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Highland Canon Fodder: Scottish Gaelic Literature In North American Contexts, Michael Newton
Highland Canon Fodder: Scottish Gaelic Literature In North American Contexts, Michael Newton
e-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies
The assessment of the influence of Scottish literature and literary practice abroad, especially in the context of Scottish diasporas, has generally focused on fiction in English, particularly in the form of the novel. Missing from this approach is a large body of Scottish Gaelic literature, primarily oral poetry, which has been composed in a sustained literary tradition that extends from the medieval period in Scotland to the present day in North America. This article reviews the evidence for Gaelic literary continuity in the North American diaspora in terms of the literary conventions that have determined the forms of literary production, …
This Could Have Been Mine: Scottish Gaelic Learners In North America, Michael Newton
This Could Have Been Mine: Scottish Gaelic Learners In North America, Michael Newton
e-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies
The Scottish Gaelic learners' movement is a recent development in North America that parallels the mainstream Scottish heritage movement in some ways, but is strongly oppositional to it in others. This essay describes characteristics of this phenomenon by analyzing the range of people involved, their motivations for learning, their goals, the creation of community among learners, the interaction between language learning and discourses of ethnicity, and the interface between Gaelic learners in North America and native Gaelic communities in Scotland and Cape Breton Island.
“Becoming Cold-Hearted Like The Gentiles Around Them”: Scottish Gaelic In The United States 1872-1912, Michael Newton
“Becoming Cold-Hearted Like The Gentiles Around Them”: Scottish Gaelic In The United States 1872-1912, Michael Newton
e-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies
Historians have occasionally recognized the presence of Scottish Gaelic-speaking immigrants in the United States, but no previous study has attempted to determine the relationship between the Gaelic-American community and their language in detail. This article makes use of evidence available in contemporary periodicals to examine the attitudes of Scottish Gaels resident in the United States towards their native language from 1872 to 1912, and attempts to assess the efforts made to maintain that language. The failure of Gaelic to thrive in the United States is evident in the lack of development of effective strategies to buttress the language. The evidence …