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This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: • This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. • A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. • This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. • The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. • When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Protestants and Prawns Enchantment and 'The Word' in a Scottish Fishing Village Joseph Webster PhD in Social Anthropology University of Edinburgh 2011 Declaration Date: 24 th August 2011 I declare that this thesis is my own work and has not been submitted for any other degree or qualification. Small parts of the ‘conceptual themes and questions’, ‘literature review’ and ‘recent social themes concerning religion in Scotland’ sections have been adapted and updated from my MScR thesis but have been clearly referenced as such in the main text as well as appearing in the bibliography. 2 For Mary – a sister in the LORD 3 Abstract This thesis attempts to understand what it is like to live and work as a ‘sincere’ and ‘committed’ Christian in Gamrie, a small fishing village of 700 people and six conservative Protestant churches, whose staunch religiosity is itself on the cusp of dramatic economic, social and spiritual change. More than this, it is an attempt to show how the everyday religious experiences of Christians in Gamrie are animated by – but not reducible to – their social context. It seeks to do so by considering how local folk theologies relate to larger social processes occurring within Scotland and the north Atlantic. Arguing that these realms are necessarily (and simultaneously) ideational and material, my theoretical focus is upon the relationship between belief and experience – a relationship mediated, first and foremost, in and through the significance of ‘The Word’. Where beliefs have objects and where objects ‘have’ materiality , beliefs are held to be essentially material. Equally, where material happenings in the world are framed by theological (say, eschatological) ideas , objects and events are held to be unavoidably implicated in belief. Thus, my aim is to present an analytic of the relationship between the lived local experiences of belief and objects, materiality and language. 4 Contents Figures 6 Abbreviations 9 A Note on the Text 10 Acknowledgements 11 Introduction Gamrie, Words, Signs 13 Part I: Gamrie 53 Chapter I Situating Gamrie 54 Chapter II The Triple Pinch 81 Part II: Words 104 Chapter III Preaching 105 Chapter IV Testimony 134 Chapter V Fishing 160 Part III: Signs 200 Chapter VI Providence and Attack 201 Chapter VII Eschatology 227 Conclusion Enchanted Words, Enchanted Objects 264 Bibliography 289 5 Figures Introduction Fig. 1: Creel sheds 17 Fig. 2: Seatown 18 Fig. 3: Farmland east 19 Fig. 4: Transporting bales 20 Chapter I Fig. 5: Gamrie from the sea 55 Fig. 6: View up to Gamrie Kirk 67 Fig. 7: Church splits and mergers diagram 69 Fig. 8: High Street (Closed Brethren) Hall 70 Fig. 9: Gamrie (Open Brethren) Gospel Hall 71 Fig. 10: Gamrie (Open Brethren) Gospel Hall, interior 71 Fig. 11: Boddam Evangelical Church, Peterhead 72 Fig. 12: Macduff (Closed Brethren) Hall 72 Fig. 13: Summary of church practice table 73 Fig. 14: Map of local area 75 Fig. 15: A traditional ‘blackening’ 76 Fig. 16: The groom-to-be 77 Fig. 17: The Creative Retreat 78 Fig. 18: The Evolution 78 Fig. 19: Cetacean Research Unit 79 Chapter II Fig. 20: Mending Nets 82 Fig. 21: The Genesis 90 6 Fig. 22: The Chris Andra 90 Chapter IV Fig. 23: Herring Gutters, (1930s) 151 Fig. 24: Herring filleting display, (2009) 151 Chapter V Fig. 25: The Flourish 162 Fig. 26: Leaving Fraserburgh harbour 163 Fig. 27: Zander in the wheelhouse 164 Fig. 28: Hauling the gear 166 Fig. 29: Shooting the gear 167 Fig. 30: Working at the tray 168 Fig. 31: Joking at the tray 169 Fig. 32: Hauling the gear 170 Fig. 33: Releasing the catch 171 Fig. 34: Working at the tray 171 Fig. 35: Washing the catch 172 Fig. 36: Sending the catch into the hold 172 Fig. 37: Packing the catch 173 Fig. 38: The mess 173 Fig. 39: Unloading the catch onto the pier 176 Fig. 40: Mending the nets 176 Fig. 41: The Celestial Dawn 185 Fig. 42: Hauling the gear 189 Fig. 43: A huge haul of prawns 189 Fig. 44: At the tray 190 Fig. 45: Fixing a chain 191 7 Chapter VII Fig. 46: Star Trek ‘Tricorder’ 235 Fig. 47: Flip-phone mobile 235 Fig. 48: Star Trek ‘Transporter’ 236 Fig. 49: The Rapture 236 Fig. 50: Fraserburgh Fish Market 254 Fig. 51: Fish auction 254 Fig. 