A’ Siabadh nan Deur-shùilean “Highland Heritage: Scottish Americans in the American South” le Celeste Ray; University of North Carolina Press, Beurla, £14.50 bog ri fhaighinn aig www.amazon.co.uk lèirmheas leis an Dr Mìcheal Newton	Wiping the Tear-filled Eyes “Highland Heritage: Scottish Americans in the American South” by Celeste Ray; University of North Carolina Press, English, £14.50 softback available from www.amazon.co.uk review by Dr Mìcheal Newton
Tha coimhearsnachdan Eadailteach anns na Stàitean Aonaichte, far a bheil an Eadaltais fhathast ga bruidhinn agus daoine a’ leantainn ri creideamh is cleachdainnean an sinnsirean, is mar sin. Tha coimhearsnachdan eile coltach ri sin ach buinteanas aca ris a’ Ghrèig, an Spàinn is dùthchannan eile – ach a bheil a leithid de choimhearsnachd Albannach no Gaidhealach ann? Chan eil cho fad ’s as fiosrach mise, ged a chumas cuid a-mach gu bheil sinnsearachd Ghaidhealach aca agus bu mhiann leotha an dìleab sin a ghabhail as ùr dhaibh fèin.	There are Italian communities in the United States, where people still speak Italian, maintain religious and cultural ties to their ethnic traditions, and so on. There are similar communities with ties to Greece, Spain, and other countries – but is there such a community of Scots or Scottish Gaels? Not so far as I’ve ever been able to ascertain, although there are many people who claim Highland ancestry and who want to reclaim their Scottish roots.
O chionn ’s gu bheil fèill a’ sìor fhàs air an dìleab seo, is gun fhìor choimhearsnachd fineachais ann, tha toradh ait agus ceisteannan smuaineachail ag èirigh às: Carson a dh’fhàs Geamaichean Gaidhealach cho coitcheann ann an Ameireaga Tuath rè ginealaich? Dè tha toirt fàs air an dìleab Albannach, gu h-àraid anns na Stàitean mu dheas far a bheil daoine rag a thaobh a’ cheangail aca ri dùthchas na h-Albann? Ciamar a bhios daoine a’ meòmhrachadh an dùthchais seo agus cò air a tha an lèirsinn a th’ aca air eachdraidh na h-Albann stèidhichte?	This lack of a real ethnic community and the growing demands of a hungry public has created some odd results, and some interesting questions: Why have Highland Games grown common in North America in the last generation? What fuels this fascination with Scottish heritage, especially in the Southern States where people are adamant about their special kinship with Scottish culture? How do people celebrate this heritage and on what basis do they form their perceptions of Scottish history?
Ged nach tugadh an aire do na ceisteannan seo tuilleadh is fada, tha an sgoilearachd le Celeste Ray gan sgrùdadh gu domhain. Tha an leabhar leatha na rannsachadh fìrinneach comann-eòlais air cinntinn nan Comann Albannach anns na Stàitean Aonaichte, is sùil aice gu sònraichte air Carolina Tuath. ’S e tionnsgainn “Gaidhealachais” an toiseach aice, a’ cur an cèill mar a chaidh ìomhaigh bhrèige a chruthachadh air Albainn is gu h-àraid air a’ Ghaidhealtachd an lorg Chùl Lodair.	These questions have been ignored for far too long, but are addressed in a thorough piece of scholarship by Celeste Ray. Her book is a sober sociological study of the recent phenomenon of Scottish societies in the United States, taking a particularly close look at North Carolina. She begins the investigation by explaining the development of Highlandism, the mythic misrepresentations of Scotland, especially the Highlands, in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Mar a tha i a’ comharrachadh, gu tric bidh meòmhrachadh dùthchas na h-Albann a’ dol fad air iomrall an Ameireaga Tuath, oir tha an co-chur ùr a’ dol calg an aghaidh fìrinn na h-eachdraidh: thathar a’ measgachadh luchd ceannsachaidh Breatannach Uladh, Goill na Machrach agus Gaidheil le chèile gun fhios dhaibh, daoine a bha gu tric an uchdaibh a chèile; tha sliochd nan Gall a’ gabhail ri suaicheantas nan Gaidheal (leithid na pìoba mòire, an fhèilidh, 7c) ge b’ oil len sinnsirean iad; sliochd nan Gaidheal a’ toirt taic airgid do “dh’uaislean” na Gaidhealtachd gus am fearann a cheannach ged a chaidh an sinnsirean a sgiùrsadh thar chuan leis an aon fheadhainn an-iochdmhor seo! ’S e as cudthromaiche, feumar mairsinneachd a bhith aig bun dìleib susbaintich, ach chan ann mar sin a tha e an seo. Gu dearbh, ’s e am port a th’ aca gun do lorg daoine “as ùr dìleab a chaidh air chall”.	