration

ABSTRACT While inarguably linked to the larger body of Scots who emigrated from their homeland at the long turn of the twentieth century, the migrant experiences of Thomas MacLaren, Walter Farquhar Douglas, and Thompson Duncan Hetherington stand in contrast to those commonly attributed to Scottish immigrants. As young, skilled immigrants in a newly settled land, the three Scottish-trained architects brought with them an adherence to the design principles and philosophies they had embraced in Britain, the cradle of the Arts and Crafts Movement. What resulted were the design and construction of commercial, residential, and ecclesiastic structures in Colorado Springs, CO that were as authentic and unique as any designed at the turn of the twentieth century. Indeed, MacLaren, Douglas, and Hetherington were able to influence both the built and social environments, using their professional prestige to philanthropic ends in both their former and new homelands. Based on research conducted in archives throughout Scotland and in Colorado Springs, as well as previously unexamined primary source material, this manuscript contributes an original narrative to the collective body of regional, transnational, and cultural history. Examined from both a macrocosmic and microcosmic perspective, this manuscript examines the lives of MacLaren, Douglas, and Hetherington – including the factors leading to their emigration and the unique and significant transnational consequences of their migration.

Поэзия шотландской эмиграции США XIX века в оценках литературной критики

The research objectives are as follows: to summarize literary critics’ views on the Scottish immigration poetry in the USA in the XIX century, to identify the basic vectors of literary-critical activity: immigration and “metropolis”. Scientific originality of the study lies in the fact that the author classifies literary-critical trends and provides a comprehensive analysis of the Scottish immigration poetry discourse in the context of literary criticism. The findings indicate that the Scottish and American “metropolis” literary criticism neglected the Scottish immigration poetry of the XIX century. Literary criticism of the Scottish émigré poets is represented by the Scottish émigré critics.

Patriarchs, Pipers and Presidents: Gaelic Immigrant Funerary Customs and Music in North America

One of the most moving tributes to the dead is the playing of the Highland bagpipes during funeral services, whether in the church or at the graveside. This custom has a long history both in Scotland and in areas of North America settled by Scottish immigrants over the past 300 years, and for lovers of bagpipe music it is an essential part of the funeral ritual. Throughout its history the piper’s lament has transcended social class structure and has been performed for paupers and presidents alike. Despite being deeply rooted in tradition, the music and function of this musical practice have changed over time. Drawing from printed texts of the 19th and 20th centuries, recent scholarship and local folklore surrounding funeral customs and music, this paper examines the origins of the funeral piping tradition in Gaelic Scotland and its evolution in North American society.

The Invisible Island: Immigration, Environment, and a New Europe on Big Island, Nova Scotia

This article examines Scottish immigration to Nova Scotia from an environmental perspective. Big Island, which has been long absent from the historical record, is a microcosm of Alfred Crosby’s New Europe thesis. The environmental historian’s seminal theory has never been applied to the Scottish immigration story, in Canada or abroad, and applying it to Big Island reveals a strong cultural and geographic enclave that serves as a testament to the enduring power of place.

Scots in America

This essay examines the immigration and contributions of Scots to America, as well asoffering an explanation regarding the resurgence of interest in Scottish ancestry. Scotswere a core immigrant group from three regions of the United Kingdom that were, likeother immigrants, both” pushed and pulled” into America. The Scots backgrounds infaith, political loyalties, and hardships influenced the integration into becoming what isrecognized as American. Some generalities about Scottish immigrants in first the Colonies,and then the United States, can be identified in religion and political persuasion.The success of their assimilation is evidenced in numerous areas of American life andsociety, but specifically mentioned in the essay are politics, literature, business, and themilitary. A resurgence of interest and claims to Scottish ancestry are a result of the coregroups seeking recognition after the 60s; the influence of television and movies; and theinformation age conveniences of the internet and social media.

Cows, Sheep & Scots

In the ongoing discussion of how Canada’s economy developed and how the land was colonised, little attention has been paid to the role of farm animals. The strategies of Scottish immigrants to rural Upper Canada show the centrality of livestock in subsistence, in the informal economy of barter, exchange and credit, and in off-farm sales. Raising stock—particularly cattle, sheep and pigs—was not an addition to settlers’ sources of income and subsistence, but underpinned most of them. Letters back to Scotland, supplemented by surveys and census data, show that animals’ contribution to clearing forest, raising crops, maintaining soil, providing food and clothing, raising cash or credit, maintaining reciprocal relationships and passing on property was integral to the success of backwoods farmers as they strove first for survival, and then for comfort.