52: Marking a sale 255 Fig. 53: EU log sheets drop box 257 Fig. 54: Labelled box of fish 258 Fig. 55: Withdrawn fish 258 Fig. 56: Trobriand canoe-prow 261 8 Abbreviations AoG Assemblies of God CB Closed Brethren CofS Church of Scotland EB Exclusive Brethren FPCU Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster LDS Latter Day Saints OB Open Brethren 9 A Note on the Text This thesis contains a considerable amount of ethnography. In order to help the reader distinguish ethnography from theory, I have formatted the ethnography slightly differently from the rest of the text. Ethnographic descriptions appear in a smaller-than- normal font size and are single indented. Direct ethnographic quotes and interview transcripts are in this same smaller size, but are double indented, and, on occasion, are supplemented with in-text descriptions of the emotional state of the speaker. These descriptions appear in bold and in square brackets, appearing after the relevant quotation. Finally, where one distinct passage of ethnography is directly followed by another, they are separated by a triple asterisk. It will also be noticed that I have made liberal use of single quotation marks throughout the thesis. These have been used in two different but related ways. First, they have been used to mark out local Christian terminology as distinct from the technical language of anthropology. Thus, words such as ‘witness’ and ‘testimony’ normally appear in single quotations, as do phrases such as ‘born-again’ and ‘the last of the last days’. Crucially, such punctuation is not meant to mock – what Cordas refers to as a ‘tongue-in-textual- cheek’ (1994: xii) – but is instead used to create some sense of analytical differentiation (as opposed to privilege) between local folk theology and my own argumentation. Thus, words common to anthropology, such as sacrifice and enchantment, are not framed by single quotations. Second, single quotations are also used when directly quoting informants within a paragraph, or when indirectly reproducing local sentiments (‘you’re never too old for the gospel!’, ‘feasting upon the Word’ and so on) that emerge from a commonly held Christian lexicon. Double quotations are only ever used, then, when presenting quotes within quotes. 10 Acknowledgments At every stage of planning, fieldwork and writing up, this thesis would not have been possible without the help of many different people. I am greatly indebted to the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh for generously funding my research. Without this Studentship this project could never have been realised. I am also hugely indebted to Dr Dimitri Tsintjilonis and Dr Michael Rosie for their supervision and for Dr Rosie for first asking ‘have you ever been to Gardenstown?’ Thanks also go to Sandy and all those at the anthropology ‘writing up’ group who provided so much valuable feedback on various drafts. I also need to thank John, my father, for his constant encouragement, support, critical feedback and patient commentary upon each and every draft I produced. Thanks also go to my mother, Jane, for her encouragement, support and exacting standards of proofreading and to Catherine for her superb proofreading. Special thanks also go to Judith for her endless sense of fun, when I was, too often, no fun at all. Most obviously, however, thanks are due to all those in Gamrie who extended to me so much kindness and hospitality over my fifteen month stay in their village. Particular thanks go to the Christian leaders in Gamrie without whose help this project would never have progressed beyond the vaguest of notions: Rev Donald Martin, Rev Noel Hughes, George Booth, Billy Jack, Sandy Hepburn and George Watt were all essential in helping me throughout the research process. Special thanks also go to Kathleen, my landlady, who took me in at short notice and treated me with exceptional Christian kindness. Thanks also to the many people across all six churches who took me into their homes and extended to me such warm hospitality over dozens of meals and hundreds of cups of tea. It was at these times that many people shared with me their Christian experiences and it was from their willingness to do so that the real substance of this ethnography has emerged. George Caruthers, Jim and Moira, Alec and Margaret, George and Marlan, David and Maureen and many, many others were especially kind to me in this respect. 11 Looking beyond the limits of the village, Murray and all those at the Fishermen’s Mission were very good to me during my time in Fraserburgh.