AHRC Island Cultural Archives Workshops Overview

Island Cultural Archives: knowledge transfer opportunities in the Hebrides 2007-2008
An Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Funded Project 

  • Dr Kathryn A Burnett,School of Media, Language and Music

    • University of the West of Scotland    

  • Island Cultural Archives: Workshops Overview 

    • In response to an emerging ‘new era’ for the island communities of South Uist, Benbecula and Eriskay, this research project set out to explore, in collaboration with local cultural resource experts, as well as academics from several Scottish universities, the way in which the islands’ cultural resource is articulated and how it might be critically engaged with in a series of focused, thematic symposia style events. The principal aim was to bring academics and cultural organisations charged with local cultural resource management together to identify and build the research potential of the cultural resources of the Hebridean islands of South Uist, Benbecula and Eriskay. The workshop events, although small,[i] were developed with a view to further stimulate debate, inspire creativity, to forge identity and to sustain community.
    Three full days of focused delivery, discussion and reflection, all of which has been recorded on digital video, have delivered on this first principle aim, and details of this are found in the three workshop accounts.  The incubation of knowledge transfer opportunities through the development of a specific research agenda in relation to archives variously held in trust for the community was a broad secondary aim of the project workshops and a number of thoughtful and relevant statements and suggestions were made to this end. 
    Furthermore, a number of specific research developments were noted and aspects of these are currently being developed. In this respect the underlying ethos to foster an exchange of ideas, as well as targeting and acting upon emergent synergies from the workshop events, has been realised. Core to the project was the intention to examine the research potential of resources and how these might be developed in partnership. 
    The core objectives of the project were formally stated as:
    (i) to identify the context and perceptions of cultural resources in the area;
    (ii) to critique how the new community ownership status of the islands impacts on this;
    (iii) to explore the idea and practice of adding value to a community’s existing resource through its claim on, and development of, cultural heritage.  
    With these objectives in mind the idea of the ‘knowledge economy’ and the opportunities to exchange ideas and expertise within a specific localised context was engaged with and reflected upon in some detail. 

  • Knowledge Exchange Partnership

    • It has been suggested that the cultural richness of the islands of South Uist, Benbecula and Eriskay is ‘immeasurable’. This claim follows in a long tradition of intellectuals, academics, and cultural champions who have not only recognised this worth but have sought to record and to disseminate the cultural heritage of the islands for a wider audience.
    The interest and support shown for this AHRC research study, by a number of highly respected academics, and the willingness of so many local cultural organisations to commit to the project is not only welcome, but more importantly is testimony itself to the special nature of the heritage concerned, and the potential for knowledge exchange in its name. 

    A series of informal discussions were undertaken by Dr Kathryn A Burnett, Principle Investigator (PI) of the project in late 2006 with representatives of each of the organisations detailed below and some further preliminary workshop development took place in July 2007 with the PI making contact with several other potential participants. This resulted in representation from a highly appropriate range of community based and external HEI organisations.  In some cases several participants from key organisations who undertook to deliver a presentation at a session, took part in one or more of the three workshops. In other cases only a single individual attended as representative of either their personal or an organisation interest. Certain participants came for more than one workshop and this was not only facilitated but positively encouraged by the PI. The cumulative effect of bridging discussion from each the three workshops to the next was therefore notable.
    The cultural archive, community and academic organisations who took part in the workshops are listed below, and a number of individuals are detailed in the workshop summaries that follow.
    • Comunn Eachdraidh  Uibhist  A Deas, South Uist Historical Society
    • Comunn Eachdraidh Beinn na Faoghla, Benbecula Historical Societ
    • Comhairle nan Eilean Siar
    • Dícuil Institute for Island Studies
    • Museum nan Eilean
    • South Uist and Benbecula Archives Trust
    • Taigh Chearsabhagh Arts Centre
    • Tobar an Dualchais
    • UHI/ Sabhal Mór Ostaig
    • University of Dundee
    • University of Edinburgh
    • University of the West of Scotland
    • University of Stirling
    • Stòras Uibhist  

    I would like to take this opportunity to thank again all who took part and who supported and gave advice in relation to this AHRC funded workshop series. Each workshop report details those present at each event and further contributions from other individuals and groups. Each contribution was thoughtful, informed and tailored to the event thus stimulating the discussion and a quality of debate.

    I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Tommy MacDonald who facilitated the use of the Feis room at Kildonan Museum. I would like to thank Barbara MacDonald and her staff at the Kildonan Museum Café for her catering and her contribution to the success of each day.

    A special thanks also to the following, who each provided particular input to the success of the project overall:

    Mrs Effie MacMillan and Mr Donald MacNeil of Comunn Eachdraidh Uibhist A Deas and Kildonan Museum, (CEUD/South Uist Local History Society);

    Mrs. Catherine Muir of Comunn Eachdraidh Beinn na Faoghla, (the Benbecula Historical Society);

    Mr Ray Burnett (SUBAT/Dícuil Institute for Island Studies);

    Ms. Dana MacPhee, formerly of Museum nan Eilean and now based at Taigh Chearsabhagh, North Uist.

    I would also like to thank colleagues Mr Tony Grace, University of the West of Scotland, Lesley-Anne Niven and Louise McGrath, University of the West of Scotland, for their help, advice and support. 

    What follows next is a detailed account of the workshop sessions including a number of photographic stills for further illustration. These reports (Workshops One, Two, and Three) are in themselves works in progress. Any errors, or misrepresentations are entirely mine and I will be very happy to rectify these accordingly.

    Furthermore, a number of project suggestions are being explored and the website set up and dedicated to the Island Cultural Archives project will detail these as they unfold (URL: http://islandcas.wordpress.com). Each Workshop report is also available to download from this website. Lastly, I would like to thank the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for agreeing to fund this workshop series and for the comments made available by two anonymous reviewers which were most helpful in the formulation of initial stages of the project development. 

  • Kathryn A Burnett,   Dec 2007
    [i] These gatherings were of necessity small, these being sparsely populated communities.


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