Loosen the Knot
Author: Dr. Donald MacFarlane
Ethnic identity has been explored within this book from the standpoint of accurate knowledge and faithful interpretation of historical events. This chapter offers up hypotheticals and counterpoints to some of the major themes embedded within each section and they are presented in such a way as to be mildly provocative, questioning or nuanced. This device may encourage the reader to return to each chapter to consider afresh whether Celtic identity is in a terminal state of decline, in a state of regrowth and resurgence, a mere confection or a symbol of the past adopted with nostalgia and pride? The reader is also introduced to a diagnostic method that helps to determine current ethnic identity.
Loosen the Knot Kindle or Smashwords PDF Download Available (see above).
This chapter is developed from the author’s PhD thesis on Self and Identity.
Respondents who would like to know more about their own Highland or Irish Celtic ethnicity can contact me for a cost-free individual assessment.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS PERTINENT TO ETHNICITY
History
a continuous, systematic account of past events as relating to a particular people, country or period.
Race a group of peoples forming an ethnic stock and united by common history, language and cultural traits.
Ancestry
Family or racial line or pedigree
Memory
The process of recalling past events or persons
Narrative
An accounts of events or experiences, whether true or fictitious
Symbol
A representation or image which conveys meaning by association or convention
Location
A tract of land that has been marked off for settlement
Culture
A set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes a group
Rights
Whatever is due to a person by law, tradition, nature or moral principle.
Folkway
A traditional social custom common to a group.
Religion
A set of beliefs, devotions and ritual observances.
Values
A set of beliefs and customs designed to strengthen the fabric of society.
Bond
A binding force that unites people in friendship
Sentiment
A thought or attitude based upon tender feeling rather than reason.
Temperament
A person‘s tendency, disposition and arousability as revealed in his reactions.
Entitlement
A belief that a person is due or deserving of some reward or benefit.
Disposition
The tendency to act in a certain manner under given circumstances.
Emotion
A state of feeling actuated by experience and accompanied by bodily changes.
Affiliation
A state of belonging and of being accepted into a society.
Striving
A strenuous effort towards a goal.
Authority
A power and legitimacy bestowed by virtue of position.
Conformity
Compliance and yielding to group pressure.
Congruence
A state when a person‘s internal beliefs, strategies and behaviours are in full agreement and in line with a desired personal outcome.
Empathy
The ability to experience and understand the emotional state of another person.
Defence
A resistance to an attack by force.
Survival
An outliving of an event.
Conflict
A clash between opposing groups.
Entity
A person or population which is separate and individual.
Assimilation
The social process of acceptance and absorption of a minority group into harmony with another.
Adaptation
The adjustment of a person or population to a new or altered environment
ETHNIC IDENTITY
Respondents with Scottish ancestry were invited to identify with four notable historical figures from the Scottish Highlands of the 1700-1800s:
Average Responses:
Empathy
Range from 0.00 to 1.00
Governor Lachlan Macqarrie 0.85
General Hugh MacKay 0.85
My Highland Ancestor 0.80
Sir John McNeill 0.70
Colonel Gordon of Cluny 0.65
Interpretation: Respondents empathised most with Governor Macquarie, a cosmopolitan and humanitarian figure who settled Australia before returning to his Highland roots; least with Colonel Gordon who was a hard-nosed entrepeneur out mostly for himself. No surprise there, but more so in the identification of respondents with General Hugh MacKay, a Gaelic-speaking Highlander who suppressed the Jacobite Highland clans who rose up against William of Orange.
Conflict
Range from 0.00 to 1.00
The person I dislike the most 0.55
Colonel Gordon of Cluny 0.54
Governor Lachlan Macqarrie 0.46
Sir John McNeill 0.46
My Highland Ancestor 0.40
General Hugh MacKay 0.36
The same technique can be used for any interested vistor to this site who would like their own Celtic Identity assessed.
Dubbed ‘The Queen of Songs’, this ancient lament-turned-waulking song from the Alexander Carmichael ‘Carmina Gadelica’ collection tells of the heartbreak of the young beloved of Seathan, son of a King of Ireland, at his being cut down in his prime. But how did this song (composed in the finest Scottish and not Irish Gaelic) come from Skye?