(1) What is Misneachd’s mission? When and how did Misneachd come into being? Why is such an organisation necessary in modern Scotland?
Misneachd was established early in 2016 primarily to normalise and embolden the use of our Scottish Gaelic language. Our grassroots group aims to foster confidence, and courage, Misneachd in Scottish Gaelic, among its speakers and our compatriots in Scotland to be proud of our unique language and culture. The language is fundamental to the national, and international, image of Scotland, we should have the confidence to use it.
We are campaigning to increase the numbers and strengthen the abilities of Scottish Gaelic speakers through developing confidence and normalising the use and status of the language as a living part of Scottish identity. We are aiming to encourage a multi-lingual society where it is not thought rude or exclusive to speak languages other than English.
We
support and encourage speakers and learners to use the language in
informal and engaging settings. We run regular ‘Pop Up Gàidhealtachd’
nights where people can use the language in non-typical settings, with
the dual aim of increasing the appeal of Scottish Gaelic as a language
of everyday use while also demonstrating to non-Gaelic speakers that the
language is alive, vibrant and that we want to use it. These nights
have been very successful both in Scotland, and in Ireland where they
originated, and aim to break the ghettoization of the language,
historically by geography, and more recently within the education
system.
The group was inspired by, and is informally associated with, the group of the same name in Ireland ‘Misneach’. We feel there is a lot young Gaels in Scotland can learn from our Irish friends and we are keen to encourage attendance at Misneach Ireland’s AGMs and various other festivals and events, Ní neart go cur le chéile, mar a chanas iad! As a group we are engaged politically, with a broadly left wing perspective and a strong belief in localisation, but we do not support any one political party. We aim to establish branches throughout Scotland, and potentially internationally, which are semi-autonomous and non-hierarchical.
While progress has been made since the Gaelic Language Act was passed in 2005, there is a feeling that Bòrd na Gàidhlig are expected to be campaigning for and championing the language beyond their remit as a Quango created under the Act and representing the Government and its policies. What is required is a strengthening of the Gaelic Language Act, an extension of it at Westminster so that it covers reserved bodies such as the DVLA. This type of campaign must be a grassroots effort which would result in a strengthened Bòrd na Gàidhlig, with a Language Commissioner and a genuine charter of rights for Scottish Gaelic, Scots, Welsh and Irish speakers. There is still no legal right to Gaelic Medium Education despite it appearing in the SNP’s 2007 manifesto. “We will guarantee in law the right to a Gaelic medium education at primary level, where reasonable demand exists, and actively pursue the Gaelic teacher strategy.” (Pg 53)
(2) What are some examples of what Misneachd has done and how it has responded to issues? What, in brief, are your priorities and what kinds of issues are most pressing for the Gaelic community?
Probably the biggest impact we’ve had to date was our campaign highlighting the lack of Gaelic in the National Museums Scotland exhibition on Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobites. The exhibition was building on international interest in the Jacobites created largely by the popular Outlander TV programme which itself made a reasonable effort to represent the majority language of the highlands at the time. The campaign caught the attention of the public and media and articles appeared in each of the Celtic languages as well as in French.
While the campaign was successful in raising awareness of the issue and ensuring other public bodies in Scotland understand that there is public interest in ensuring the language survives and is given its rightful place in Scottish public life, it was too late to secure the bilingual exhibition boards we would have ideally seen, and as NMS’ own Gaelic Plan would lead us to expect. Following the campaign translations were provided of Gaelic songs used in the exhibition and NMS arranged a tour of the exhibition with a Gaelic speaking historian, which was enjoyable and well attended.
Following this we have run similar campaigns to secure greater use of Gaelic in public life, most recently submitting a petition to Bòrd na Gàidhlig that they request SPT (Strathclyde Partnership for Transport which runs the subway and buses in Glasgow) to prepare a Gaelic Language Plan under the 2005 Act. While we can’t say too much about this just now, we are optimistic that this will be successful. Scotrail station names are all bilingual and it would be great to see this on the Subway stations in Baile Mòr nan Gàidheal!