The Distribution of Scottish Settlements in Ontario, 1871–1901

Emigration from Scotland in the nineteenth century is marked by its significant use of chain migration. This article focuses on how migrant chains affected Scottish settlement patterns in Ontario in the late nineteenth century, highlighting their reliance on friends and family to successfully relocate. Remittances, letters, and other forms of support point to the continued importance of kin and clan across borders. What differentiated Scottish migrants from chain migrants of other nationalities was the durability of their settlements. Migrant chains from other origins typically produce durable settlements that persist over time. Scots, on the other hand, show significantly less settlement durability. Census data are used to describe the concentration of Scottish immigrants over time within districts in Ontario, Canada, and how the degree of concentration changed over time. These data and the results are illustrated with a series of census maps.

Urban English and Scottish Ancestors in the Regional Populations of the Province of Quebec (Canada)

The Quebec population descends in most part from French immigrants who settled in the St Lawrence River valley during the seventeenth century. However, people from other European origins have also contributed to the early settlement of the Canadian province. By means of genealogical data spanning more than three centuries, this study aimed to measure the contributions of English and Scottish immigrants to the peopling of the Quebec regions. More than 5,000 genealogies were reconstructed using the BALSAC population database. These genealogies span more than ten generations on average. Immigrants of each origin were identified and linked to all their descendants in the genealogical samples. Results show that English and Scottish founders appear in the genealogies of all Quebec regions, although in different proportions. These founders and/or their descendants were integrated into the predominant French Catholic population during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The Alexandria YWCA, Race, and Urban (and Ethnic) Revival: The Scottish Christmas Walk, 1960s–1970s

ON DECEMBER 6, 1971, THE FRONT PAGE of the Alexandria Gazette ran the headline: “Titans Snatch AAA Crown, Rout Lewis.” The photographs and stories that followed celebrated the Titans’ first state championship and the players who made it happen—students from the newly integrated T. C. Williams High School. In one article, local newspaper reporter Mary Warren emphasized the team’s success as a symbol of Alexandria’s new “togetherness”—the school system’s racial integration and the unification of local residents, both black and white, around the winning football team. For those interviewed, an integrated Alexandria was the City’s present and future. On the same night that the Titans won the Virginia state championship, another subset of Alexandrians held a different kind of celebration: the Second Annual Scottish Christmas Walk. The Walk consisted of a variety of activities in Alexandria’s historic commercial district and culminated with a procession down the city’s main thoroughfares. Though not necessarily Scottish in origin, it celebrated the city’s eighteenth-century Scottish immigrants and embraced the trappings of Scottish ethnic identity that circulated in mid-twentieth-century American popular culture. The Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), led primarily by white, middle-class women from Alexandria, established the event as a fundraiser to support its growing number of community programs. Businesses and city government joined as co-sponsors, recognizing the Walk’s potential to entice tourists and shoppers to return to the historic business district. The establishment of the Scottish Christmas Walk is one of the many examples of a “usable past,” in which history is re-imagined for the present. Alexandria’s creation and embrace of an “ethnic” tradition served a variety of purposes for local white residents and city boosters. The redevelopment of downtown and fundraising for the YWCA was foremost on the minds of its creators and sponsors; however, in the background, the increasingly tense racial climate of the 1960s and early 1970s could not have been lost among organizers. In the mid-twentieth century, Alexandria’s

Loss, Diaspora, Displacement, and Parentage in Alistair MacLeodʼs No Great Mischief

Alistair MacLeod’s No Great Mischief is a novel about family, history, clan bonds and the preservation of Scottish tradition and history by Scottish immigrants in Cape Breton, Canada. Spanning over two centuries, narrator Alexander MacDonald’s family history maps out the generational effects of the Scottish diaspora on the extended clan, clann Chalum Ruaidh, including loss of land, language, music, and clan members. Clann Calum Ruaidh becomes dispersed within Canada itself, although it is never spiritually divided as kinship bonds are repetitively enforced, and its members remain, as Lily Cho writes of diasporic communities, “connected by a sense of a homeland” (2007, p. 12). Yet while the novel is about familial relationships during a lifetime of cultural preservation in a new country, what ultimately haunts the text is significant loss of parentage. If the diasporic experience means to be “marked by loss”, as Cho suggests (2007, p. 19), then Alexander and the various members of clann Chalum Ruaidh are undoubtedly diasporic subjects. The novel is shaped by familial loss and the characters as products of the Scottish diaspora are challenged to preserve their Scottish traditions, language, lore and sense of the homeland in Canada in and amidst these tragedies. Throughout the text, the diasporic experience is manifested in the deaths of the parents of central characters such as Alexander, Catherine, Calum, the initial children of Calum Ruadh, and Grandfather MacDonald. While parentage is a means with which these characters connect to Scotland and Scottish tradition, the preservation process is hindered by the deaths of parents in clann Chalum Ruaidh. The mother and father figures in the clan function as the closest ties to the Scottish homeland generationally and genealogically, and as they disappear, these ties to homeland and history become obscured, and the children of the clan, displaced.

