Been a good summer break. Loads of day trips and walking across the Highlands and beyond. Back to work now, where I'm excited to be taking up an interim, five-month post, as acting Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities, Business and Education.
#ThinkUHI
Am sure it's recognised in Islay and Donegal but am not sure if everyone else in the Highlands and Islands remembers or realises that there is just a 33 mile space between our region of Scotland and the EU.
Edinburgh Castle should convey this aspect of its past. However, it's going a step further to name a café - a place for enjoyment, rest and relaxation - in this way. The mistake is to trivialise, and apparently make light of, a hugely painful chapter in Scottish history.
We are happy to welcome you all back to our newly refurbished Redcoat Café ☕🍰
If you are visiting us over the weekend, pop in for a warm beverage or even a tasty slice of cake 😋
Delighted to sign a book contract with
@EdinburghUP
. It will rely on (and interrogate) the autobiographical sources left by traveller, scholar and minister, Rev. James Fraser (1634-1709), giving a new view of the Highlands in the century before Culloden
#CuriousCleric
#ThinkUHI
Having written a book about a 1655 graduate of Aberdeen who knew Gaelic, Scots, English, Latin, some Greek and Hebrew (then picked up French, Spanish, Italian, German, ‘Slavonick’, Hungarian, ‘Bohemian’ and Dutch) I fear these cuts will weaken a culture of internationalism there
The French, German, Spanish and Italian consulates in Scotland have written to the University of Aberdeen raising concerns about potential cuts to modern language courses.
A vital element in Highland religious history is the variety of Protestant churches which have had congregations. But the Orange Order has not had a major presence. So, why alienate most people further, and cause major disruption, by marching on a Sat afternoon in Inverness?
A parade taking place in Inverness on Saturday 20 April 2024, between 14:45 to 16:30, will affect various streets in the area including: Victoria Drive, Crown Drive, Crown Road, Eastgate, High Street, Bridge Street, Castle Road, Ness Bank and Cavell Gardens, Haugh Road.
I wasn't expecting this reaction. Of course, the shortest route between Scotland and Northern Ireland is the Kintyre to Antrim one. I was noting, simply, that Islay, in the Highlands and Islands region where I live, is the nearest part of Scotland to the Republic of Ireland.
Tragic to lose Erasmus. This breaking of vital, scholarly ties with our European neighbours is not what the Highlands and Islands or Scotland voted for. It won't last.
I rarely find time for fiction, but read His Bloody Project by
@GMacraeBurnet
finally this w/end. I'm working on a genuine Highland memoir of 200 years earlier, and this novel's giving me major cause to reflect more on the power of creative writing in presenting cultural memory.
On returning to his Highland home in 1660, after three years of travel, James Fraser (1634-1709) was fluent in Scots Gaelic, Scots and English, with a good knowledge of Latin and Hebrew, along with some Greek, French, Spanish, Italian, German and Hungarian.
#multilingualisnormal
Exciting to see
@SabhalMorOstaig
library receive Sorley MacLean's book collection. Covering 1,800 titles 'especially English and Gaelic literature, Highland history and the arts', this will be a hugely important resource for
@ThinkUHI
students and staff:
Still not resting my case that Banff, not without its challenges, retains the most impressive concentration of pre-1707 residential architecture of any burgh in the north of Scotland.
I assume the PM thinks callous statements designed to give the appearance of cracking down on int'l students will win votes. How mean and parochial to seek to imply in your first social media post of the year that they are a 'problem' and not a vital, enriching part of society.
From today, the majority of foreign university students cannot bring family members to the UK.
In 2024, we’re already delivering for the British people.
I choose to post mainly about work on here. But, in case appearances suggest otherwise, I value my free time, and spending it with my family and friends. Been busy lately. However, last night, I had pizza and beer with my niece in Inverness. Today I sat around at home. Felt good.
Gulped on the A9 just now as I heard Donnie Munro on
@BBCRadioScot
referencing my former boss at
@UHIHistory
,
@JimHunter22
. It was moving to hear our emeritus professor's 1976 book ‘The Making of the Crofting Community’ highlighted as a key influence on
@Runrig1973
#TheLastDance
Day 4 of Covid. Experiencing quite mild symptoms, thankfully, my neighbours have been kind and this pheasant has been providing light relief and proving to be easy competition when it comes to staring contests.
For any assuming Scotland has few longstanding historical ties with Ukraine, a check of the major works shows there were, c.1600-50, Scottish merchants active in four cities we are seeing, tragically, on our screens each day in the current war: Lviv, Brody, Bila Tserkva and Kiev.