While these more high profile campaigns are a good way to raise awareness and build a grass roots campaign, an important part of what we do is in preparing responses to the multitude of Gaelic Language Plan consultations carried out every 5 years by public bodies devolved to the Scottish Parliament. We encourage interested parties to respond to these but have also been preparing responses on behalf of Misneachd which are shared on social media and people can add their names to our response via a platform such as SurveyMonkey. This ensures maximum response to the consultations and allows us to build pressure on public bodies to do more to support Gaelic.
Talking about priorities, we recognise, as our sister organisation Misneach Ireland recognise, that our languages can’t survive without their traditional heartland communities. Our organisation is currently largely Glasgow and Edinburgh based and we do as much as we can in these cities and nationally to promote the language. However we are looking to do more in the islands themselves where Gaelic’s future as a community language is under serious threat from various demographic, social and economic forces. We hope to highlight these, open up debate and where necessary campaign against them. We have a number of ‘operatives’ based in na h-Eileanan Siar (the Hebrides) and the Gàidhealtachd (Highlands) but ideally we’d like a Misneachd branch established locally where that sort of grassroots movement should exist and is badly needed.
3. There are literally millions of people in North America with Gaelic ancestry. Some of them are aware of this and take an active interest. In fact, the heritage industry in Scotland is hugely dependent upon their patronage. And yet the heritage industry often does a great disservice to Gaelic by ignoring, distorting or trivialising the language and culture. Many Canadians and Americans are very conscious of historic wrongs and injustices in their own countries, and wish to create a more fair and equitable world. How can people in North America ensure that their patronage as tourists and as donors to charitable causes in Scotland are to the benefit of Gaelic? In what ways can they become more aware of these ongoing struggles in Scotland and be engaged with groups such as yours?
A huge difficulty we face as Scottish Gaelic speakers is the historic ‘othering’ of the language. As you note, many people who identify as Scottish diaspora today are of Gaelic ancestry, perhaps people forced to leave Scotland during the clearances. Much of the ‘identity’ they associate with, and Scots generally associate with, is drawn from Gaelic culture, tartan, clans and surnames, bagpipes, kilts, whisky, place names, traditional music, highland emblems and wild landscapes. The Scottish nation was forged by Gaels and our national self-image is still shaped by that, no matter how distant the language itself is from most Scots today. It’s an issue we struggle with in contemporary Scotland so it is little wonder that has transferred to the diaspora.
The Jacobite exhibition we mentioned earlier is a prime example, Americans and Canadians drawn to their own history, potentially through the romantic lens of Outlander, but given a very sanitised, anglicised view of that history by NMS. We saw recently that the William Grant Foundation have funded a National Museums of Scotland Research Fellowship looking to reappraise the “material culture of the highland revival of the late 18th and 19th century” which makes no mention of a requirement for Gaelic language skills. If those funded to examine our history are monoglots unable to fully appreciate the entirety of available first hand sources, it is little wonder our history is so Anglo-centric.
There
is some great work being done in the US and in Canada by indigenous
groups supporting and reinvigorating their language communities, as well
as in support of Scottish Gaelic in Nova Scotia. It’s important we look
for inspiration and innovation abroad in our resistance to a globalised
monoculture. Catalonia and the Basque country for example have made
great strides in restoring their languages to national prominence.
We would encourage tourists to use established hotels and local businesses rather than Airbnb rentals which are likely inflating local house prices and taking away already scarce housing from locals in rural areas. We are seeing more about this in the media of late, in Scotland and internationally and it is important that tourism enhances local economies and that communities see the benefit of this.
We would encourage support of organisations such as Ceòlas in Uist, local organisations which support the language at the vital community level rather than the big Edinburgh heritage organisations or official ‘clans’. We see social media platforms as useful tools for engaging with this wider audience and the work that Gaelic USA is doing is an important part of raising awareness and changing opinions.
