Identity in the Scottish Diaspora

[Nathan]

Nathan,
I like asking silly questions and this one is particularly whimsical.
If you wake up tomorrow and there has been a major tectonic shift and Nova Scotia now finds itself in amongst the Outer Hebrides. Would you feel pleased? (I'm sure we would in Scotland). Or would you still feel Canadian? Well, obviously you would because that's a very solid part of your life's experience. Do you think that would wear off assuming you were welcomed? Or would you long for the homeland even though you were back in an older homeland? Is it easier to behold the Hebrides in dreams than to face up to being there?
I don't know - it may be worth half a minute's thought. After all, you probably could emigrate to Scotland. So why not?

Ailean

If there were a major tectonic shift and New Scotland found itself amongst the outer Hebrides, there would probably be great upheaval, loss of life, and citizenship paperwork problems for the survivors. I'd probably be pretty displeased that I'd now have to take an international flight to visit my mother as Cape Breton would now be much farther from Toronto... But I'll play along...

If I moved to Scotland and had a good life there, perhaps I would be pleased. If I moved there and faced poverty and destitution, perhaps not. You can't eat fresh air or lovely mountain scenery.

What I do know is that there is still a steady stream of Scots pouring into Canada every year as there has been throughout our history and I only know one Canadian who has moved the other way so I suggest the old push and pull factors are still very much at play.

Here's the thing - Being Scottish Canadian does not equal being a resident of Scotland. It also doesn't mean being a Canadian who wishes he was in Scotland. It's just a description of an existing culture and population of people that actually exist.

What I am, is part of a community of the descendants of Highland emigrants. The Scottish Canadian Community is as diverse as Scotland itself so I'm really just speaking for my batch of Cape Breton barbarians. That said, I've run into other pockets of undeniable Scottish or Highland culture in Canada as well. (Perth, Fergus, Glengarry, PEI...)

I think you may be acting under the assumption that being a proud practitioner of a living Scottish-Canadian culture means I wish to reside in Scotland or that I think my culture is indistinguishable from that of modern Scots. Not so. I have indeed made a few attempts to move there if just to experience it for a time but the Scotland my ancestors left is no more and the Hebridean and Highland Gaelic culture we practice has moved to Nova Scotia. Also, it's tougher to move there without certain needed credentials than you may think.

I'm a MacDonald of Clanranald who grew up among other MacDonalds of Clanranald. Most of the Clanranald moved to Atlantic Canada. Most of the Macdonalds of Glengarry moved to Glengarry, Ontario. Most of the MacNeils of Barra moved to the communities around the Bras D'or lakes. We didn't move one person at a time, we moved en masse. We are a huge part of Canada's Scottish population. That's right, Canada has a Scottish population. Like it or don't, it changes nothing.

Canada also has plenty of people with Scottish surnames who are assimilated with genealogy from a multitude of cultures who likely don't identify as Scottish in the same way as I do but it still has people like me. People who were raised with a lot more Scottish culture than the average Canuck.

The place I was born and raised has a Gaelic population, Gaelic road signs, a Gaelic college, a single malt whisky distillery, a tartan that is everywhere and that everyone instantly recognizes, a huge population of accomplished Scottish fiddlers and dancers, a Highland regiment, hereditary pipers, fishermen, farmers, miners and lots of folk who don't much like all this Scottish stuff they endure every day and wish the Celtic elements of our culture didn't get all the attention. We have one of the largest Celtic festivals in the world. We have Celtic studies and Gaelic language in the local university. The Cape Breton University mascot is the Highlander. One local beer when I was a child was called Highland Classic. People go out for a pint at the Bonnie Prince, the most popular Nova Scotia beer is Alexander Keith's, a company started by a Scots immigrant and a bottle complete with the Keith clan stag head on the label. There are regular ceilidhs and milling frolics where people sing waulking songs. When you visit, you can stay at the Inverary Inn, the Heather, or Keltic Lodge, you can stop at Celtic Corner in Iona, Cape Breton for some gas as you drive around the hills and glens. It gets less intense but keeps going on the mainland where there is a world class sporran maker, a large cairn for those who fell at Culloden, another iconic tartan, bridges and schools named after all variety of Mc and Mac and North America's oldest Highland Games.

There are also people on my island who aren't Scottish most notably the Acadians, Afro-Scotians, Mi'Kmaw and the Irish - you know what those people call us? They call us Scots, Scottish or Gaels. It's understood we all live there.

On Cape Breton Island, it's not a just a fanciful hobby, it's not just a nerdy interest, it's not pretending to be from the old country or pining for the land of our fathers, it is our culture. Our. Culture.

We brought it with us. We teach it to our children. The word people use to describe the fiddles, bagpipes, tartan, white pudding, oat cakes, tartan, Gaelic singing, step dancing, peculiar grammar and accent and abundance of "Mac" surnames is Scottish. Because all of those cultural practices we take for granted came to us via Scotland. On a regular basis, most of us don't give you folk a lot of thought, to be fair. Certainly many of us hope to visit Scotland at some point, and our musicians go there regularly but the old country isn't a daily obsession.

That said, I will note that all my Gaelic speaking friends from the Hebrides seem to have a very different notion of the ties that bind us than the Scots on this forum.

A final note on the why do we care:

Why do you care if the automobile is a van, truck, car, or motorcycle? Why don't we call them all automobiles and be done with it? We can. That's correct. It's just imprecise.