My neighbour offering to drop off some chanterelle mushrooms on my doorstep just now provides me with one of a bunch of reasons I'm so happy I moved back to the north of Scotland twelve years ago, and why I'm lucky to be living and have work here during this pandemic.
#ThinkUHI
A geeky me in my early- to mid-20s, Bohinjsko Jezero, Slovenia, energised by a Europe that was troubled but felt full of possibilities, especially towards its edges. I can't account for this Brexit nightmare but I, for one, feel European today, and I did then.
One of my elderly, divorced parents got this for me in their online supermarket shop this week. It's in return for the odd shopping item I've bought them since last March. Both my Mum and Dad have shown a toughness, courage and pragmatism during the pandemic that makes me proud.
Nearing the end of what has, in some ways, been a challenging semester. I'll avoid details here. But my underlying optimism is rock solid due to the outstanding community that is the Centre for History students, staff, friends and colleagues. Wishing all a restful festive break.
From November we'll have 19 members of
@UHIHistory
staff on payroll, of which over 10FTEs (full-time equivalents) will be permanent. Wish I could sit with the late Dennis MacLeod from Helmsdale, key benefactor to us in 2005, and tell him the latest chapters in the story
#ThinkUHI
The Beauly Firth to Bratislava: starting to map a Highland man's 1650s travels, using a
@uoacollections
manuscript. 70 overnights entered. Dates next. And then? Art, churches, politics, pirates, hospitality, vomiting, romance, languages, sightings of elephants...
#publichistory
Scenes from Highland Life: ordering my fish supper in Polish at the chippy in Tain and then disagreeing amicably with three others at the counter about the respective cultural merits of Wrocław, Kraków and Gdańsk.
#Brexit
Very local comment, but I'm always struck when people in coastal Moray (the Laich) refer to Easter Ross and the Black Isle as 'north'. Lossiemouth and Burghead lie at a slightly more northerly latitude than Invergordon, Dingwall or Cromarty.
I once worked in a department with a hugely welcoming head, with whom I lost touch, sadly. Retired, he lives in a country that's started social distancing. Having more time than usual today, he saw and read an article of mine and then sent me an uplifting, inspiring email. A joy.
“Sugar, Slave-owning & the Scottish Highlands before 1707” – this talk will reveal the earliest known overseas slave-owning circle & the imperial entanglement with the Dutch Empire Join us on Thurs 27 Aug 1-2pm!
#ThinkUHI
#History
@UHIHistory
Just had my article on languages and code-switching in the life-writing of Highland scholar and traveller, Rev. James Fraser (1634-1709), accepted by Renaissance Studies, the journal of
@SRSRenSoc
. Look forward to that one coming out.
#CuriousCleric
#multilingualism
#EarlyModern
Fine start to the day to hear
@JimHunter22
on his Insurrection book on
@BBCRadioScot
as I drove from Easter Ross to Moray, passing many of the places Jim describes, and which too rarely find their historian. The past often looks different from the north of Scotland.
My forthcoming book on James Fraser now has a site. No mention of a paperback there yet, but that will follow the hardback, in due course.
#CuriousCleric
#EarlyModern
Leaving northern civility and interconnectedness behind for a couple of days to experience wild and remote Edinburgh. My first time south of the Highland line for over two years.
This has been an essential account for those living in, or connected with the Highlands and Islands. Great, under-the-radar work from the admins over the years in keeping it going and, more than that, for reminding us how Twitter can/could be a force for good. It will be missed.
For years during and after my PhD, I didn't allow myself, or struggled to find time for, a proper summer break. Wish I had. Four days in Perthshire isn't a huge holiday, but this, along with time off earlier in July, has provided new scenery and new perspectives. It's been great.
Just sent in the manuscript of my 'James Fraser' book to the publisher. I don't recall any previous writing project being as enjoyable as this. Twitter has brought good advice too - thanks to all who engaged with my
#CuriousCleric
tweets. Over to others now for their verdict.
Running has been one of the best things about this year - I'm not exactly starved for choice. I wish everyone a much better 2021, when it arrives. Happy New Year! Bliadhna Mhath Ùr!
To the woman behind me who placed a £5 note by the till before disappearing (this allowing me to pay the balance for my fuel when my bank card stopped working in the petrol station last night), thank you! A gesture of kindness like that can change your entire feeling about a day.
Nearly 5pm, Friday, and a chance to take an overdue break from the screen after a busy week.
#Lockdown
has led me to re-discover one of my favourite ways to relax.
#ThinkUHI
I've been heartened by the messages people sent on here after I mentioned having COVID. I'm lucky. Am now feeling pretty good, happy to be back at work, and testing negative. But the journey this illness takes people on can be less predictable than for flu or a cold. Take care.
