Reimagining culture : histories, identities, and the Gaelic renaissance /

Macdonald's sophisticated ethnography of a Hebridean community interweaves the local and the global, considers which elements of the past are valorized and which are forgotten, and constantly draws attention to the dialogic nature of local identities. What does it mean to "have the Gaelic," or to be seen as the repository of so many national expectations? For the 600 inhabitants of "Carnan" there is no simple answer. The Highlands and Islands have been a site of ambiguity in Scottish identity. Understandably, local people may be ambivalent respecting Gaelic and issues of identity, history, and symbols; concurrently, they harbor strong suspicions of outsiders and their motives. What is changing is that Gaelic is becoming a mainstream educational choice, while new "cultural industries" are providing jobs related to Gaelic culture and language. Some of these changes reflect a more visible symbolic differentiation of Scotland from England, but they also owe a good deal to new European and global definitions of peoplehood. An original and timely contribution to a subject of growing significance. All levels. O. Pi-Sunyer; University of Massachusetts at Amherst