Emigration of Scottish Steelworkers to Canada: Impacts on Social Networks

AbstractThroughout the 1960s–1980s, many steelworkers emigrated from the regions in and around Glasgow, Scotland, seeking better economic opportunities in other industrial cities, including Hamilton in Ontario, Canada. However, little is known about how this move affected the social networks of the steelworkers and their families at the time of immigration and how their social networks had evolved over time. Fifteen former Scottish steelworkers living in the Hamilton area and the daughter of one deceased steelworker were interviewed for this study. Immigration to Canada had clearly disrupted their social networks, as many experienced the loss of valued relationships with parents, neighbours, and co‐workers left behind in Scotland. These losses led to homesickness for many steelworkers and their wives and had driven some families back to their home country. Despite cultural similarities to the broader population, the steelworkers still experienced social isolation at times that limited their ability to form supportive networks (particularly with co‐workers and neighbours). Over time, a change in lifestyle as a result of immigration increased social advantages in Canada, and involvement in recreational sports contributed to the strengthening of relationships (particularly with their immediate family members and fellow Scottish immigrants) and the formation of new social networks, albeit ones that differed from those they had left behind in Scotland. This study helped to identify circumstances that both challenge and ease the formation of social networks for immigrants and contribute to our understanding of how context influences the evolution of social networks for new arrivals. © 2014 The Authors. Population, Space and Place published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

‘It's a Long Way To the Bottom’: The Insignificance of ‘the Scots’ in Australia

Australian historians have been reluctant to recognize the significance of Scottish immigration and immigrants. And, until relatively recently, Scottish historians were also indifferent, possibly because Canada and New Zealand seemed more Scottish. It is thus worthwhile to ponder the ways in which Australian (and Scottish) historians have approached Scottish migration to and settlement in Australia. Neglected aspects of the Scottish experience in Australia are exposed and overexposed aspects questioned. Some of the former include the twentieth century, radical politics, sport and popular music; the latter include the nineteenth century, God and Mammon. Despite the alleged invisibility of ‘the Scots’ in Australia as a group, Scots have consistently been very visible.

Variation in mortality by country of birth in Northern Ireland: A record linkage study

The study of health differences between those residing in the same country but originating in different countries is a potential source of insight into the causes of ill-health. Within Northern Ireland, those born in England, Wales, the Republic of Ireland and outside of the British Isles have a lower mortality risk than the Northern Ireland born; however, these differentials are largely explained by the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of these migrants. Conversely, the Scottish born residing in Northern Ireland have higher mortality than the Northern Ireland born, especially from ischemic heart disease, suggesting that the Scottish immigrants maintain the health disadvantage of their country of birth.

Scottish Labour, Race, and Southern African Empire c.1880–1922: A Reply to Kenefick

SummaryIn his article in the current edition of International Review of Social History, the Scottish historian, Billy Kenefick, argues against my thesis that the labour force of the United Kingdom and the settler colonies in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries can be understood as having constituted a linked “imperial working class” in which an ideology of racialized white labour protectionism predominated. Kenefick believes that in South Africa British socialists challenged white labourism, and that Scottish immigrants played a very prominent role in this anti-racist project. My reply traces the relationship between Scottish national identity, imperialism, and the labour movement. It then examines the evidence on the racial politics of Scottish trade unionists in South Africa and argues that, with a very few individual exceptions, they did buy into the ideas of white labourism. Finally, the article considers Scottish labour attitudes to race in the home country, and demonstrates that there was strong sympathy for the racial labour politics of the settler colonies.

Evidence for Trans-Atlantic Networking Among Scottish Immigrants in Nineteenth-Century Canada

Evidence for Trans-Atlantic Networking Among Scottish Immigrants in Nineteenth-Century Canada

Shetland Scots as a new dialect: phonetic and phonological considerations

The dialect of Scots spoken in the Shetland Islands has been variously described as a language shift variety, acquired when the islanders abandoned their native Norn for Scots from the sixteenth century onwards, or a continuation of the dialects brought to Shetland by Scottish immigrants in the same period. More recently, Millar (2008) discussed the origins of Shetland Scots in a theory of new-dialect formation (Trudgill 2004), which allows for a combination of earlier explanations. In this article, I give a systematic analysis of the phonetics and phonology of Early Shetland Scots in comparison to Norn and mainland Scots dialects. The Shetland Scots data are largely consistent with theoretical expectations, lending further support to the new-dialect reading of the dialect's diachronic development.