We (
@UHIHistory
staff and research students) revalidated our research degrees today, receiving eight commendations, several recommendations and no conditions. A joy to hear us referred to as a ‘model’ and ‘success story’ for
#ThinkUHI
. Thanks to all involved. Job done!
I have the privilege of running the rotational 'Highlands and Islands Voices' account from now until next Sunday. Got plenty of tweets lined up should you be interested and not follow it already.
Hello, I’m
@WorthingtonD
. I’m logging in to start my week on
@Hi_Voices
! I live in Tain, Ross-shire, and I’ll be tweeting about my life as an historian, my job nine miles away in Dornoch as head of the UHI Centre for History, and what floats my boat, inside and outside of work.
Twenty yrs since I submitted my first chapter or article. In 2001, it was included in this
@Prof_Murdoch
edited book. His work, then and since, has had a massive impact on the historiography of
#earlymodern
Scotland. I'll always be grateful for the opportunity you gave me, Steve.
Don't often find time for historical fiction but this book has been a reminder of how it can light up new pathways towards Highland history. The description is vivid and imaginative, and the plot leaps energetically and spiritedly between the local and the global. A great read.
Wow. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, and being now in mid-semester (Week Six), we can confirm a rise in both undergraduate and taught postgraduate student numbers at
@UHIHistory
for 2020-21, compared with this time last year. Brilliant work from the team.
#ThinkUHI
Wonderful news! David was our second PhD student to complete successfully at
@UHIHistory
, and remains a good friend of ours. Congratulations to him!
#ThinkUHI
The Scottish History Book of the Year is The People Are Not There’ The Transformation of Badenoch 1800–1863 by David Taylor, published by
@BirlinnBooks
#SNBA23
@ScotHistReview
Delighted that, with the support of
@WHC_UHI
,
@UHIHistory
is now able to make available, open access and online, the proceedings of the 1880s Napier Commission, a key primary source for the history of the Highlands and Islands:
Reached 'part eight' today in a series of oral history recordings I've been doing with my Mum. Been a joy (and educational) to do this, and a good distraction from various current challenges for her, I think. We've still only got up to her teenage years.
@InvCourier
External verification is vital. Also, speak to our graduates. Then, read our results in the most recent UK-wide surveys (eg. the National Student Survey, Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey and the Research Excellence Framework) and define what doesn't look 'credible' in those.
Reflecting on why I research the seventeenth century in Europe. It's an age of cultural brilliance and maverick curiosity, yet one also of perplexity, violence and empire. It's harder to define than the sixteenth or eighteenth centuries but, for me, it always seems more familiar.
At
@UHIHistory
, we host the five published volumes of (and an index to) the Napier Commission in freely-available, digitised form. It's an unrivalled source of late nineteenth-century testimonies from the people of the Highlands and Islands:
#UHIResearch
Charles Fraser Mackintosh and Sir Kenneth MacKenzie, two of the members of the Napier Commission which, in 1883, gathered evidence for a report on the into the condition of crofters and cottars in the Highlands and Islands.
Been an interesting week of leave. Squeezed in some reading and walks near home amid much else. Good craic in the brilliant company of
@andyinverness
, Jennifer and their family today in their garden, and now pottering in mine with a glass of red, feeling energised and optimistic.
Had a walk with a pal, put up a bird box, did some composting, listened to some new stuff on Spotify and am now drinking a glass of wine. I had a day off today. It was good.
Excellent to represent
@UHIHistory
along with my colleague, Dr Nicola Martin, at the very well-attended Highland Heritage Day in Dingwall today. Thanks to ARCH for organising.
As
@UHIHistory
starts a new semester, a team member has had an email from a first-year stating that their course (and the work of our staff and
#ThinkUHI
colleagues) has 'totally changed' their life already, giving 'clarity of mind, focus, determination and drive.' Heartening.
Five months into lockdown, and notwithstanding the isolation that this brings for an 81-year-old who lives on her own, my Mum has been emailing me rigorously-researched explanations of various, to me, puzzling place-names in the part of Perthshire I spent my holiday in last week.
Hugely excited that we'll be bringing seventeen
@UHIHistory
staff together tomorrow (five in video and twelve in person, here in Dornoch) to discuss our teaching and pedagogy and how to enhance these further for our students. Our biggest staff gathering for at least three years!
Sorry, but this is not remotely funny (albeit highly revealing) as an April Fool's joke. Scotland is not a solely English-speaking country, but Gaelic - and, indeed, Scots and its other languages - are pushed ever further to the margins by statements like this.
"...to show that the Highlands and Islands, once dismissed as hopelessly impoverished, are actually rich in music, architecture, literature, archaeology and much else".
