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The Celtic Harp Revival: Ethnicity and Marginality in Scottish Culture University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 8-1999 The Celtic Harp Revival: Ethnicity and Marginality in Scottish Culture Stevan Reagan Jackson University of Tennessee, Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Jackson, Stevan Reagan, "The Celtic Harp Revival: Ethnicity and Marginality in Scottish Culture. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 1999. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/4014 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Stevan Reagan Jackson entitled "The Celtic Harp Revival: Ethnicity and Marginality in Scottish Culture." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Anthropology. Benita J. Howell, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Faye Harrison, Michael C. Lofaro, Leslie C. Gay,J. Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Stevan Reagan Jackson entitled "The Celtic Harp Revival: Ethnicityand Marginalityin Scottish Culture." I have examined the finalcopy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend thatit be accepted in partialfulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Anthropology. &.�:� Al-rw,,<d- Dr. Benita L ell, Major Professor We have read this dissertation Accepted for the Council: Associate Vice Chancellor and Dean of The Graduate School THE CELTIC HARP REVIVAL: ETHNICITY AND MARGINALITY INSCOTTISH CULTURE A Dissertation Presentedfor the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The Universityof Tennessee, Knoxville StevanReagan Jackson August 1999 Copyright © StevanReagan Jackson, 1999 All rights reserved 11 DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to my wife, Robin H. Jackson, without whom I could not have completed this project nor would it have had the meaning that it does. 'S e an gaoth fomo sgeithan a tha annadsa. 111 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are many people to whom I amgrateful formaking my time at the University of Tennessee so rewarding. I am particularlygrateful to my Doctoral Dissertation Committee, Dr. Benita J. Howell, Dr. Faye Harrison, Dr. Michael Lofaro, Dr. Stephen Young, and Dr. Leslie Gay, fortheir support and encouragement. They all read a number of revisions of the dissertation and the merit of this workis due in no small partto their suggestions. I would like to thank the McClure Fund forInternational Research for a most generous grantthat helped finance the main fieldtrip forcollection of the information needed for the conclusion of this research project. Lastly, the greatest debt is owed to my wife, Robin. Without her help and encouragementI would never have reachedfor this moment. A huge debtas well goes out to my children, Katie andMadison, whose understanding while I was at the computer all those many hours is most appreciated. IV Abstract The focus of this research is the Celtic harp revival in the British Isles andhow that revival relates to the political sentiments of its participants. Devolution andthe possibility of outright independence from GreatBritain are on the minds of contemporary Scottish citizens. In the context of music, s historical association with Scottishpolitical protest and the centrality of the harp to imageryof the Celtic past, this studyexamines the political sentiments of contemporary Scottish harpers. The study employs the concepts of internal colonialism, cultural hegemony, andtransnationalism to explore the intersection of Celtic invented traditions, in particular, the world-wide Celtic music revival, with Scottish ethnicity, identity, and nationalism. Harpers appear to be a distinct subculture of Scottish musicians. They are primarily female and are older thanmost of the other musicians in the Scottishfolk scene. Usually, they are performing on the harp as eithera hobby or as a second income in the family. The Scottish harpers also tend to have a higher socioeconomicstatus andtend to express more conservative political views than an opportunistic sample of the general Scottish population. They are cultural nationalists not political nationalists. Alison Kinnaird, widely considered to be the primeforce behind the current revival of the Celtic harp, draws clear distinctions between the Scottish and Irish instruments and styles of playing. She disavows the romanticized notions of Celtic music andidentity that she associates with musiciansand others who