DOCSLIB.ORG

Christopher Harvie on Reportage Scotland: History in the Making

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Christopher Harvie on Reportage Scotland: History in the Making Louise Yeoman, National Library of Scotland.. Reportage Scotland: History in the Making. Edinburgh: Luath Press, 2000. xv + 489 pp. $19.95, paper, ISBN 978-0-946487-61-5. Reviewed by Christopher Harvie Published on H-Albion (November, 2001) As someone who has been struggling to write his introduction, the effect is like having shots of a compact history of Scotland for sixth-formers, good malt whisky, from the enlightening to the students and the more enlightened sort of tourist, plain addictive. And Yeoman is the most helpful of Reportage Scotland comes as pure joy. I briefly editors, not interfering with the originals but pro‐ mulled over providing cross-references in my bib‐ viding interlined translations of medieval Scots liography--"particularly useful for the events dealt and separate translations of Gaelic. with on pages 56, 73, 99^Å," and so on. It wouldn't I rather wished she had provided the original really work. Documents have to be included in Latin in some cases: in my own book I used part any history--the Declaration of Arbroath, First of the Epithalamium George Buchanan wrote for Book of Discipline, National Covenant, etc.--which the betrothal of Mary Queen of Scots to the are "static," not covered by reporters, but whose French Dauphin and was enchanted by the pure meaning has to be teased out by historians. Louise classicism of Buchanan's style as well as his un‐ Yeoman's definition is "news being made," with compromising republicanism. Christopher that old News of the World boast lurking some‐ Smout's dismissal of him as some sort of cultural where in the background: "All Human Life is throwback in A History of the Scottish People There!" (1969) is a serious faw in that otherwise remark‐ That said, the book is a great value: for GBP able book. 10 you get nearly 500 pages of accounts, from Tac‐ One can quibble about Yeoman's policy on in‐ itus on Calgacus facing Agricola's troops at Mons clusions: the Reformation, the Civil War and the Graupius in 84 AD--"They create a desolation, and Forty-Five do well; the Union of 1707 (despite the call it peace"--to the Guardian's Matthew Engel centrality of superscribe Defoe), industrialization, (an inspired choice: he really can write like one) and Victorian politics (no Gladstone, Rosebery, or on the opening of the Edinburgh parliament on 1 Crofter MPs) are somewhat thinly covered. The July 1999. As Professor David Stevenson says in rather bald account of the Disruption of 1843--the H-Net Reviews split in the Kirk which was the greatest event in cause it was never news. It reads splendidly--"For nineteenth-century Scots politics--comes from the we fght not for honour nor for glory but for free‐ Whig Henry Cockburn, who stuck with the Auld dom, which no good man gives up but with his Kirk, not from the Free Kirk's Hugh Miller, al‐ life." But its addressee, the Pope, forgot about it, though Yeoman recognises him as "the greatest and it vanished for 300 years, eventually being journalist of the age." No Burns either, though dug out by Stewart political theorists, of all peo‐ "The Holy Fair"--the Bard's sly piece on an Ayr‐ ple. It's important to differentiate between "news shire mass communion which, for the young folk, stories" and "sleepers," and it's the art of gifted re‐ ended up rather differently in "houghmagandie" porters, a bunch not all that well-served by Yeo‐ (or copulation)--serves to rank along with William mans, but including James Margach, James Dunbar's splenetic attack around 1500 on the Cameron, and Andrew Marr or Andrew O'Hagan charlatan Father Damian, who claimed to be able in our own day, to bring the latter sort out. Per‐ to fly. haps a future edition could include this. The rendering of Dunbar presents another Finally, the book is perfect-bound. By not be‐ problem that I've been confronted with. Is it bet‐ ing stitched, it will consequently fall to bits pretty ter to give the original Scots, and beside it a bald soon, after the hard wear that it's bound to get. non-rhyming translation, as Yeoman does, or to modernize as sensitively as one can Dunbar's vo‐ cabulary, in order to keep the power and meaning of his verse? My "modernized" version of a stanza runs: Some held he had been Daedalus, Some the Minotaur marvellous, Some Mars's blacksmith Vulcanus And some old Saturn's cook. And ever the peewits at him tuggit, The rooks him rent, the ravens him druggit, The hoodie craws his hair forth ruggit, That heaven might not him brook. This doesn't depart much from the original (like Nevil Coghill's Chaucer) but seems more memorable than Yeoman's Some thought he was Daedalus, some the marvellous Minotaur, some the