For my dissertation I plan to discuss the displacement of Scottish Highlanders to North America as they joined the colonising power of the Empire due to events such as the Jacobite uprising and the Highland Clearances. I would like to discuss whether or not, as a result of this, Scots and the indigenous people of North America were joined by shared imperial victimhood. As my topic is currently quite broad, I do intend to narrow my topic upon further research.
Secondary sources
- T. M. Devine, ‘The Scottish Nation, A Modern History’, (London: Allen Lane, The Penguin Press, 2012).
I found this source when taking the ENGU9WH (Writing and History: Scotland and Empire) module this semester. This source provided me with my chosen dissertation topic. This source contains chapters titled: ‘The Disintegration of Clanship’ as well as ‘Highlandism and Scottish identity’ within part two: 1760-1830. These chapters give great detail to the loss of the old Highland way of life and as a result, changes to Scottish identity.
- T. M. Devine, ‘The Scottish Clearances – A history of the dispossessed, 1600-1900’, (London, The Penguin Press, 2018).
Due to the usefulness of T.M. Devine’s previous book The Scottish Nation, A Modern History, I searched for his other works and found this source. This source provides an insight to the violent changes and exploitation of the old Highland way of life for economic advancement.
- Dobson, David, ‘Scottish Emigration to Colonial America, 1607–1785’. (Athens; London: University of Georgia Press, 1994.) Available at:< http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n7t5.>
When searching JSTOR for sources related to Scottish emigration to North America I found this source. This source contains a wealth of information which will provide an understanding of the significant contributions Scottish emigrants made to early American colonial settlements.
- Colin Galloway, ‘White People, Indians, and Highlanders: Tribal People and Colonial Encounters in Scotland and America’ (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010).
This source was recommended to me by a potential supervisor. It provides similarities and differences between the colonial experiences of Indians and Scottish Highlanders. This source will be extremely useful in understanding the relationship between Indian and Scottish Highland people who were both tribal and clan like, living on the fringes of the empire.
Primary sources
- “News.” London Chronicle, May 19, 1763 – May 21, 1763. Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Burney Newspapers Collection (accessed February 4, 2021). Available at:<https://link-gale-com.ezproxy-s2.stir.ac.uk/apps/doc/Z2001679266/BBCN?u=unistirl&sid=BBCN&xid=f900231c.>
This source was found by searching the Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Burney Newspaper Collection. It is of special interest as it was published in 1763, the year in which the French withdrew their holdings enabling Britain to further expand their own holdings.
This source is an extract of a letter to Earl Temple; upon the probable motives and consequences of his Lordship’s conduct. Within this letter, there are several interesting and very useful quotations which give insight to a British perspective of North- American indigenous people:
“The North-American savages proclaim war, by hanging on the war-kettle to boil the prisoners they are to take in battle.”
- “Advertisements and Notices.” Whitehall Evening Post [1770], May 5, 1759 – May 8, 1759. Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Burney Newspapers Collection (accessed February 4, 2021). Available at:< https://link-gale-com.ezproxy-s2.stir.ac.uk/apps/doc/Z2001656794/BBCN?u=unistirl&sid=BBCN&xid=cef00a9d.>
This source was also found by searching the Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Burney Newspaper Collection. It details British naval chronicles of voyages, expeditions and conquests through Asia, Africa and America. The source contains varied information gained from these expeditions about the lands which they either conquered or had dealings with. This source is extremely useful as it is evidently written from a colonial perspective.
Good beginning, Nadia, on your bibliography for this particular dissertation focus! Meanwhile, the two of us discussed this, and decided that I have too little expertise to supervise this topic. We did select a different one. But nevertheless, it is worthy of comment.
Calloway’s approach seems to be both comparative – examining the parallel but separate development of the two nations (actually, Highlanders as one people, while Native Americans and many distinct nations) – and their interconnections. The latter approach is more akin to “entangled histories” – mapping out the historical engagements and mutual interaction and intertwining of the past of two or more nations.
As you can see, there is usually much to cover in this topic, but as I voiced my concern, it is difficult to access enough sources for a focus this wide. Primary sources would include diaries and memoirs published by those Scots who migrated to North America, or travelled there, potentially also as soldiers, like in the Argyll and Southerland Highlanders Regiment (which has a museum in Stirling Castle, but is now not open for research). Other sources would include the records of some of the major fur trade companies, such as the Hudson’s Bay and the North West Company.
a significant secondary text you need to look at is James Hunter’s ‘A Dance Called America’ which looks at Scottish highlanders in the US and Canada. Hunter’s other works such as ‘The Making of the Crofting Community’ will be useful also.