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CELTIC AND SCOTTISH STUDIES AT EDINBURGH - A CAPITAL PLACE FOR RESEARCH
| The Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies at Edinburgh
University sets great store by promoting and sustaining a wide-ranging
programme of research. All departmental staff are research-active, and are
distinguished in their fields. As you go through this list of projects, you
will be able to gain further insights by pressing the appropriate links. These
will take you to websites associated with the principal projects and/or to
specimens of work by individual staff members. Photograph: Old College, University of Edinburgh |
 |
A. Collaborative projects with major external funding
Over the last five years, the department has initiated a number of large-scale projects which are shared with other universities. The aim of these projects is to edit, and to render accessible through digitisation, large bodies of material which will act as foundations for, or catalysts towards, further research. Employing the latest forms of electronic technology, they are closely related, and reinforce one another in such a way as to create a contemporary Scottish research nexus of national and international significance.
Tobar an Dualchais/Kist O Riches: This major project, which is sustained by a £2.78 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, is promoted by Edinburgh in partnership with the University of the Highlands and Islands Millennium Project, the British Broadcasting Corporation, and the National Trust for Scotland. Digitisation of, and electronic access to, archives held by the participating bodies is its principal objective. Some sixteen project posts have been created, most of which are based in the Highlands and Islands, and the principal staff members are now in position.
Field recording tape and box from the School of Scottish Studies Archives
Read more about the Tobar an Dualchais/Kist O Riches project.
Calum Maclean Project: This major project, which is co-ordinated by Dr John Shaw, has been awarded a Resource Enhancement Grant (£300,000) by the Arts and Humanities Research Council - the first such grant to be awarded to the University of Edinburgh. It sustains two researcher assistants, the one based in Glasgow and the other in Edinburgh. Its main aim is to create an electronic catalogue of the contents of the manuscripts of stories and other material gathered by the folklore collector, Dr Calum Maclean, who worked in both Ireland and Scotland, and was one of the founding figures of the School of Scottish Studies. The Gaelic tale texts and reciters' autobiographies will be available electronically. The project is steered primarily at Edinburgh, with input from University College Dublin.
Calum Maclean recording Angus Maclellan & his sister Mrs Neil Campbell in Frobost, South Uist. Photo by Dr Kenneth Robertson, 1959.
Read more about the Calum Maclean Project
Visit the Calum Maclean Project Website
Alexander Carmichael Project: This project is owned jointly by the Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies and Edinburgh University Library. It is based on the papers of the famous collector, Alexander Carmichael, best known for his printed work, Carmina Gadelica. These papers form a major part of the Carmichael Watson holdings in the University Library, are of crucial importance to the understanding of the storytelling traditions, poetry and general lore of the Gaelic areas. Funders to date include Bòrd na Gàidhlig, the Carnegie Trust, the Scotland Inheritance Fund, Edinburgh University Library, and the Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies. Dr Donald William Stewart is the Gaelic researcher for this project.
The project has been highly productive, and has stimulated several fresh evaluations of Carmichael's methodology. Dr Stewart has written a major introduction for Floris Books' new edition of Carmina Gadelica (2006). A very successful conference on Alexander Carmichael was held in Benbecula in July 2006, and its proceedings are to be published shortly. The project is acknowledged as a model of its kind, with local (Highland) and international (Irish) ramifications. Funding for the third phase of this project is currently being sought.
Read more about the Carmichael Watson Project.
Faclair na Gàidhlig: This inter-university initiative by the Universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Strathclyde and Sabhal Mòr Ostaig UHI aims to produce an historical dictionary of Scottish Gaelic. It will be compiled on historical principles similar to those applied in the Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue and the Oxford English Dictionary.
Faclair na Gàidhlig was formally established in 2003 and has attracted funding from Bòrd na Gàidhlig, the Carnegie Trust, the Gaelic Language Promotion Trust, the Leverhulme Trust, and the Scottish Government.
Phase I (2005-08) to create the editorial and textual foundation for the dictionary was carried out at the University of Edinburgh under the direction of Professor Donald Meek and Professor William Gillies of Celtic & Scottish Studies.
Phase II will produce a full-text database of Scottish Gaelic from which the dictionary will be compiled. This project is directed by Professor R Ó Maolalaigh of the Department of Celtic, University of Glasgow under the auspices of the Digital Archive of Scottish Gaelic (DASG) project.
Faclair na Gàidhlig is a major long-term project which will produce an essential resource for the Gaelic language.