God of War's blacksmith Vulcanus, and some thought him Sat‐ urn's cook ^Å Yeoman's notes on the extracts are brief, giv‐ ing only the baldest of contextualizations. This is prudent. Reportage Scotland will certainly be used as a teaching resource, and one should never give away in advance the questions to be asked of students. But a brief study is also needed of the generation, transmission, and acceptance of news in Scotland, over time. The Declaration of Ar‐ broath (1320) doesn't fgure here, quite rightly, be‐ 2 H-Net Reviews If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at https://networks.h-net.org/h-albion Citation: Christopher Harvie. Review of Yeoman, Louise; National Library of Scotland. Reportage Scotland: History in the Making. H-Albion, H-Net Reviews. November, 2001. URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=5642 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 3.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Scottish Nationalism
    James Madison University JMU Scholarly Commons Masters Theses The Graduate School Summer 2012 Scottish nationalism: The symbols of Scottish distinctiveness and the 700 Year continuum of the Scots' desire for self determination Brian Duncan James Madison University Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/master201019 Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Duncan, Brian, "Scottish nationalism: The symbols of Scottish distinctiveness and the 700 Year continuum of the Scots' desire for self determination" (2012). Masters Theses. 192. https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/master201019/192 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the The Graduate School at JMU Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of JMU Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Scottish Nationalism: The Symbols of Scottish Distinctiveness and the 700 Year Continuum of the Scots’ Desire for Self Determination Brian Duncan A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts History August 2012 Table of Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………….…….iii Chapter 1, Introduction……………………………………………………………………1 Chapter 2, Theoretical Discussion of Nationalism………………………………………11 Chapter 3, Early Examples of Scottish Nationalism……………………………………..22 Chapter 4, Post-Medieval Examples of Scottish Nationalism…………………………...44 Chapter 5, Scottish Nationalism Masked Under Economic Prosperity and British Nationalism…...………………………………………………….………….…………...68 Chapter 6, Conclusion……………………………………………………………………81 ii Abstract With the modern events concerning nationalism in Scotland, it is worth asking how Scottish nationalism was formed. Many proponents of the leading Modernist theory of nationalism would suggest that nationalism could not have existed before the late eighteenth century, or without the rise of modern phenomena like industrialization and globalization.
    [Show full text]
  • Nicholas Brooke Phd Thesis
    THE DOGS THAT DIDN'T BARK: POLITICAL VIOLENCE AND NATIONALISM IN SCOTLAND, WALES AND ENGLAND Nicholas Brooke A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 2016 Full metadata for this item is available in Research@StAndrews:FullText at: http://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/ Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10023/8079 This item is protected by original copyright The Dogs That Didn't Bark: Political Violence and Nationalism in Scotland, Wales and England Nicholas Brooke This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of PhD at the University of St Andrews 30th June 2015 1 Abstract The literature on terrorism and political violence covers in depth the reasons why some national minorities, such as the Irish, Basques and Tamils, have adopted violent methods as a means of achieving their political goals, but the study of why similar groups (such as the Scots and Welsh) remained non-violent, has been largely neglected. In isolation it is difficult to adequately assess the key variables behind why something did not happen, but when compared to a similar violent case, this form of academic exercise can be greatly beneficial. This thesis demonstrates what we can learn from studying ‘negative cases’ - nationalist movements that abstain from political violence - particularly with regards to how the state should respond to minimise the likelihood of violent activity, as well as the interplay of societal factors in the initiation of violent revolt. This is achieved by considering the cases of Wales, England and Scotland, the latter of which recently underwent a referendum on independence from the United Kingdom (accomplished without the use of political violence) and comparing them with the national movement in Ireland, looking at both violent and non-violent manifestations of nationalism in both territories.