As Ray points out, the synthetic celebration of Scottish heritage in modern North America is often quite different from historical fact: people are merging the very distinctive and often conflicting British planters in Ulster (“Scots-Irish”), Lowland Scots and Highland Scots together indiscriminately; Highland badges of identity (such as the bagpipes, the kilt, etc) are adopted by people whose Lowland ancestors would have scoffed at them; people whose ancestors were evicted from the Highlands or were forced into leaving due to oppressive rents are now contributing funds to secure lands for the descendants of the very tyrannical landlords who sent them sailing across the Atlantic! Most importantly, ethnic tradition needs a claim of continuity to be genuine, but this is clearly not the case here. In fact, the common refrain is that people have “rediscovered a lost heritage”.
Bidh daoine ag ath-nuadhachadh dùthchas le mac-meanmna gus am faigh iad toil-inntinn. Bidh iad a’ call cuimhne air, agus a’ cuimhneachadh air, rudan a rèir an t-suidheachaidh anns a bheil iad. Uime sin, tha Ameireaganaich ag ath-chruthachadh na dìleib Albannaich dìreach a rèir am feumalachdan fhèin anns an latha an- diugh, seach a rèir ionannachd is saoghal an sinnsirean. Tha saoghal Ameireaga ag atharrachadh gu luath luaineach, gun bhunait domhain, is mar sin b’ fheàrr le mòran tilleadh gu beusan buan coimhearsnachd, dleastanasan a rèir gnè, is àithntean Crìostail, co dhiubh am bu dual do na Gaidheil iad gus nach b’ e. Tha na Stàitean mu dheas a’ gabhail gu cridheil ri ròlaist “adhbhar caillte nan Seumasach” oir tha adhbhar caillte eile aca fhèin cheana, agus tha iad seo a’ daingneachadh cuideam dìleab saighdearachd.	People reform tradition creatively to form something that is meaningful and satisfying to them. They selectively remember and selectively forget according to their own circumstances. Thus the reinvention of Scottish heritage by contemporary Americans has everything to do what people want to find to satisfy their current desires and needs, and not so much to do with the actual identities and lives of their ancestors. In a rapidly-changing America lacking deep roots or certainty, an atavistic return to fixed gender roles, grounded community values, and “Christian principles” hold appeal for many regardless of how accurate these values represent Highland society. The romanticisation of the Jacobites’ lost cause finds a welcome in the South’s well-developed mythology of defeat, as well as playing up the image of a heritage of military activity.
Tha gach coimhearsnachd eilthireach buailteach don iorailteachd seo, is chan e a’ choimhearsnachd “Alba-Ameireaganach” a-mhàin. Ge-tà, tha an sgaradh seo aig a’ Ghaidhealachas ùr bhon dà chuid eachdraidh cheart agus saoghal na h-Albann anns an latha an- diugh nas motha na gheibhear am measg nàiseanan eile. Seo an- dràsta, bidh daoine a’ cur seachad an cuid tìde is dealais air trusadh aodaich grinn is ainmeannan anns a’ chraoibh-sheanchais aca, seach a bhith ag ionnsachadh na Gàidhlig no mu litreachas nan Gaidheal.	This inventiveness is, of course, not specific to the Scottish- American community but happens in all immigrant communities. The degree to which the reinvention of Highland culture seems divorced from both historical reality and contemporary Scottish society seems rather more extreme than other ethnicities, however. The time and energy that people might spend, for example, in acquiring a knowledge of their ancestral language (Gaelic) or of the literary canon of their people are often sublimated in acquiring extensive family trees or elaborate wardrobes.