Read more about Faclair na Gàidhlig at www.faclair.ac.uk
Faclair na Gàidhlig: Tha an iomairt eadar-oilthigh seo anns a bheil Oilthighean Dhùn Èideann, Ghlaschu, Obar Dheathain, Srath Chluaidh agus Sabhal Mòr Ostaig OGE an sàs ag amas air faclair eachdraidheil de Ghàidhlig na h-Alba a chruthachadh. Thèid a dhealbh air prionnsapalan eachdraidheil coltach ris an fheadhainn air an deach Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue agus an Oxford English Dictionary a stèidheachadh.
Chaidh Faclair na Gàidhlig a chur air bhonn ann an 2003 agus tha e air ionmhas fhaotainn bho Bhòrd na Gàidhlig, Urras Charnegie, Urras Brosnachaidh na Gàidhlig, Urras Leverhulme agus Riaghaltas na h-Alba.
Chaidh Ceum1 (2005-08) anns an robhar a' cruthachadh bunait deasachaidh agus teacsa dhan fhaclair a dhèanamh aig Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann fo stiùireadh an Ollaimh Uilleam MacIllIosa agus an Ollaimh Dòmhnall Meek, Roinn na Ceiltis agus Eòlas na h-Alba
Ann an Ceum 2, cruthaichear stòr-dàta làn-theacsa de Ghàidhlig na h-Alba às an tèid am faclair a chur ri chèile. Tha am pròiseact seo air a stiùireadh leis an Ollamh Roibeard Ó Maolalaigh de Roinn na Ceiltis, Oilthigh Ghlaschu fo bhratach pròiseact An Digital Archive of Scottish Gaelic (DASG).
'S e pròiseact cudromach fad-ùine a th' ann am Faclair na Gàidhlig a lìbhrigeas goireas a tha deatamach airson na cànain.
Leugh barrachd mu Fhaclair na Gàidhlig aig www.faclair.ac.uk
B. Internally sustained projects and individual scholarly enquiry
These projects depend very largely on the interests of individual scholars, but they amount to major clusters of research activity. Several, such as 'Orality and text', are likely to achieve the status of externally funded projects within the next five years.
Celtic and Scottish Ethnology
Orality and text: This project is led by Abigail Burnyeat and Dr Donald William Stewart, with the support of Edinburgh University Development Fund for a bibliography (2004), seminars (2005) and a successful conference (2006). The projects relating to Tobar an Dualchais, Alexander Carmichael and Calum MacLean all contribute significantly to this field of study, and reinforce its funding potential. Dr Anja Gunderloch's important catalogue of Gaelic manuscripts (hitherto undescribed) in Glasgow University Library will contribute significantly to this field.
Córugud and Compilatio in Some Manuscripts of Táin Bó Cúailnge by Abigail Burnyeat
Dr Anja Gunderloch's catalogue of Gaelic manuscripts in Glasgow University Library
The Red Book and Black Book of Clanranald, William Gillies
The Maclagan Manuscripts, 1893-1902: Responding to a call from the Folklore Society, made at their annual meeting in 1889, to gather items of folkloric interest from various parts of the United Kingdom, Dr Robert Craig Maclagan (1839-1919), a doctor based in Edinburgh, embarked on a project which was to run for almost ten years, and which, in the fullness of time, would become one of the most significant and fascinating collection of manuscripts available to scholars of the folklore of Scotland.
Through a team of dedicated collectors, working in the West Highlands, Maclagan amassed an amazing array of material and during his lifetime he published a number of articles and books which reflected the diversity of the material that had been collected. The manuscripts, consisting of some 9,200 pages, with an as yet uncalculated number of individual items, covers material as diverse as folk medicine, customs and beliefs, hero tales, material culture, rhymes and children's games, recipes and weather lore, place-name legends, the natural world and much, much more.
Through this material it is possible to glimpse a different world and to understand better how men and women, living at the end of the 19th century, had negotiated and made sense of the world around them: a world which, within so few decades would be so utterly changed.
The size of the collection, and the nature of the organisation of the material contained within it, has, until now, made it a slightly cumbersome resource for academics to explore, but this is set to change as staff in the archive are now working on a database which will index the manuscript material, making it more readily accessible.
