Facing Our History – The North American Gael

Facing Our History – The North American Gael examines the role of the Highlander, the Scottish Gael, in the colonial and post-colonial history of North America, and how colonialism impacted the Scottish Gael.  Sgoil Gàidhlig Bhaile an Taigh Mhóir co-founders, Scott Morrison and Rick Gwynallen will be interviewing Scottish Gaelic and Indigenous academics, leaders, and activists in North America to educate ourselves on our own history, and to use that fresh perspective to shape a path forward today. As we do so, we will explore the challenges and opportunities facing the Gaelic language and culture today, and you will meet some of the people making a difference today. Each program will be in the medium of English to reach the widest audience, but will have some Gaelic woven into the program – a taste of Gaelic if you will. You will also find in these pages reviews of books and other material relevant to our subject and other resources

As we begin this journey together, we confront a wide range of questions: How did English colonialism and imperialism re-shape the Gaelic world?  How did that same colonialism result in us being here in North America? How did it re-shape Gaelic psychology and identity? How did it condition our relationships with Indigenous peoples as well as other non-Indigenous populations?  How did it shape the relationship of the Gaelic communities to the institution of slavery and the Black experience? How did the Gael fit into the racial-ethnic hegemony that resulted from the development of modernity and capitalism upon that foundation of colonialism? How did a people victimized by colonialism and capitalism become participants in or beneficiaries of those same systems? What have been the consequences of that process?  How can the Gaelic tradition contribute to a different and just future? 

The Indigenous activist John Trudell once said:  “We must become of a resistance consciousness. We must say that, “We will not allow you to smash us, even if it means that we have to deal with that part of you that you planted in me . . . “ Part of this process is learning and part is unlearning, dealing with how oppression and colonialism planted its culture in us, and stripping that away.

There is an assumption at the foundation of this project: That if we better understand our own Scottish Gaelic history and our own experience of oppression and colonization, and the responses of our ancestors to those conditions, we can not only revitalize our own language and culture but be better allies with those who suffered from the same process.