Source
Misneachd was established early in 2016 primarily to normalise and embolden the use of our Scottish Gaelic language. Our grassroots group aims to foster confidence, and courage, Misneachd in Scottish Gaelic, among its speakers and our compatriots in Scotland to be proud of our unique language and culture. The language is fundamental to the national, and international, image of Scotland, we should have the confidence to use it.
We are campaigning to increase the numbers and strengthen the abilities of Scottish Gaelic speakers through developing confidence and normalising the use and status of the language as a living part of Scottish identity. We are aiming to encourage a multi-lingual society where it is not thought rude or exclusive to speak languages other than English.
We
support and encourage speakers and learners to use the language in
informal and engaging settings. We run regular ‘Pop Up Gàidhealtachd’
nights where people can use the language in non-typical settings, with
the dual aim of increasing the appeal of Scottish Gaelic as a language
of everyday use while also demonstrating to non-Gaelic speakers that the
language is alive, vibrant and that we want to use it. These nights
have been very successful both in Scotland, and in Ireland where they
originated, and aim to break the ghettoization of the language,
historically by geography, and more recently within the education
system.The group was inspired by, and is informally associated with, the group of the same name in Ireland ‘Misneach’. We feel there is a lot young Gaels in Scotland can learn from our Irish friends and we are keen to encourage attendance at Misneach Ireland’s AGMs and various other festivals and events, Ní neart go cur le chéile, mar a chanas iad! As a group we are engaged politically, with a broadly left wing perspective and a strong belief in localisation, but we do not support any one political party. We aim to establish branches throughout Scotland, and potentially internationally, which are semi-autonomous and non-hierarchical.
While progress has been made since the Gaelic Language Act was passed in 2005, there is a feeling that Bòrd na Gàidhlig are expected to be campaigning for and championing the language beyond their remit as a Quango created under the Act and representing the Government and its policies. What is required is a strengthening of the Gaelic Language Act, an extension of it at Westminster so that it covers reserved bodies such as the DVLA. This type of campaign must be a grassroots effort which would result in a strengthened Bòrd na Gàidhlig, with a Language Commissioner and a genuine charter of rights for Scottish Gaelic, Scots, Welsh and Irish speakers. There is still no legal right to Gaelic Medium Education despite it appearing in the SNP’s 2007 manifesto. “We will guarantee in law the right to a Gaelic medium education at primary level, where reasonable demand exists, and actively pursue the Gaelic teacher strategy.” (Pg 53)
(2) What are some examples of what Misneachd has done and how it has responded to issues? What, in brief, are your priorities and what kinds of issues are most pressing for the Gaelic community?
Probably the biggest impact we’ve had to date was our campaign highlighting the lack of Gaelic in the National Museums Scotland exhibition on Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobites. The exhibition was building on international interest in the Jacobites created largely by the popular Outlander TV programme which itself made a reasonable effort to represent the majority language of the highlands at the time. The campaign caught the attention of the public and media and articles appeared in each of the Celtic languages as well as in French.
While the campaign was successful in raising awareness of the issue and ensuring other public bodies in Scotland understand that there is public interest in ensuring the language survives and is given its rightful place in Scottish public life, it was too late to secure the bilingual exhibition boards we would have ideally seen, and as NMS’ own Gaelic Plan would lead us to expect. Following the campaign translations were provided of Gaelic songs used in the exhibition and NMS arranged a tour of the exhibition with a Gaelic speaking historian, which was enjoyable and well attended.
Following this we have run similar campaigns to secure greater use of Gaelic in public life, most recently submitting a petition to Bòrd na Gàidhlig that they request SPT (Strathclyde Partnership for Transport which runs the subway and buses in Glasgow) to prepare a Gaelic Language Plan under the 2005 Act. While we can’t say too much about this just now, we are optimistic that this will be successful. Scotrail station names are all bilingual and it would be great to see this on the Subway stations in Baile Mòr nan Gàidheal!
