By Wilson Mcleod and Anja Gunderloch
BONNIE Prince Charlie and the Jacobites is the title of a major new National Museums Scotland (NMS) exhibition and one of the most celebrated, romanticised and misunderstood aspects of Scottish history. For the Gàidhealtachd, the impact of the Battle of Culloden and the repression and transformations that followed are difficult to overstate. Gaels played a key role in all the Jacobite risings, memorialised in a rich body of poetry and song by some of the greatest figures in Gaelic literature. Many Jacobite songs are remembered and sung today.
The NMS website promises that the exhibition will “examine some of the misconceptions that have surrounded” the Jacobites, but it appears to have maintained one of the most enduring and pernicious misconceptions: that the Gaels were minor players in the Jacobite movement and that the English language suffices to tell all aspects of the Jacobite story. The physical exhibition will be entirely in English, with the Gaelic element in the Jacobite story played down and marginalised; an act of linguistic and cultural erasure.
Like many other public bodies in Scotland, NMS has produced a Gaelic Language Plan, as required by the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005. The key principle of the act is that Gaelic and English should be given equal respect. This does not mandate a fully bilingual operation but it does require the use of Gaelic in appropriate circumstances. NMS has been criticised for its narrow, unimaginative treatment of Gaelic, which compares unfavourably to other national cultural bodies such as the National Library of Scotland that have shown greater understanding and commitment in developing and implementing their Gaelic plans.
As to the Jacobites exhibition, it appears that NMS is not even fulfilling the terms of its Gaelic plan, which provides that Gaelic will be used in interpretation when Gaelic is relevant to the exhibition in question. It would be difficult to find a topic for which Gaelic is more relevant than that of the Jacobites. NMS had an opportunity to make this exhibition a showcase in relation to Gaelic: bringing Gaelic to the forefront for the first time, allowing Gaelic perspectives to inform the exhibition and taking an innovative new approach to bilingual presentation and recognition for the language.
Instead, we are reassured that the texts of exhibition panels will be available in Gaelic on the NMS website and that free wifi is provided. This hardly amounts to equal respect. Imagine the alternative, if English speakers were presented with an all-Gaelic exhibition and had to go online to access the English version. The guided visits and curator talks will be in English only, the book accompanying the exhibition will be in English only and there are no Gaelic-medium lectures or cultural or educational events to accompany the exhibition.
In a previous exhibition on The Celts last year, NMS was criticised for failing adequately to present the living reality of the Celtic languages, especially Gaelic in Scotland. It is disappointing that NMS has not learned from that episode. The Gaelic campaign group Misneachd has gone so far as to organise a demonstration, to be held this afternoon, to protesting against the marginalisation of Gaelic in the Jacobites exhibition.
It is not unreasonable to ask for a more balanced presentation that gives Gaelic its rightful place. As the Jacobite poet Iain Ruadh Stiùbhart sang, “Chan eil sinn a’ sireadh ach còir”: “We are seeking only the right”.
Wilson McLeod is Professor of Gaelic and Anja Gunderloch is Lecturer in Celtic at the University of Edinburgh.
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