Celtic
Medieval and Early Modern studies: This is a highly productive area. Two important historical monographs on the Early Medieval period and six articles have been published by Dr James Fraser. Six analytical articles on medieval Welsh literature by Dr Nerys A. Jones (and three others jointly authored) have been published. Abigail Burnyeat is at work on aspects of early medieval Gaelic learning ('the medieval Irish classroom'), and has two articles in press . Professor William Gillies has produced a study of Early Medieval Gaelic didactic literature, and several studies of linguistic tracts and medieval verse. His edition of the Books of Clanranald, for the Scottish Gaelic Texts Society, is currently in the final stages; he has also produced several BDL-related studies, and an account of 'The Languages of Scotland to 1314' for EHSL. Professor Donald E. Meek's edition of the Gaelic ballads in the Book of the Dean of Lismore is in the final stages of editing for publication. Dr Wilson McLeod has published a major monograph, Divided Gaels (Oxford University Press, 2004) on Gaelic Scotland and Gaelic Ireland in the later Middle Ages (c. 1200-c.1650). With Dr Meg Bateman, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, he has edited a ground-breaking new anthology of medieval Gaelic verse, Duanaire na Sracaire: Songbook of the Pillagers (Birlinn, 2007).
Gaelic language policy and planning: A series of seminars initiated by Dr Wilson McLeod has continued to considerable acclaim. Distinguished speakers have included Professor Robert Philipson, Professor Suzanne Romaine and Professor Joshua Fishman. Several research reports on different aspects of Gaelic development have been published, and the book Gaidhealtachdan Ùra: Leasachadh na Gàidhlig agus na Gaeilge sa Bhaile Mhòr /Nua-Ghaeltachtaí: Cur Chun Cinn na Gàidhlig agus na Gaeilge sa Chathair, a collection of essays edited by Wilson McLeod which looks at the complex challenges that arise in connection with efforts to develop Gaelic and Irish in urban contexts, was published by the department in December 2007.
Read more about research on language policy and planning
The highly successful conference Rannsachadh na Gàidhlig 3, held at Edinburgh (and organised by Dr Anja Gunderloch, Dr Wilson McLeod and Dr James Fraser) in July 2004, attracted numerous papers on various aspects of Gaelic sociolinguistics and language planning, now published by Dunedin Academic Press, Revitalising Gaelic in Scotland: Policy, Planning and Public Discourse (2006). Papers from the conference dealing with language, literature, history and culture have been published in Cànan & Cultar/Language & Culture: Rannsachadh na Gàidhlig 3 (also published in 2006 by Dunedin Academic Press).
Gaelic literature and tradition in Scotland: This project is a longer-term concept which will build on successful initiatives within Celtic and Scottish Studies, in order to produce ultimately a History of Gaelic Literature. Professor William Gillies has published an overview 'On the Study of Gaelic Literature', which assesses and informs the direction of critical writing in the wider field, with particular reference to Gaelic verse. Work currently covers the following areas:
Eighteenth century: Articles on William Ross (William Gillies), Dugald Buchanan (Donald E. Meek), Duncan MacIntyre (Dr Anja Gunderloch) are published or in press. Professor Gillies's revision for the SGTS of William Matheson's ground-breaking edition of the poetry of John McCodrum is imminent. Donald E. Meek's new edition of the verse of Dugald Buchanan is with the Scottish Gaelic Texts Society. Strategies for dealing with the verse of Alexander MacDonald are being formulated.
Nineteenth century: An anthology of Scottish Gaelic verse, Caran an t-Saoghail: The Wiles of the World (Birlinn, 2003), has been published by Donald E. Meek, and articles on Alexander Carmichael by Donald William Stewart and Professors Meek and Gillies. Studies of individual poets, notably Ailean Dall by Anja Gunderloch, and Peter Grant by Donald E. Meek, have been published, as well as an overview of the period by Donald E. Meek, in Brown, Clancy and Manning (eds), The Edinburgh History of Scottish Literature, 2; Dr John Shaw has published an assessment of John Francis Campbell in the same volume. Two articles on Gaelic printing and publishing by Donald E. Meek, and one by Donald E. Meek and Rob Dunbar, will be published in Bill Bell, The History of the Book in Scotland: The Nineteenth Century. Donald E. Meek is currently reassessing the work of the Islay poet, William Livingston.
Twentieth century: This has been productive of articles by Donald E. Meek and William Gillies, and an edition of the prose writings of the Rev. Dr Thomas M. Murchison, edited by Donald E. Meek and now at an advanced stage with the Scottish Gaelic Texts Society.
Scottish Ethnology
Survivals and revivals: This umbrella project was established to examine in a new perspective several of Scotland's core traditional performing arts, including song, instrumental music, dance and storytelling. The project is sustained by the research of Dr Gary West, Dr Emily Lyle and Dr John Shaw. Publication continues steadily, and new book projects are planned.