Argentina: What Went Wrong

This book represents the latest scholarly investigation into the Argentinean riddle: why did a seemingly wealthy, advanced nation veer from its path and become mired in perennial political and economic strife? There is no denying that this subject continues to attract attention, as anyone who has sat next to a tourist on a long flight to Buenos Aires can attest. Argentina’s crisis in 2001 – 2002 has only renewed interest among both scholars and a wider public drawn to the spectacle of the republic’s agony. Yet discussions of the Argentinean riddle are often fraught with problems. They tend toward reductive thinking about “national failure”; they compress Argentinean history into an unyielding story of rise and fall; and they are premised on implicit but uncritical comparisons to models of “success” (the United States, Australia, or a counterfactual, ideal Argentina). When proffered by foreign observers (a group to which I belong), answers to the riddle can be smugly confident in their diagnoses and condescending toward an entire people.Colin M. MacLachlan’s Argentina: What Went Wrong avoids many of the pitfalls of this genre. Readers looking for a simple answer to Argentina’s troubles should not linger, for they will not find herein a stock villain such as an “Iberian cultural heritage.” Instead, this one-volume history explores the multiple forces that shaped Argentina from the end of colonial rule to the Néstor Kirchner administration. This is a work of synthesis based on major secondary works in both English and Spanish. It is pitched apparently to a general public; there are few scholarly notes, but the book supplies a chronology, glossary, bibliography, and lively sidebars on topics ranging from Scottish immigrants to soccer. As suggested by its title, the book has two main purposes: to provide a narrative introduction to Argentina’s history and to explain the paradox of “what went wrong.”The majority of the text is devoted to the first goal, and the author provides a historical account more densely detailed and varied in scope than many surveys. While political and economic history receives primary attention, MacLachlan touches on numerous social and cultural topics. For instance, chapters on the nineteenth century examine not only Rosas’s attempts to forge a caudillo order and the rise of the agro-export sector but also the role of women in public charity and urban working-class life. Of the many themes addressed, particularly noteworthy is the author’s treatment of how intellectuals imagined Argentinean nationhood at distinct points in time. MacLachlan takes seriously the views of figures such as Juan Bautista Alberdi, Manuel Gálvez, and Raúl Scalabrini Ortiz on their society’s flaws. On the whole, the book rejects monocausal explanations of Argentina’s development and embraces a multiplicity of historical viewpoints.This commitment to the complexity of Argentinean history is a laudable strength of the work. But it proves a shortcoming in regard to analyzing “what went wrong.” Through most of the book, there is little sense of how the author will weigh in on the riddle or how his answers compare with those of other critics. The conclusion identifies three main factors behind Argentina’s current predicament: the pernicious influence of a fractious, paranoid nationalism during the twentieth century; a misguided sense of Argentina’s limitless natural wealth, coupled with a lack of a coherent project for industrialization, economic diversification, and fiscal restraint; and finally an inability to establish inclusive, stable democratic institutions, thanks in part to the predations of corrupt politicians and the citizenry’s recent proclivity to wallow in “a sense of chronic, perhaps fatal malaise” (p. 199).MacLachlan thus assembles an array of explanations to bring closure to the narrative. These arguments echo the conclusions reached by scholars who have probed the history of nacionalista thought, economic policy making, and mass politics in relation to the Argentinean paradox. Other specialists in the field will no doubt dispute the weight given to these factors, or question the underlying causes of each problem. Yet this book aims, after all, to be an overview of major themes. One hopes that readers introduced to Argentina through its pages will not only think very carefully about the riddle, but also be inspired to ponder the country’s many other historical enigmas.

