Crofting

Abstract: Since the 1960s, policies to 'revive' minority cultures and languages have flourished. But what does it mean to have a 'cultural identity'? And are minorities as deeply attached to their languages and traditions as revival policies suppose? This book is a sophisticated analysis of responses to the 'Gaelic renaissance' in a Scottish Hebridean community. Its description of everyday conceptions of belonging and interpretations of cultural policy takes us into the world of Gaelic playgroups, crofting, local history, religion and community development. Historically and theoretically informed, this book challenges many of the ways in which we conventionally think about ethnic and national identity. This accessible and engaging account of life in this remote region of Europe provides an original and timely contribution to questions of considerable currency in a broad range of social science disciplines.

Abstract: Taxonomic practices, such as classification and categorisation, are an essential part of everyday life and of the work of academics. After introducing these practices and pointing out the selectivity that always goes with them, the paper explores the well-known population geography phenomenon of counterurbanisation. It is claimed that taxonomic practices have worked hard in the construction of a ‘counterurbanisation story’, a relatively clear-cut or purified account of population change in rural areas. Residualised within this talk is a range of ‘marginal settlers’. These include ‘new crofters’ in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and ‘new settlers’ from Southwest England, both of which are introduced here. Although these groups could be integrated within more conventional forms of counterurbanisation, and thus stirred into the counterurbanisation story, this strategy is not advocated here. Instead, through adopting a more dialectical perspective on counterurbanisation overall, marginal settlers can be seen to be examples of both ‘counterurbanisation’ and of a critical alternative to it. This more open perspective is important as it allows greater recognition of the dynamic, practical and social nature of taxonomic practices in general and, more specifically, facilitates an appreciation of a politically radical perspective on rural change. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Abstract: Clanship Jacobitism and the '45 the transformation of Gaeldom the final phase of clearance revolution in landownership the making of Highlandism, 1746-1822 the social impact of Protestant evangelicalism the language of the Gael peasant enterprise - illicit whisky-making, 1760-1840 the migrant tradition the great hunger a century of emigration after the famine patterns of popular resistance and the Crofters' War, 1790-1886 the intervention of the state diaspora - Highland migrants in the Scottish city