The Patrick Geddes Centre have partnered with Newbattle Abbey College to develop an exciting new course on Gaelic Language, Culture and Landscape.
The course will be delivered by Newbattle Abbey Colleges Celtic Studies tutors and will introduce you to:
The presence of the Gaels in Edinburgh through the centuries, conventions and stories of Gaelic tradition considering character, creatures and environment and ideas and perceptions of the Highlands and Highlanders.
Dates: 13th Sept to 15th Nov
Time: 6 – 8pm Cost: £75
Venue: Riddle’s Court
Course content
A lively series of four interactive learning sessions:
Gaelic language and the landscape.
By Neil MacGregor.
The sessions will look at Gaelic language and the landscape. We will look at the basic rules for pronouncing and spelling Gaelic and see what place names can tell us about natural and human history. We will look at hill names, follow a river from source to sea and see what we can learn of how the land has changed over time.
The Gaels in Edinburgh through the centuries.
By Michel Byrne.
The sessions will examine evidence for the presence of Gaelic-speakers in the Edinburgh area through a variety of sources including place names, census returns, contemporary accounts and songs.
The conventions and stories of Gaelic tradition.
By Patrick Boxall.
The sessions will be workshops that explore some of the conventions and texts of stories that we tell and write. The workshops will consider character, creature and environment and draw on the literary and oral traditions of Celtic Heritage in a contemporary context.
Ideas and Perceptions of the Highlands and Highlanders 1750 – 1900.
By Neil Hargraves.
The sessions will discuss some of the key themes of Highland and Lowland interaction during this period. Why were Lowlanders so fascinated by the Highlands in the period after the Jacobite uprising? How far did they sentimentalise and romanticise Highland culture? What role did the Highlands play in shaping Scottish, British and Imperial identity? And how far did Highlanders shape these perceptions?
Contact Newbattle Abbey College to book your place
www.patrickgeddescentre.org.uk
Riddle’s Court, 322 Lawnmarket, Edinburgh 0131 220 1232