    [Show full text]
  • Narrative, Agency, and Mood: on the Social Construction of National History in Scotland
    Edinburgh Research Explorer ‘Narrative, Agency and Mood: On the Social Construction of National History in Scotland’ Citation for published version: Hearn, J 2002, '‘Narrative, Agency and Mood: On the Social Construction of National History in Scotland’', Comparative Studies in Society and History , vol. 44(4), pp. 745-769. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0010417502000348 Digital Object Identifier (DOI): http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0010417502000348 Link: Link to publication record in Edinburgh Research Explorer Document Version: Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Published In: Comparative Studies in Society and History Publisher Rights Statement: ©Hearn, J. (2002). ‘Narrative, Agency and Mood: On the Social Construction of National History in Scotland’. Comparative Studies in Society and History , 44(4), 745-769doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0010417502000348 General rights Copyright for the publications made accessible via the Edinburgh Research Explorer is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policy The University of Edinburgh has made every reasonable effort to ensure that Edinburgh Research Explorer content complies with UK legislation. If you believe that the public display of this file breaches copyright please contact [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 24. Sep. 2021 Narrative, Agency, and Mood: On the Social Construction of National History in Scotland JONATHAN HEARN School of Social and Political Studies, University of Edinburgh introduction It is a commonplace in the study of nationalism that the construction of national identity inevitably relies on the creation and use of narratives—part history, part myth—that imbue nations and nationalist projects with coherence and pur- pose.
    [Show full text]
  • The 'Radical Current': Nationalism and the Radical Left In
    H-Nationalism The Left and Nationalism Monthly Series: “The ‘Radical Current’: Nationalism and the Radical Left in Scotland, 1967-1979” by Rory Scothorne Discussion published by Emmanuel Dalle Mulle on Friday, May 25, 2018 H-Nationalism is proud to publish here the seventh post of its “The Left and Nationalism Monthly Series”, which looks at the relationship between nationalism and left-wing movements and thinking in a multi-disciplinary perspective. Today’s contribution, by Rory Scothorne (University of Edinburgh), inquires into the relationship between the radical Left and the rise of Scottish nationalism between the end of the 1960s and the late 1970s. In 1998, summarising decades of campaigns for the Scottish Parliament which had been endorsed in a referendum a year earlier, Lindsay Paterson wrote that ‘at its most rational, the debate has been about good and effective government, how best to manage the affairs of Scotland and, more widely, the UK or Europe.’[1] He noted that devolution ‘would have got nowhere’ had it simply been about good government: ‘the emotional fuel on all sides has come from some version of politicised national identity.’[2] This ‘emotional fuel,’ he suggested, came largely from a ‘radical current’ on the left which ‘gained its sustenance, not from the Labour movement, but from a wholesale shift towards nationalism in Scottish intellectual culture.’[3] This association of the left – or, more specifically, some formulation of theradical left – with the ‘emotive’ or ‘utopian’ aspects of the campaigns for some measure of Scottish self-government is a common, if consistently underexplored, theme in scholarship and broader commentary on devolution and Scottish nationalism.[4] Amongst the various ways in which radical and Scottish identities are yoked together, the most common is to present their relationship as a powerful national myth.[5] It is important, however, to distinguish between myth and narrative.
