Highland homecomings : genealogy and heritage tourism in the Scottish highland diaspora

The first full-length ethnographic study of its kind, Highland Homecomings examines the role of place, ancestry and territorial attachment in the context of a modern age characterized by mobility and rootlessness. With an interdisciplinary approach, speaking to current themes in anthropology, archaeology, history, historical geography, cultural studies, migration studies, tourism studies, Scottish studies, Paul Basu explores the journeys made to the Scottish Highlands and Islands to undertake genealogical research and seek out ancestral sites. Using an innovative methodological approach, Basu tracks journeys between imagined homelands and physical landscapes and argues that through these genealogical journeys, individuals are able to construct meaningful self-narratives from the ambiguities of their diasporic migrant histories, and recover their sense of home and self-identity. This is a significant contribution to popular and academic Scottish studies literature, particularly appealing to popular and academic audiences in USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Scotland

The first full-length ethnographic study of its kind, Highland Homecomings examines the role of place, ancestry and territorial attachment in the context of a modern age characterized by mobility and rootlessness.

With an interdisciplinary approach, speaking to current themes in anthropology, archaeology, history, historical geography, cultural studies, migration studies, tourism studies, Scottish studies, Paul Basu explores the journeys made to the Scottish Highlands and Islands to undertake genealogical research and seek out ancestral sites.

Using an innovative methodological approach, Basu tracks journeys between imagined homelands and physical landscapes and argues that through these genealogical journeys, individuals are able to construct meaningful self-narratives from the ambiguities of their diasporic migrant histories, and recover their sense of home and self-identity.

This is a significant contribution to popular and academic Scottish studies literature, particularly appealing to popular and academic audiences in USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Scotland

Book Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 Illustrations......Page 7 Prologue: Other landscapes......Page 9 1. Introduction......Page 18 2. An itinerant anthropology......Page 42 3. Genealogy and heritage tourism in the Scottish diaspora: an overview......Page 54 4. Imagineering home......Page 82 5. Home spaces, homepages, homelands......Page 111 6. Clanlands......Page 139 7. Sites of memory, sources of identity......Page 166 8. Homecomings......Page 176 9. Exiles and emigrants: Negotiating the moralities of migrant family histories......Page 204 10. Heuristic journeys......Page 234 Notes......Page 246 Bibliography......Page 252 Index......Page 264 "Highland Homecomings examines the role of place, ancestry and territorial attachment in the context of a modern age characterised by mobility and rootlessness. People of Scottish descent are dispersed throughout the world: Paul Basu explores the journeys they make to the Scottish Highlands and Islands to undertake genealogical research and seek out sites associated with their ancestors. He argues that through these genealogical journeys, individuals are able to construct meaningful self-narratives from the ambiguities of their diasporic migrant histories, and so recover a more secure sense of home and self-identity."--Jacket Social Sciences Book Cover 1 Title 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 Illustrations 7 Prologue: Other landscapes 9 1. Introduction 18 2. An itinerant anthropology 42 3. Genealogy and heritage tourism in the Scottish diaspora: an overview 54 4. Imagineering home 82 5. Home spaces, homepages, homelands 111 6. Clanlands 139 7. Sites of memory, sources of identity 166 8. Homecomings 176 9. Exiles and emigrants: Negotiating the moralities of migrant family histories 204 10. Heuristic journeys 234 Notes 246 Bibliography 252 Index 264 'Highland Homecomings' is concerned with practices through which members of transnational/diasporic communities construct and negotiate aspects of their identities in relation to perceived ancestral homelands. Addressing a central paradox of globalization, the book examines the role of place, belonging, and territorial attachment