STORRE Collection: Electronic copies of History and Politics conference papers and proceedings.Electronic copies of History and Politics conference papers and proceedings.http://hdl.handle.net/1893/7212024-03-29T06:27:22Z2024-03-29T06:27:22ZCommon-sense Discourses of Nature: A Gramscian Analysis of Conservation Designations in the Scottish HighlandsRussell, Zoehttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/333432021-10-05T00:05:15Z2021-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: Common-sense Discourses of Nature: A Gramscian Analysis of Conservation Designations in the Scottish Highlands
Author(s): Russell, Zoe
Abstract: First paragraph: There is no singular "nature" simply out there waiting to be conserved and meanings of nature are multiple, biased, and contradictory. Despite arguments for contextually-specific ways of knowing nature, there remains a persistent nature-culture dichotomy underpinning nature conservation, problematically separating human action from the natural environment. Scotland has a complex and layered framework of statuatory nature conservation designations used to protect and conserve nature; in fact, over a quarter of Scottish land is covered by such designations. This paper examines the discourses of nature produced through such conservation designations and the implications for human- environment interaction. The research is based on a critical documentary analysis of nature conservation designations over time, using the Gramscian concept of "common sense" to critique the nature-culture dichotomy. The first section introduces contextual literature on neo-liberal conservation and the Myth of the Highlands. The next explains the methodological approach taken before the main findings are presented. It is argued that as elsewhere, nature conservation designations in Scotland have reproduced the nature-culture dichotomy through prescribing desirable levels and forms of human-environment interaction. Additionally. common-sense discourses of nature are shown to emerge from within notions of natural heritage as a national asset tied to the Scottish state. Finally, there is a discussion of alternative nature-cultures and suggestions are made for directing future research in this area.2021-01-01T00:00:00ZUnsettling Naken chaetrie in Scottish museumsRamsay, Rhonahttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/328742021-07-07T00:07:53Z2019-03-01T00:00:00ZTitle: Unsettling Naken chaetrie in Scottish museums
Author(s): Ramsay, Rhona
Abstract: Unsettling Naken chaetrie in Scottish museums Gypsy/Travellers in Scotland, by any standard definition, have not been colonized. They have, however, as a minority 'other', been subject to persecution by a settled majority. The parallels between the experiences of Gypsy/Travellers and those of colonized Indigenous Peoples are strong, and include the forced removal of children, subjection to assimilation programmes, cultural and linguistic oppression, and alienation from traditional lands (Onciul 2015: 55-57; Smith 2012: 203-220). The material culture of Gypsy/Travellers held in museums was collected by, and is largely interpreted and understood from the perspective of, members of the settled community. The designation Gypsy/Travellers is itself applied to the group by settled institutions and so in this article Naken, a term of self-reference used by the communities themselves, will take its place. A fuller explanation appears in the following section on terminology. This paper explores how processes of decolonization might be reframed to consider the unique situation of this mobile minority ethnic population in Scotland. How might processes of unsettling offer a parallel to decolonization in relation to the material culture of Naken in Scottish museums? What might this mean and how might it work in practice? As a researcher, and previously as a museum professional working in learning and access, I have found challenges as well as benefits in working with different communities, including with Naken. Creative solutions, however, have helped to overcome many of the perceived barriers on both sides. A key element for this work in museums and research has been to partner with trusted individuals and organizations working with Naken. 1 Within the context of this research, approaches to obstacles have also included meeting outside the museum and sharing images of objects, exchanging knowledge via social media, and visiting Naken willing to show me their own collections and to tell me about how they collect and what they value about these groups of objects. Naken are often portrayed as a hard-to-reach group. We are all (museums, communities and researchers), however, at least a little hard-to-reach in our various ways, but solutions can often be found by working together and finding ways of meeting in the middle. From experience the benefits are enormous. What can sometimes be missed when museums have overcome barriers2019-03-01T00:00:00ZToo much environment and not enough history: the opportunities and challenges in researching medieval seasonal settlement in Atlantic EuropeOram, Richardhttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/328022021-10-14T00:03:55Z2021-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: Too much environment and not enough history: the opportunities and challenges in researching medieval seasonal settlement in Atlantic Europe
Author(s): Oram, Richard
Editor(s): Dixon, Piers; Theune, Claudia
Abstract: Over the last twenty-five years, advances in palaeoenvironmental research have revolutionised our understanding of the physical effects of historic climate change around the North Atlantic rim across the eras of the Medieval Climate Anomaly and subsequent 'little ice age'. This revolution has been marked in respect of marginal upland and coastal zones, where landscape-scale palaeoecological research coupled with excavation at abandoned perennial and seasonal settlement sites has provided high-quality and subtly nuanced data to evidence baseline conditions, impacts and responses. In Scotland, analysis of this data has been framed largely in terms of system sustainability and environmental resilience but, with few notable exceptions, has offered no examination of human agency in shaping responses to climate change or of wider historical contexts for trends evident in the palaeoenvironmental data. Equally, however, too few archaeologists and historians have engaged with the environmental contexts for socioeconomic discontinuities, site abandonment and resource-related conflict reflected in artefact and ecofact assemblages or the parchment record. Consilience and inter/transdisciplinary approaches to the study of historic seasonal settlement and associated exploitation regimes can provide insights on human ecodynamic processes, avoiding the risk of unconscious determinism through linear, single discipline analyses and revealing the complex interplay of natural agency and human cultural responses to the opportunities and threats presented by past climate change.2021-01-01T00:00:00ZPutting Historians into Work. A discipline-specific example of embedding employability at the centre of the student lifecycle in Higher EducationWatson, ElaineTurpie, Tomhttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/326562021-06-01T00:01:28Z2020-01-01T00:00:00ZTitle: Putting Historians into Work. A discipline-specific example of embedding employability at the centre of the student lifecycle in Higher Education
Author(s): Watson, Elaine; Turpie, Tom
Editor(s): Norton, Stuart; Dalrymple, Roger
Abstract: This paper explores the development and delivery of a History discipline-specific employability module at the University of Stirling. The two authors # explore the institutional context and frameworks used in the development of the course, explain how it works in practice and discuss the challenges and lessons garnered from three years of successfully and effectively embedding an employability module in the student lifecycle.2020-01-01T00:00:00Z