Recognizing that I have as many or more cultural differences from a Québecois as I have cultural practices in common with him, notwithstanding the fact that we are both Candians is just a fact.

I should note that part of the Canadian mythology I was taught as a child was that immigrants to Canada aren't pressured to assimilate into a melting pot like the United States. We are encouraged to celebrate and practice the cultures of our various lands of origin. We have an official act of parliament about it and have festivals to celebrate our rich diversity. It seems the Americans on the forum have a more multicultural perspective than we were led to believe by Canada's propagandists.

The whole world lives here. We are as varied as people are on the planet. We find words like Scottish, Irish, Italian, Chinese, and Jamaican quite useful in describing our differences and putting our cultural perspectives into context for one another.

We are who and what we are and we call ourselves what we like. We don't require an endorsement from anyone else to do so.

[Reiver]

To damn right we don't! The cynics in Scotland have a very unkind saying about the Clan Chiefs and the diaspora, not altogether fair or true but------------------Can I kindly suggest that you take those rose tinted glasses off!

Just pointing out the schizophrenic Scots approach to this is all......I bought those rose tinted glasses at a Scot owned site thank you very much.
You sold them, I'll wear them.

Oh, and Nathan...it's more a tossed salad than a melting pot down here.

[Jock Scot]

Just pointing out the schizophrenic Scots approach to this is all......I bought those rose tinted glasses at a Scot owned site thank you very much.
You sold them, I'll wear them.

Oh, and Nathan...it's more a tossed salad than a melting pot down here.

I have to be very careful how I say this, rules and all that, but I think Schizophrenia is a tad strong to describe the Scots approach, but for sure, I do think that as a whole, Scotland is facing several momentous decisions, some with unknown implications in the fairly near future where there are no easy options and no easy choices. I genuinely think we are heading towards change in all sorts of ways and it is beginning to dawn on us all that none of the choices look particularly attractive! Its happened before in our history and no doubt we shall get by, we always have.

[Reiver]

I have to be very careful how I say this, rules and all that, but I think Schizophrenia is a tad strong to describe the Scots approach, but for sure, I do think that as a whole, Scotland is facing several momentous decisions, some with unknown implications in the fairly near future where there are no easy options and no easy choices. I genuinely think we are heading towards change in all sorts of ways and it is beginning to dawn on us all that none of the choices look particularly attractive! Its happened before in our history and no doubt we shall get by, we always have.

I was only referring to the one issue we are discussing...no other implication. I do wish you well, sincerely, in the possible upcoming changes/events.

[ThistleDown]

I should note that part of the Canadian mythology I was taught as a child was that immigrants to Canada aren't pressured to assimilate into a melting pot like the United States. We are encouraged to celebrate and practice the cultures of our various lands of origin. We have an official act of parliament about it and have festivals to celebrate our rich diversity.

I think that 'American melting pot' comparative claim isn't taught in Canada today, but the rest is definitely true. Cultural diversity is a good and valued thing in Canada. Let me assure you, it is just as prized in Scotland.

[Nathan]

I think that 'American melting pot' comparative claim isn't taught in Canada today, but the rest is definitely true. Cultural diversity is a good and valued thing in Canada. Let me assure you, it is just as prized in Scotland.

That may well be so, but it seems there's a slightly different method of expressing it. Since according to earlier posts, people avoid words like Pakistani Scot or Chinese Scottish, how do people discuss this growing reality without that type of language?

Is it more like the Jamaican notion of "From many, one" or is it like Canada, "a community of communities"?

[RSHAW]

Is there a sense of frustration or perhaps impatience on the part of some Scot's when people who have a more distant connection with Scotland appear to perhaps unwittingly over emphasize interest in kilts etc?
In other words does it seem that Scotland is somehow trivialized by what is perceived as a narrow interest to the exclusion of appreciation for the totality?
I am not suggesting this is the case with members of this forum but, rather question whether that could be impression perceived?

[ThistleDown]

No, I don't think that's the case. There are some in every culture who are, perhaps, overly protective of some particular aspect of their culture, of course, but in this thread we started off talking about the use of a citizenship designation by non-nationals and have now moved on to discussing its use as a heritage designation.

[bikercelt1]

but in this thread we started off talking about the use of a citizenship designation by non-nationals and have now moved on to discussing its use as a heritage designation.

Wait!! I think that's been the problem all along. Some of us are using "Scottish" in a "families of origin" cultural sense and some us us are using it in a "National Citizen" sense. We Americans aren't "Scottish Citizens" even if our families originated there but we retain some pride in our roots nonetheless.

[ThistleDown]

That may well be so, but it seems there's a slightly different method of expressing it. Since according to earlier posts, people avoid words like Pakistani Scot or Chinese Scottish, how do people discuss this growing reality without that type of language?

Is it more like the Jamaican notion of "From many, one" or is it like Canada, "a community of communities"?

Not my area of study, Nathan, but I don't think Scots 'avoid' words like Pakistani Scot. They simply have no need for them. Mind you, if I hear the name Hamish MacSporran I probably subconsciously know he is ethnic Highland, and if I hear the name Ali Mohammed I take a guess that he is from somewhere in the middle east. Unless, of course, Ali is a she and her husband is the Mohammed in the family. Or, if Ali was born in Scotland. That would mean that he is from Scotland and that would make him a Scottish Scot