Calendar customs and community rituals: This project, which is maintained principally by Dr Neil Martin and Dr Emily Lyle, examines the structure and customs of the ritual year in Scotland. Dr Martin's major book on the rèiteach has been published recently (Edwin Mellen Press), along with several important papers.
Friend or Foe? Hospitality and the Threshold in Scottish Tradition by Dr Neill Martin
Emigrant communities and religious practices: Dr Margaret Mackay's research on Tiree emigrants to Canada continues, and is expected to produce a major book shortly. Her most recent publications have included a study of the brothers, Archibald and Alexander Farquharson, from Strathardle, Perthshire, who were missionaries in Tiree and Cape Breton respectively. Donald E. Meek's edition of the first printed Gaelic sermons (published in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 1791) is progressing well, and he has contributed a chapter on 'The Literature of Religious Revival and Disruption' to EHSL, 3.
Place-names: Dr Doreen Waugh, the Department's first Basil Megaw Fellow, who has a distinguished record of publication in onomastics, works alongside Ian Fraser, who continues to maintain his interest in, and contribution to the field, as an Honorary Fellow. Other DCSS staff contribute to the field (e.g. Dr Kath Campbell on 'Trowie Names').
Read more about the Scottish Place-Name Survey.
Scottish music
Traditional: Dr Kath Campbell is developing different aspects of this field, including ethnomusicology and Scots song. She has constructed a website on 'The Fiddle Tradition of North-East Scotland', and has produced two CDs. Her forthcoming monographs include The Fiddle in Scottish Music and critical editions of the work of Dean William Christie and his father. Along with Patrick Shuldham-Shaw and Emily B. Lyle, Dr Campbell is an editor of The Greig-Duncan Folksong Collection, Volume 8 (2002). This achieved the Saltire Society/ NLS Research Book of the Year award in 2003.
Read more about 'The Fiddle Tradition of North-East Scotland'
Read about Traditional Ballad Airs
Classical and medieval: Dr Greta-Mary Hair has produced several important studies of Scottish music in the Middle Ages, with particular emphases on chant, notation, and performance. These include studies of the 'Office of St Andrew', as recorded in the Sprouston Breviary; an edition of the Office, jointly produced with Betty I. Knott, University of Glasgow; and edition of the Vespers, Matins and Lauds for St Kentigern, also with Betty Knott. With Dr Margaret Mackay and others, she has edited a volume in honour of Kenneth Elliott.
C. European Ethnological Research Centre
Following negotiations in 2004-5, the European Ethnological Research Centre, which had been established by Professor Alexander Fenton, moved in August 2006 from the National Museum of Scotland to DCSS, and is now accommodated at 27 George Square. Two staff members, Dr Kenneth Veitch and Mark Mulhern, were transferred with the Centre, with the financial support of the Scotland Inheritance Fund. The Centre is now directed by Dr Margaret Mackay.
The EERC publishes a major journal, ROSC: Review of Scottish Culture, twice in the year. It is also engaged in producing the fourteen-volume Compendium of Scottish Culture, of which seven volumes have already been published. In addition to contributions by Mark Mulhern and Dr Kenneth Veitch, the Compendium has included numerous chapters from DCSS staff, reflecting their various specialisms.
Read more about the European Ethnological Research Centre.
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Scottish Studies
The purpose of the journal, Scottish Studies since its inception in 1957, has been to present the results of a wide range of research into traditional and contemporary Scottish life. Subjects covered include; Traditional tales, Oral narrative, Oral Tradition, Musicology and Song, Custom and Belief, Material culture, Farming and Fishing, Rural Settlement and urban life, Regional history, Social history, Place names, Surnames, Language and Literature. Articles are considered from beyond the department Celtic & Scottish Studies.
The next issue, Scottish Studies 34 is now available.
Tocher
TOCHER is published by the School of Scottish Studies Archives and contains excerpts from our collections of sound recordings and manuscripts. It is available on subscription. For further details of contents and how to subscribe, please visit the Tocher page
The Scottish Tradition Series from the Archives of the School of Scottish Studies contains important recordings of both Gaelic and Scots tradition bearers. There are currently 22 recordings in the series, beginning with Scottish Tradition 1 Bothy Ballads, through to Scottish Tradition 22, Chokit on a Tattie: Children's Songs and Rhymes. The series is published by Greentrax Recordings Ltd.
The department's strong commitment to research offers an excellent environment for postgraduate study.
Read more about postgraduate study in Celtic & Scottish Studies.