:Scottish Communities Abroad in the Early Modern Period

Foreword, T. C. Smout, Historiographer Royal in Scotland Acknowledgements List of Contributors Abbreviations Introduction SECTION I. MIGRANT DESTINATIONS, COLONIES AND PLANTATIONS 1. Scottish Migration to Ireland in the Seventeenth Century, Patrick Fitzgerald 2. The Placement of Urbanised Scots in the Polish Crown during the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Waldemar Kowalski 3. Seventeenth-century Scottish Communities in the Americas, David Dobson SECTION II. 'LOCATED' COMMUNITIES 4. Scottish Immigration to Bergen in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Nina Ostby Pedersen 5. Scots along the Maas, c.1570-1750, Douglas Catterall 6. The Scottish Community in Seventeenth-century Gothenburg, Alexia Grosjean & Steve Murdoch 7. The Scottish Community in Kedainiai c.1630-c.1750, Rimantas Zirgulis 8. 'Briteannia ist mein patria': Scotsmen and the 'British' Community in Hamburg, Kathrin Zickermann SECTION III. COMMUNITIES OF MIND AND INTEREST 9. A Haven for Intrigue: the Scottish Exile Community in the Netherlands, 1660-1690, Ginny Gardner 10. Scottish Students in the Netherlands, 1680-1730, Esther Mijers 11. A Comparative Survey of Scottish Service in the English and Dutch Maritime Communities c.1650-1707, Andrew Little Scottish Comunities Abroad: Some Concluding Remarks, Lex Heerma van Voss, Solvi Sogner & Thomas O'Connor Index of Names Index of Places Index of Subjects

Gaelic Music of Cape Breton Island: The Last Fifteen Years

In the liner notes to a recent Smithsonian Folkways recording of Cape Breton fiddle and piano music, folklorist Burt Feintuch describes the scene at a dance held in Mabou, Nova Scotia: It's a hot, muggy July 2003 night in Mabou. I pay my five dollars cover and walk into the Red Shoe Pub ... I step through the door; within moments, my shirt is stuck to my back. Kinnon [Beaton] is playing the fiddle, joined by [daughter] Andrea. Betty's on the electric piano. Feet are pounding the wooden stage and the floor of the pub. Kinnon and Andrea look as if they're possessed. People are shouting, whooping, and even screaming in appreciation. The music is loud. It wails. It's beautiful. (1) The Celtic revival of the mid-1990s exposed new audiences to recordings of singers, instrumentalists, and bands Canada, the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, France, and other nations. The most famous product of this revival was Michael Flatley's 1995 dance show Riverdance (followed by The Lord of the Dance). The popularity of this stage show helped to inspire interest in acts that retained essential rhythms, melodies, and stylistic performance elements inherent in traditional folk music. It also helped to promote the idea of Pan-Celtic music, infused by elements of dance, storytelling, and daily customs. Lesser-known Celtic artists benefited this exposure as well, especially those areas with descendants rich in its heritage, such as Cape Breton Island in eastern Nova Scotia. Cape Breton Island has been especially prolific in the number of master fiddlers and pianists it has produced. Its relative isolation the more cosmopolitan regions of Halifax, Montreal, and Toronto has ensured a more rural lifestyle for its residents, who have historically worked as miners, fishermen, and farmers. In recent times many artists steeped in the region's Celtic-Canadian heritage have become international stars in the folk and country music industries, including fiddlers Natalie MacMaster (1973-) and Ashley MacIsaac (1975-), vocalist Mary Jane Lamond (1960-), and ensembles the Cottars and the Rankins. Many of its veteran artists, such as Angus Chisholm (1908-1979), Winston Fitzgerald (1914-1987), Jerry Holland (1955-), Hugh Allan Buddy MacMaster (1924-), William Bill H. Lamey (1914-), and Brenda Stubbert (1959-) have been celebrated in releases of field and historic recordings. Much less known outside of Cape Breton are recordings of the younger generation of native artists who increasingly record and promote their music locally (and, via the Internet, globally). This essay will touch upon all of these artists and their recordings and place them within a social, geographical, and musical context. THE MUSICAL ISLAND: GEOGRAPHY AND CULTURE Singer Mary Jane Lamond titled her first album Bho Thir Nan Craobh, which translates Gaelic as from the land of the trees. In her introduction she wrote that her ancestors were surprised by the lush green forests of this new world, especially after coming the almost treeless Hebridean islands. (2) The name of the island probably derives Cap Breton, an area near Bayonne, France. (3) In Scottish Gaelic, its name is Eilean Cheap Breatuinn. It was settled originally by the French, whose Acadian musical heritage continues in villages such as Cheticamp on the northwest side of the island. After the forced migration of Acadians southward, Cape Breton was settled by English loyalists and a wave of Scottish immigrants who worked in coal mines, fisheries, and steel and paper mills. Both the music and the Gaelic language of the Celts were and continue to be a part of everyday life. Today tourism is one of Cape Breton's largest industries, and musical performance and recordings play a major role in attracting Canadian and international visitors. There was a time in the 1970s when the future of this traditional music looked bleak. …