    [Show full text]
  • THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH Shaping the Way Forward Invitation
    THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH Department of British & Irish Studies Academy of Government 27th Freudenstadt Symposium on European Regionalism: Shaping the Way Forward 07-09 July 2017 | Hotel Teuchelwald | Freudenstadt | Black Forest | Germany Invitation We would like to invite you to take part in the 27th Freudenstadt Symposium. Whilst elections in France, Austria and Holland brought relief, the nationalist drift in Poland, Hungary and others causes concern. Will this lead to a European divide? However the 27 governments remaining formed a joint stand on the Brexit negotiations. Nevertheless this unity is unlikely in determining and shaping the way forward for Europe. What options and paths lie ahead? A hard Brexit seems unavoidable, but what does this lead to in the UK and Ireland? What is ‘in it’ for the four nations of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England – the ‘promised land’ or economic collapse? Will the devolved nations put a stress on the UK threatening to break it apart? Where does the European Boat drift? – what is on in Europe? Increasing nationalist tendencies and ‚alternative facts‘ on the one hand and voting to embrace the European idea on the other? Renewing Europe – what visions, scenarios and routes should be taken to bring (which?) Europe on course? What‘s in for us? – the British Islands on their way to a creative or a catastrophic destruction? We are expecting speakers and participants - politicians, diplomats, academics & students, writers & journalists, businesspeople, activists and individuals - from across Europe for a weekend of presentations, informal discussions, good food, and walks in the Black Forest – hallmarks of Freudenstadt for the past twenty-odd years.
    [Show full text]
  • Researchonline@GCU University Glasgow Caledonian University
    Glasgow Caledonian ResearchOnline@GCU University Glasgow Caledonian University Edinburgh trams: a case study of a complex project Lowe, John Published in: Proceedings of the 26th Annual ARCOM Conference 2010 Publication date: 2010 Link to publication in ResearchOnline@GCU Citation for published version (APA): Lowe, J. (2010). Edinburgh trams: a case study of a complex project. In Proceedings of the 26th Annual ARCOM Conference 2010. ARCOM. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the ResearchOnline@GCU portal Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us at: [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 09. May. 2016 CECO2084821 0001 EDINBURGH TRAMS: A CASE STUDY OF A COMPLEX PROJECT John G Lowe' Department ofConstruction Management and Economics, Glasgow Caledonian University, Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow, G3 6BU, UK The Edinburgh Tram project has proved to be politically contentious, complex, and problematical since preparatory work on services diversion commenced in 2007. The proposed network has been reduced to a single 18.5 km line linking Newhaven to Edinburgh Airport via Leith, Princes Street, Haymarket, Edinburgh Park and the Gyle.
    [Show full text]
  • Course Document
    SCHOOL OF DIVINITY, HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY ACADEMIC SESSION 2018-2019 HI306T PEOPLE POWER: NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN POST-WAR SCOTLAND 30 CREDITS: 11 WEEKS PLEASE NOTE CAREFULLY: The full set of school regulations and procedures is contained in the Undergraduate Student Handbook which is available online at your MyAberdeen Organisation page. Students are expected to familiarise themselves not only with the contents of this leaflet but also with the contents of the Handbook. Therefore, ignorance of the contents of the Handbook will not excuse the breach of any School regulation or procedure. You must familiarise yourself with this important information at the earliest opportunity. COURSE CO-ORDINATOR Dr Alex Campsie Crombie Annexe 108 Email: [email protected] Tel: 01224-272460 Office Hours: Wednesdays 10am-12pm Discipline Administration: Mrs Barbara McGillivray/Mrs Gillian Brown 50-52 College Bounds 2019 Room CBLG01 - 01224 272199/272454 2018 | [email protected] - Course Document 1 TIMETABLE For time and place of classes, please see MyAberdeen Students can view their university timetable at http://www.abdn.ac.uk/infohub/study/timetables-550.php COURSE DESCRIPTION The last few years have catapulted mass politics to the fore of public consciousness. The Labour Party has seemingly reinvigorated itself by returning to its roots as a ‘social movement’; during the EU referendum Leave activists utilized – to varying degrees of legality – social media to engage large- scale networks of voters; and in Scotland the Yes campaign prided itself on harnessing people power in a way that other mainstream UK parties could not. But this is nothing new.
