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Paper short abstract

Stories and songs from the Scottish Studies Archives at Edinburgh University will illustrate the relationship of ordinary Gaels with the lands they inhabited – the people and events that shaped them, the spirits that inhabited them, and the memories taken abroad by those forced to emigrate.

Paper long abstract

James Hilton’s 1933 novel Lost Horizon, set in the mountains of Tibet, created the fictional ‘Shangri-La’ – a place of the spirit, seemingly outside time, where people lived long lives in a fastness far removed from a world beset by war. For most visitors and many Scots, the Highlands of Scotland – the Gàidhealtachd – seem to suggest a similar refuge: a region of misty mountains, with the odd ruined castle perched on the edge of a loch – perfect for a holiday (if the weather holds up), and a blank canvas for the romantic imagination.

Left out of the tour commentaries and the guidebooks are the people who lived in the Gàidhealtachd up to quite recently. In this lecture, stories and songs from the Scottish Studies Archives at Edinburgh University will be used to illustrate the relationship of ordinary Gaels with the lands they inhabited – the people and events that shaped them, the spirits that inhabited them, and the memories of them taken abroad by those forced to emigrate from home.