Scottish History...
...and how to keep it away from the Scots.
I just started a futurelearn course on Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobites. This is part of my ongoing attempt to put together a proper history of Scotland, having been taught nothing in school bar Mary Queen of Scots got her head chopped off and Robert Bruce took refuge in a cave and met a spider.
I'm about half way through the first week and so far I am - as Janey Godley would say - ragin.
This week the course is fronted by a professor from Embra University who is talking a lot about 'material culture'. She means objects from the time of Bonnie Prince Charlie. If we ever get to see an object, rather than just listening to the professor, it'll be a miracle. Right now, we're ploughing through the professor's overEMphasised, overpreCISE, dogMAtic presentATion.
If she was here, I'd be saying: 'Right, hen, we've got that! Now move on.' In fact, no, that's not true: if she was here, I 'd probably give her a slap on the chops and remind her there's nae point in being an expert if ye canny share yer expertise with the rest of the population.
I don't really want to get into the ignorance of some of the participants, but can someone please tell Americans that watching 'Outlander' is not a sound basis for an understanding of Scottish history and Neil Oliver is not a historian?
I used to volunteer at a museum. I didn't last. There was a big problem with communication: nobody ever told the volunteers what was going on. So you could - and I did - make your way through the snow to find the place deserted. There was no training, so you made up your own script - always a dangerous idea. But they were adamant they wanted volunteers. Well, everybody else had volunteers.
The whole point of our social history is that it is shared, but we need to have academics who not only know their stuff but are willing to share. Not to patronise. Not to see the public as a nuisance. I've had that experience too, dealing with museum curators who overreacted when people wanted to touch things. Or take photos. Or just be there...We - the public - have to be there: if the 'material culture' is to survive, the academics need our cooperation. After all, in most cases the public own the museums and the objects inside them.
I just started a futurelearn course on Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobites. This is part of my ongoing attempt to put together a proper history of Scotland, having been taught nothing in school bar Mary Queen of Scots got her head chopped off and Robert Bruce took refuge in a cave and met a spider.
I'm about half way through the first week and so far I am - as Janey Godley would say - ragin.
This week the course is fronted by a professor from Embra University who is talking a lot about 'material culture'. She means objects from the time of Bonnie Prince Charlie. If we ever get to see an object, rather than just listening to the professor, it'll be a miracle. Right now, we're ploughing through the professor's overEMphasised, overpreCISE, dogMAtic presentATion.
If she was here, I'd be saying: 'Right, hen, we've got that! Now move on.' In fact, no, that's not true: if she was here, I 'd probably give her a slap on the chops and remind her there's nae point in being an expert if ye canny share yer expertise with the rest of the population.
I don't really want to get into the ignorance of some of the participants, but can someone please tell Americans that watching 'Outlander' is not a sound basis for an understanding of Scottish history and Neil Oliver is not a historian?
I used to volunteer at a museum. I didn't last. There was a big problem with communication: nobody ever told the volunteers what was going on. So you could - and I did - make your way through the snow to find the place deserted. There was no training, so you made up your own script - always a dangerous idea. But they were adamant they wanted volunteers. Well, everybody else had volunteers.
The whole point of our social history is that it is shared, but we need to have academics who not only know their stuff but are willing to share. Not to patronise. Not to see the public as a nuisance. I've had that experience too, dealing with museum curators who overreacted when people wanted to touch things. Or take photos. Or just be there...We - the public - have to be there: if the 'material culture' is to survive, the academics need our cooperation. After all, in most cases the public own the museums and the objects inside them.
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