@JimHunter22
's words, from his 2007
@NorthernScotEUP
article, were key to this event:
Impressive evening of conversation between Donnie Munro of
#Runrig
and David Worthington at National Museum of Scotland - the themes of Music, Land and Culture.
#LandandPeople
@UHIHistory
Every seat taken!
Looking over the Cromarty Firth from Pulpit Rock, Tain Hill, this morning. Count myself extremely lucky that I can step out of the door, walk for a hour and get to places like this.
The storehouse (girnal) at
Foulis Ferry is a fine example of an architecture distinctive to Easter Ross and east Sutherland. The cluster of buildings here have served not only as a granary, but as a ferryhouse, place of protest, museum, and now a shop and restaurant. Lively spot.
After ten years of developing and leading on
@UHIHistory
masters degrees, as of 1 August, that responsibility is entrusted entirely in my colleagues,
@IainMacInnesUHI
and
@HillofFear
. I remain Head of the Centre, however (I've plenty to do here as we grow and evolve!)
@ThinkUHI
Been a demanding several days at work but sometimes the simplest of activities are the best way to wind down on a late August Wednesday. Too selfish to reveal my primary sources, on this occasion.
There are times when I think I have the best job in the world. Spent an hour at Nigg beach and pier this morning, in glorious sunshine, talking about ferries and firths with the friendly, super-professional
@BBCScotland
#Landward
team.
#firthsandfjords
#coastalhistory
.
We're getting to that time of year when, on a nice day like today, I should be buying my
@UHIHistory
colleagues an ice cream (cone with 99 flake optional!). They've done phenomenal work this year, teaching and supporting our largest-ever cohort of brilliant students
#ThinkUHI
A cataracts operation can be a life-changing experience for an elderly person. Thank you, NHS, who have provided them for two close family members of mine in recent weeks, just in time to see the spring buds and blossom.
Saw this today and thought it was one for
@SilenceInPolish
. The 1st Polish Corps ran a hospital in the village of Kenmore at the east end of Loch Tay, Perthshire, during WWII. They stayed in this Renaissance castle (Castle Menzies) nearby, where they also kept medical supplies.
It would be good if sections of our media would one day realise that their assumption that lockdown leads to people having lots of time on their hands is, for a substantial percentage of essential workers and others in the population, completely misguided.
A delight to celebrate another
@UHIHistory
PhD viva success today in the sunshine of Inverness. Congratulations to Julian Grant!
@kilvaxter
!
#ThinkUHI
Very happy to report that
@UHIHistory
doctoral student, Jane Thomas, passed her viva today, with just minor corrections. The thesis looks at the monopolising of salmon in the economy of the Moray Firth, c.1500-1800. It was a joy to supervise. Congratulations to Jane!
#ThinkUHI
Without a hugely generous gift from Dennis MacLeod (1939-2019),
@UHIHistory
would not have got up and running in 2005 and I would probably not have spent the last fifteen years working here. It was an honour to host Glynis MacLeod and two other family members in Dornoch today.
I was very shy as an undergrad, so, I was encouraged today when three students on my third-year module said they'd never before communicated in classes (verbally or via 'chat') as much as on this one. The impact of the pandemic on student participation has been complex.
#ThinkUHI
Eventful week. A highlight was celebrating my
@UHIHistory
colleague of over ten years, Dr Elizabeth Ritchie, becoming a Senior Lecturer. It's a fitting, overdue recognition of her tremendous work for us, and of her ever-growing ambitions as a lecturer and researcher.
#ThinkUHI
This complete misunderstands both the 'full' nature of blended and online teaching when supported and financed properly, and also the time and effort that staff are having to put in, across the board, to adapt their teaching materials, and ensure that a good standard is achieved.
For any teams now
#homeworking
, and who have access to a good video-conference system and connection, I recommend introducing 'online coffee breaks' at regular times. Another way to combat staff isolation and chat about issues that would otherwise create huge email traffic.
For me, a greater source of fatigue than
#videoconferencing
has often been the car or train journey (sometimes of several hours) to attend a short meeting in a distant place. The
#videocall
can work very well. It has been integral at
@UHIHistory
since we started in 2005.
“Zoom fatigue" is real and it will catch up to everyone, even the most extroverted of us.
@drvailewright
explains that we're all exhausted because our brains have to work harder on video calls than in face-to-face interactions.
13 miles of water lie between the Mull of Kintyre and the Antrim coast, and it's just a 34 mile sea crossing from Islay to County Donegal. Bettering our knowledge of Irish history is of huge importance to understanding the past of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.
Putting together new module for September: Tudor Conquest of Ireland. It will put Ireland at centre of narrative of Tudor expansion, studying Irish culture, political resilience, & atrocities committed by English colonists. Irish history remains chronically neglected in UK!