    [Show full text]
  • Defining Scottish Nationalism After Devolution. Disclosure Interviews Cairns Craig
    disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory Volume 8 peregriNations Article 7 4-15-1999 (Re)-Defining Scottish Nationalism after Devolution. disClosure interviews Cairns Craig Lisa Stein University of Kentucky Amy Wright University of Kentucky DOI: https://doi.org/10.13023/DISCLOSURE.08.07 Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/disclosure Part of the English Language and Literature Commons This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License. Recommended Citation Stein, Lisa and Wright, Amy (1999) "(Re)-Defining Scottish Nationalism after Devolution. disClosure interviews Cairns Craig," disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory: Vol. 8 , Article 7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.13023/DISCLOSURE.08.07 Available at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/disclosure/vol8/iss1/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory. Questions about the journal can be sent to [email protected] sugar snow Lisa Stein and Amy Wright beneath thick slabs of ice give way to the occasional science of the avalanche (Re)-Defining as unpredictable as they are imprecise Scottish the firebreather speaks a new language of heat and kerosene Nationalism members of that profession after Devolution are highly susceptible to consumption and chronic bronchial inflammation disClosure interviews Cairns Craig The loss of the Miranda was still fresh on everyone's mind. The main object of the expedition was to study Greenland's glacier system, the inland ice cap and ice­ (4 April 1998) bergs; and to map the hitherto unknown portions of Melville Bay. Sketch the hu­ Carins Craig is the Chair of the man, animal, and vegetable.
    [Show full text]
  • Spice Briefing Election 2011
    The Scottish Parliament and Scottish Parliament Infor mation C entre l ogos. SPICe Briefing Election 2011 10 May 2011 11/29 Stephen Herbert, Ross Burnside, Murray Earle, Greig Liddell and Iain McIver This paper provides an analysis of the 2011 Scottish Parliament election. In particular, it considers the Scottish Parliament electoral system, the election campaign, electoral behaviour, the impact of the result upon the political parties, and the new composition of the Parliament. The briefing also contains perspectives on the election from a range of external commentators. The views expressed by these authors are their own and do not represent the views of SPICe or of the Scottish Parliament. The external commentators are: Angus MacLeod, Scottish Political Editor, The Times Charlie Jeffrey, Professor of Politics and Director of the Academy of Government at the University of Edinburgh John Curtice, Professor of Politics, University of Strathclyde Paul Cairney, Senior Lecturer in Politics, University of Aberdeen Peter Lynch, Senior Lecturer in Politics, University of Stirling The electoral data set out in this paper are provisional, based primarily upon the returns from Returning Officers, available at the time of publication. The authors wish to express their thanks to Professor David Denver, of Lancaster University, for permission to use his 2007 notional results data. CONTENTS THE ELECTION RESULT: SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................... 3 THE
    [Show full text]
  • Scottish Ministers, Law Officers and Parliamentary Liaison Officers by Cabinet: Session 3 16 December 2010 Msps: Historical Series
    The Scottish Parliament and Scottish Parliament Information Centre logo. Scottish Parliament Fact sheet Scottish Ministers, Law Officers and Parliamentary Liaison Officers by Cabinet: Session 3 16 December 2010 MSPs: Historical Series This Fact sheet provides a list of all of the Scottish Ministers and Parliamentary Liaison Officer by Cabinet, during Session 3 from 17 May 2007 – 22 March 2011 This fact sheet provides a list of Ministers and Law Officers. The Scotland Act, 1998 refers to them as Scottish Ministers, junior Scottish Ministers and Law Officers. The current government calls them Cabinet Secretaries, Ministers and Law Officers. In addition to the First Minister there are five Cabinet Secretaries and 10 Ministers. Together they make up the