claim membership in the transnational diaspora of Scots, or particularly, modern day Celts. V TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION 1 Goals of the Research 6 ParticipantObservation 8 Fieldwork Sites and Sampling 9 Definitions of Key Concepts 14 The Survey 21 Interviews 23 II. SCOTLAND'S HISTORY OF CONQUEST AND RESISTANCE 25 InternalColonialism 30 Cultural Hegemony 32 The Celts and Invented Tradition 3 5 Pan-CelticRomanticism 46 Cultural Resistance and Revival 49 Cultural and Political Nationalism 53 III. CONTEMPORARYSCOTTISH POLITICS ANDIDENTITY 57 Political Parties 60 Liberal Party 60 Unionist Party 61 ConservativeParty 61 Scottish National Party 62 Labour Party 71 Recent Elections 73 Transnationalism and ScottishIdentity Construction 74 IV. LORE, HISTORYAND MEANING OF THECELTIC HARP 79 Mystique of the Celtic Harp 80 The Harp as a Celtic Ethnic Marker 85 Celtic Music 89 Harpers as Celtic Revivalists 93 V. ATTITUDES ABOUT ETHNICITY, CELTIC CULTURE AND SCOTTISH NATIONALISM - The Survey and Interview Results 100 Survey of Scottish Political andCultural Attitudes 102 Sub-Group Comparisons 111 Player vs. Non-player PoliticalAttitudes 113 Player vs. Non-player Cultural Attitudes 114 VI Player vs. Non-player Attitudes about Cultural Politics 115 Male vs. Female Political Attitudes 116 Malevs. Female Attitudes about Culture and Cultural Politics 118 GenerationalDifferences in Attitudes 118 Educational Level and Attitudes 120 Discussion of Survey Results 121 Discussion of Interviewsin Relation to Survey Findings 121 VI. AN ETHNOGRAPHIC SKETCH OF ALISON KINNAIRD: The Music and Politics of a Scottish Harper 131 VII. SUMMARYAND CONCLUSIONS 159 REFERENCES CITED 171 APPENDIXA The Celtic Harp Revival: Survey Questionnaire 177 APPENDIXB Open-ended Questions Used in the Interviews 180 APPENDIXC Consent Form 181 APPENDIXD Selected Discographyof Celtic HarpRecordings 182 VITA 186 w LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 5-1 Survey Responses: Political Attitudes 106 5-2 Survey Responses: Cultural Attitudes 109 5-3 Survey Responses: Attitudes about Cultural Politics 111 5-4 Demographics Characteristicsof Survey Respondents 113 5-5 Significant Differencesbetween Players' and Non-Players' Survey Responses - Political Attitudes 114 5-6 SignificantDifferences between Players' and Non-Players' Survey Responses - Cultural Attitudes 115 5-7 Significant Differencesbetween Players' and Non-Players' Survey Responses - Attitudes aboutCultural Politics 116 5-8 Significant Differencesbetween Males' and Females' Survey Responses 117 5-9 SignificantDifferences between AgeGroups' Survey Responses 119 5-10 Significant Differencesin Survey Responses between EducationalLevels 120 Vlll CHAPTERI INTRODUCTION There is no question that the world is currently experiencing a revival of interest in Celtic culture. A part of this revival is the increased interest in the music of the Celtic (Scottish-Irish-Folk) harp, which many revivalists consider to be an integralpart of Celtic culturalhistory. Throughexamining this small portion of Celtic culture, I hoped to gain some insightinto the relationship between nationalism and folk revivals in general. Throughout British and American history, there are numerous examples of artists becoming involved in politicalcauses, attempting to influenceevents throughthe medium of their art. The perception, atleast in America, is that artists of all forms often become involved in political, social, and environmentalcauses. GeorgeM. Cohan wrote "You're A Grand Old Flag" for the 1942 musicalfilm ''Yankee Doodle Dandy''to inspire patriotism to help get America througha great crisis. During the McCarthyera of the 1950s, there was a blacklisting of artists fromall media who were thought to be too politically left. Merle Haggard sang about ''Okie from Muskogee"during another period of American history in which it wasfelt by many that our patriotism neededto be kicked up a notch.· Rockers like Bruce Springsteen extol the virtues of being ''Bornin the USA" John Denver inspiredmany environmental movements with such songs as ''RockyMountain High." All these are examples of the many hundreds of artists who have used their stage.as a forumfor politicaland socialchange. l Britain,through her old ballads and stories, heard the fates and foiblesof her kings and queens and how the people felt about them. The pennybroadsides brought the news of the day, including
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