Transatlantic Scots

Transatlantic Scotsis a multidisciplinary collection that studies the regional organization and varied expressions of the Scottish Heritage movement in the Canadian Maritimes, the Great Lakes, New England, and the American South. From diverse perspectives, authorities in their fields consider the modeling of a Scottish identity that distances heritage celebrants from prevalent visions of whiteness. Considering both hyphenated Scots who celebrate centuries-old transmission of Scottish traditions and those for whom claiming or re-claiming a Scottish identity is recent and voluntary, this book also examines how diaspora themes and Highland imagery repeatedly surface in regional public celebrations and how traditions are continually reinvented through the accumulation of myths. The underlying theoretical message is that ethnicity and heritage survive because of the flexibility of history and tradition. "A first-generation study of this key phenomenon. Its innovative and contemporary analysis fills a gaping hole within the broad core continuum of circum-Atlantic ethnicity and makes a major contribution to the study of transnational heritage and cultural memory. Words like vigorous, rare, and convergent describe this book."--Martha Ward, University of New Orleans "Transatlantic Scotsis a sophisticated theoretical treatment written in a lively and readable style. . . . This is a terrific collection."--Sydel Silverman, City University of New York Celeste Rayis Associate Professor and Chair of Anthropology at the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee. She is the author ofHighland Heritage: Scottish Americans in the American Southand editor ofSouthern Heritage on Display: Public Ritual and Ethnic Diversity within Southern Regionalism.James Hunter, a freelance writer and historian, is the author of several books, includingCulloden and the Last Clansmen. With Contributions By:Paul Basu, Margaret Bennett, Edward J. Cowan, Jonathan Dembling, Andrew Hook, Grant Jarvie, Colin McArthur, John W. Sheets, Michael VanceRay, Celeste is the author of 'Transatlantic Scots', published 2005 under ISBN 9780817352400 and ISBN 0817352406.