Scottish Executive, the government in Scotland. The government is responsible for devolved matters and formulating and implementing policy in these areas. There are also two Law Officers who advise the government on legal matters and represent its interests in court. The final section lists Parliamentary Liaison Officers (PLO) (formerly Ministerial Parliamentary Aides). PLOs are MSPs appointed by the First Minister on the recommendation of Ministers whom they assist in discharging their duties. PLOs are unpaid and are not part of the Scottish Government. Abbreviations used: SNP Scottish National Party QC Queen’s Counsel First Cabinet: 17 May 2007 – 10 February 2009 Post Minister Party 1 First Minister Rt Hon Alex Salmond SNP Minister for Parliamentary Business Bruce Crawford SNP Minister for
    [Show full text]
  • BUSINESS BULLETIN No. 218/2012 Monday 26 March 2012
    BUSINESS BULLETIN No. 218/2012 Monday 26 March 2012 Announcements General and Themed Question Time - 19 April 2012 Members are reminded that the Parliament has agreed that the deadline for submitting names for General and Themed Question Times on 19 April 2012 is 12 noon on Wednesday 28 March. Members whose names are selected will be notified on that day and their names will appear in the Business Bulletin on Thursday 29 March. They will have until 12 noon on Wednesday 11 April to lodge questions. The themes for this Themed Question Time will be Culture and External Affairs, and Infrastructure and Capital Investment. 1 Contents The sections which appear in today‘s Business Bulletin are in bold Section A: Today‘s Business - Meetings of Committees - Meeting of the Parliament Section B: Future Meetings of the Parliament Section C: Future Meetings of Committees Section D: Oral Questions - Questions selected for First Minister‘s Question Time - Questions selected for response by Ministers and junior Scottish Ministers at Question Time Section E: Written Questions – new questions for written answer Section F: Motions and Amendments Section G: Bills - New Bills introduced - New amendments to Bills - Members‘ Bills proposals Section H: New Documents – new documents laid before the Parliament and committee reports published Section I: Petitions – new public petitions Section J: Progress of Legislation – progress of Bills and subordinate legislation 2 Business Bulletin: Monday 26 March 2012 Section B – Future Meetings of the Parliament Business
    [Show full text]
  • Revisiting Radical Renfrew and the Anthologising of Scotland's
    Revisiting Radical Renfrew and the Anthologising of Scotland’s Regions Prof. Gerard Carruthers, Francis Hutcheson Chair of Scottish Literature, University of Glasgow When Tom Leonard produced his anthology, Radical Renfrew: Poetry from the French Revolution to World War I in 1990, this was a watershed moment. It began to unpick a number of twentieth-century critical certitudes, including the supposed post-Burnsian deracination of literary Scots and the notion that Scotland, increasingly content within the new Victorian British super-state, had turned its back on many of its own cultural traditions. Ideas about the recession and evacuation of Scottish literature and culture at various periods, and most certainly including the period from the 1830s to the beginning of the twentieth century, were writ large in a nationalist tradition of Scottish criticism, which ran from G. Gregory Smith in 1919 down to David Daiches and others as late as the 1980s. Broadly speaking, this critical tradition saw Scottish literature and culture as dependent for its health upon a supposedly homogenous, distinctive, independent Scottish nation. If the implications of Benedict Anderson’s ‘imagined community’ (aka imagined nation) from 1983 were potentially liberating, in that the agency of identity lay in the (collective) mind rather than in physical institutions, the Scottish anti-nation, imagined by the likes of Edwin Muir, was precisely the opposite (Carruthers: 4-28). It was fixated on loss of ‘homogenous’ language (a shared language of state business, the law, the church etc., of the people, of literature), of Parliament and Crown all sacrificed in the interests of sharing in the progress to be found in post-1707 industry, trade and empire.
    [Show full text]