While these more high profile campaigns are a good way to raise awareness and build a grass roots campaign, an important part of what we do is in preparing responses to the multitude of Gaelic Language Plan consultations carried out every 5 years by public bodies devolved to the Scottish Parliament. We encourage interested parties to respond to these but have also been preparing responses on behalf of Misneachd which are shared on social media and people can add their names to our response via a platform such as SurveyMonkey. This ensures maximum response to the consultations and allows us to build pressure on public bodies to do more to support Gaelic.
Talking about priorities, we recognise, as our sister organisation Misneach Ireland recognise, that our languages can’t survive without their traditional heartland communities. Our organisation is currently largely Glasgow and Edinburgh based and we do as much as we can in these cities and nationally to promote the language. However we are looking to do more in the islands themselves where Gaelic’s future as a community language is under serious threat from various demographic, social and economic forces. We hope to highlight these, open up debate and where necessary campaign against them. We have a number of ‘operatives’ based in na h-Eileanan Siar (the Hebrides) and the Gàidhealtachd (Highlands) but ideally we’d like a Misneachd branch established locally where that sort of grassroots movement should exist and is badly needed.
3. There are literally millions of people in North America with Gaelic ancestry. Some of them are aware of this and take an active interest. In fact, the heritage industry in Scotland is hugely dependent upon their patronage. And yet the heritage industry often does a great disservice to Gaelic by ignoring, distorting or trivialising the language and culture. Many Canadians and Americans are very conscious of historic wrongs and injustices in their own countries, and wish to create a more fair and equitable world. How can people in North America ensure that their patronage as tourists and as donors to charitable causes in Scotland are to the benefit of Gaelic? In what ways can they become more aware of these ongoing struggles in Scotland and be engaged with groups such as yours?
A huge difficulty we face as Scottish Gaelic speakers is the historic ‘othering’ of the language. As you note, many people who identify as Scottish diaspora today are of Gaelic ancestry, perhaps people forced to leave Scotland during the clearances. Much of the ‘identity’ they associate with, and Scots generally associate with, is drawn from Gaelic culture, tartan, clans and surnames, bagpipes, kilts, whisky, place names, traditional music, highland emblems and wild landscapes. The Scottish nation was forged by Gaels and our national self-image is still shaped by that, no matter how distant the language itself is from most Scots today. It’s an issue we struggle with in contemporary Scotland so it is little wonder that has transferred to the diaspora.
The Jacobite exhibition we mentioned earlier is a prime example, Americans and Canadians drawn to their own history, potentially through the romantic lens of Outlander, but given a very sanitised, anglicised view of that history by NMS. We saw recently that the William Grant Foundation have funded a National Museums of Scotland Research Fellowship looking to reappraise the “material culture of the highland revival of the late 18th and 19th century” which makes no mention of a requirement for Gaelic language skills. If those funded to examine our history are monoglots unable to fully appreciate the entirety of available first hand sources, it is little wonder our history is so Anglo-centric.
There
is some great work being done in the US and in Canada by indigenous
groups supporting and reinvigorating their language communities, as well
as in support of Scottish Gaelic in Nova Scotia. It’s important we look
for inspiration and innovation abroad in our resistance to a globalised
monoculture. Catalonia and the Basque country for example have made
great strides in restoring their languages to national prominence.We would encourage tourists to use established hotels and local businesses rather than Airbnb rentals which are likely inflating local house prices and taking away already scarce housing from locals in rural areas. We are seeing more about this in the media of late, in Scotland and internationally and it is important that tourism enhances local economies and that communities see the benefit of this.
We would encourage support of organisations such as Ceòlas in Uist, local organisations which support the language at the vital community level rather than the big Edinburgh heritage organisations or official ‘clans’. We see social media platforms as useful tools for engaging with this wider audience and the work that Gaelic USA is doing is an important part of raising awareness and changing opinions.
Source