Gu mì-shealbhach, tha mearachdan anns an leabhar a thaobh eachdraidh is dùthchas nan Gaidheal. Mar as tric a thachras, tha mòran ainmeannan Gaidhealach lochdach. Tha an leabhar a’ cur gaoth anns an t-seòl fhuadain gun deach a’ phìob a thoirmeasg às dèidh Chùl Lodair, breug as fhiach a leagail gu làr! Tha ceann-teagaisg Ray air Albainn na nàisean Ceilteach-Sheumasach tuilleadh is sìmplidh, oir bha claon-bhàidhean a bu treasa anns an ochdamh is an naoidheamh ceud deug an Albainn dubh an aghaidh nan Ceilteach is bàidheil ris na Tiùtonaich.	Unfortunately, there are mistakes regarding High- land history and culture in the book. As is often the case, many Gaelic names appear in garbled form. The book propagates the common mistake that the bag- pipes were banned in 1746, a fallacy that should be put to rest! Ray’s analysis of the reinvention of Scotland as a Jacobite-cum-Celtic nation is overly-simplistic, given the dominant anti-Celtic, pro-Teutonic prejudices of eighteenth and nineteenth century Scotland.
Ach ’s e as fhaide leam, is mi nam sgoilear na Ceiltise, ged a tha i a’ nochdadh buaidh a’ Ghaidhealachais ann an ath-chruthachadh ionannachd Alba-Ameireaganach, chan eil i a’ togail fianais air sealladh eile, ’s e sin sealladh nan Gaidheal. Tha fasan bitheanta aig sgoilearan slaic a thoirt air ròlaistean a’ Ghaidhealachais, mac dìolain Alba nam bailtean is na h-Ìmpireachd, gun iomradh a thoirt air an dùthchas a tha aig a’ Ghaidhealtachd fhèin. Ged a tha i ag aithneachadh, mar eisimpleir, gu bheil a’ mhòr-chuid de luchd ciùil a’ seinn òran "Seumasach" a chaidh sgrìobhadh anns an 19 ceud, leig i air dearmad gu bheil grunnan math de dh’òrain Ghàidhlig a chaidh dhèanamh ri linn an ar-a-mach nach eil cho baoth tiom ris an fheadhainn sa Bheurla a lean iad.	Most disappointing to me as a Gaelic scholar is that while she does an excellent job in exposing the influence of Highlandism in the reinvention of symbolic Scottish-American ethnicity, she does not inform the reader of an alternate point of view, that of the Gaels. There is a common fad of debunking the fallacies of Highlandism, so much the product of urban, Lowland, Imperial Scotland, while neglecting to acknowledge that Highland culture has its own traditions. While she correctly recognises, for example, that most Jacobite songs sung by today’s teary-eyed warblers are 19th century compositions, she fails to note that there is a large body of Gaelic song composed during the Risings which has none of the false sentimentality of later English-language imitations.
A dh’aindeoin siud uile, rinn Ray oidhirp mhath gus tionnsgainn is cinntinn dol-air-adhart anns an latha an-diugh a chur air shùilean dhuinn an dòigh nach dèan toibheum do luchd sgrùdaidh no do luchd leughaidh.	Despite these issues, Ray does an excellent job in helping us understand the development of a modern phenomenon in a way that is sensitive and sympathetic with her subjects.

You can find more articles in the archive under Gaelic Column and information on the organization at C.L.I.