#51: “Curious Rubbish”: An Analysis of Fairy Belief in the Scottish Highlands and Problematic 19th Century Ethnography — Presentation Detail — Celebration of Scholars

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#51: “Curious Rubbish”: An Analysis of Fairy Belief in the Scottish Highlands and Problematic 19th Century Ethnography

Name: Ava Serfling Bennett
Major: History
Hometown: Sioux Falls, SD
Faculty Sponsor:
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Senior thesis

Abstract

As any who has traveled to Scotland knows, the moody and whimsical landscape feels out of a Shakespearean fever dream. The hills and lochs have a lure that can only be described as magic, and modern visitors are not the first to feel this pull. Since ancient times, Scotland and fairies have been synonymous. Although written off as anecdotal by most academics, fairy belief is real and true to Scottish history. Functioning as both spiritual and secular, fairies shaped daily life in Scotland through agricultural practices, medicine, law and order, community, and even the life and death of future generations. Yet this framework of life was dismissed- predominantly by English scholars in the 19th and 20th centuries. This essay hopes to identify and investigate the perspective 19th-century proto-ethnographers took against folklore beliefs in the Scottish Highlands. While folklore can be found in the Highlands much earlier, this paper will pick up the thread around 1500 and overview the impact and infrastructure of fairy belief. Following this exposition, the revival in folklore study during the romanticism period of 1800s Britain will be interrogated. Particularly, the role of a colonial relationship between England and Scotland and Social Darwinism will be central to themes of the late 1890s. This relationship defined the tone and value assigned to traditional Scottish folklore in greater academia, deeply affecting the contemporary understanding of Scottish history and daily life. The specific ethnographers in question include but are not limited to John Pinkerton, Andrew Lang, J.F. Cambell, and R.U. Sayce.

Poster file