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Scottish national identity is a term referring to the sense of national identity and common culture
Culture of Scotland

The culture of Scotland refers to the idiosyncratic culture norms of Scotland and the Scottish people. Some elements of Scottish culture, such as its separate Church of Scotland, are protected in law through the Act of Union 1707 and other instruments....
 of Scottish people
Scottish people

The Scots people are a nation and an ethnic group indigenous to Scotland.Historically, as an ethnic group, they emerged from an amalgamation of Celts, Picts, Gaels and Brythons....
 and is shared by a considerable majority of the people of Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
.

Scottish national identity is largely free from ethnic
Ethnology

Ethnology is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the ethnicity, Race , and/or national divisions of humanity....
 distinction, and it has been noted (Sunday Herald 4 September 2005) that many of "immigrant" descent see themselves (and are seen as), for example, Pakistan
Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
i and Scottish: Asian-Scots.






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David Mcleod
Scottish national identity is a term referring to the sense of national identity and common culture
Culture of Scotland

The culture of Scotland refers to the idiosyncratic culture norms of Scotland and the Scottish people. Some elements of Scottish culture, such as its separate Church of Scotland, are protected in law through the Act of Union 1707 and other instruments....
 of Scottish people
Scottish people

The Scots people are a nation and an ethnic group indigenous to Scotland.Historically, as an ethnic group, they emerged from an amalgamation of Celts, Picts, Gaels and Brythons....
 and is shared by a considerable majority of the people of Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
.

Scottish national identity is largely free from ethnic
Ethnology

Ethnology is the branch of anthropology that compares and analyzes the origins, distribution, technology, religion, language, and social structure of the ethnicity, Race , and/or national divisions of humanity....
 distinction, and it has been noted (Sunday Herald 4 September 2005) that many of "immigrant" descent see themselves (and are seen as), for example, Pakistan
Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia and borders Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046 kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman in the south, and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and People's Republic of China in th...
i and Scottish: Asian-Scots. Identification of others as Scottish is generally a matter of accent, and though the various dialects of the Scots language
Scots language

Scots or Lowland Scots refers to the Germanic Variety derived from Middle English spoken in parts of Lowland Scotland, Northern Ireland and the border areas of the Republic of Ireland....
 and Scottish English
Scottish English

Scottish English refers to the Variety of English language spoken in Scotland. It may or may not include Scots language depending on the observer....
 (or the accents of Gaelic
Gaels

The Gaels are an ethno-linguistic group which originated in Ireland and subsequently spread to Scotland and the Isle of Man. They are speakers of the Goidelic languages languages ? Irish language, Scottish Gaelic and Manx language....
 speakers) are distinctive, people associate them all together as Scottish with a shared identity, as well as a region
Region

Region is a geographical term that is used in various ways among the different branches of geography. In general, a region is a medium-scale area of land or water, smaller than the whole areas of interest , and larger than a specific site A region may be seen as a collection of smaller units or as one part of a larger whole ....
al or local
Local

Local generally means that which relates to a specific area or place, and is not vast or widespread.Local may also refer to:In medicine:...
 identity. Some parts of Scotland, like Glasgow
Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and List of largest United Kingdom settlements by population in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's Scottish Lowlands....
, the Outer Hebrides
Outer Hebrides

The Outer Hebrides, comprise an Archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. The local government area is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland....
 and the north east of Scotland retain a strong sense of regional identity, alongside the idea of a Scottish national identity. Some residents of Orkney and Shetland also express a distinct regional identity, influenced by their Norse
Norsemen

Norsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who speak one of the North Germanic languages as their native language. The meaning of Norseman was "people from the North" and was applied primarily to Nordic people originating from southern and central Scandinavia....
 heritage.

History of Scottish identity


The history of Scotland
History of Scotland

The history of Scotland begins around 10,000 years ago, when humans first began to inhabit what is now Scotland after the end of the Wisconsin glaciation, the last ice age....
 as a nation state starts in the later period of the so-called Dark Age. Scotland by the 12th century contained what Goidelic "Scots" kingdom of Dál Riata
Dál Riata

D?l Riata was a Gaels overkingdom on the western seaboard of Scotland with some territory on the northern coasts of Ireland. In the late 6th and early 7th century it encompassed roughly what is now Argyll and Bute and Lochaber in Scotland and also County Antrim in Northern Ireland....
, Galloway, the Brythonic Kingdom of Strathclyde
Kingdom of Strathclyde

Strathclyde , originally Brythonic language Ystrad Clud, was one of the kingdoms of the Brythons in the northern part of the island Great Britain throughout the Sub-Roman Britain period , and the Scotland in the Middle Ages....
, the Anglo Saxon
Anglo-Saxons

Anglo-Saxons is the term usually used to describe the invading tribes in the south and east of Great Britain starting from the early 5th century AD, and their creation of the English nation, lasting until the Norman conquest of England of 1066....
 kingdom of Bernicia
Bernicia

Bernicia was an Anglo-Saxons kingdom established by Angles settlers of the 6th century in what is now the South-East of Scotland, and the North East England of England....
 and the Pict
PICT

PICT is a computer graphics file format introduced on the original Apple Macintosh computer as its standard metafile format. It allows the interchange of graphics , and some limited text support, between Mac applications, and was the native graphics format of QuickDraw....
ish Kingdom, the latter's origin being highly contentious. The disparate cultures of Scotland were cemented together firstly by the Viking
Viking

A Viking is one of the Norsemen explorers, warriors, merchants, and Piracy who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the late eighth to the early eleventh century....
 threat, and latterly in the High Middle Ages
High Middle Ages

The High Middle Ages was the periodization of history of Europe in the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries . The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which by convention end around 1500....
  by aggression from the neighbouring Kingdom of England
Kingdom of England

The Kingdom of England was, from 927 to 1707, a state in North-West Europe. The Kingdom of England spanned the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and a number of smaller outlying islands?what is today the legal unit of England and Wales....
. Even though the countries have shared monarchs since the 1603 Union of the Crowns
Union of the Crowns

The Union of the Crowns was the accession of James VI, King of Scots, to the throne of Kingdom of England, thus uniting Scotland and England under one monarch....
 and Parliaments since the Act of Union 1707 the Scottish identity
Cultural identity

Cultural identity is the Identity of a group or culture, or of an individual as far as he or she is influenced by her belonging to a group or culture....
 remains strong, though many residents of Scotland will also, or alternatively, identify with Great Britain
Great Britain

Great Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the List of islands by area, and the largest in Europe. With a population of 58.9 million people it is List of islands by population....
, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 or Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
. Furthermore, Scotland has a large English minority, some of whom continue to identify themselves with England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
.

Cultural icons


Cultural icons in Scotland have changed over the centuries, e.g. the first national instrument was the Clarsach
Clàrsach

Cl?rsach , Cl?irseach are the Gaelic words for 'a harp'. The word clarsach is used in Scottish English and the word cl?irseach is used in Irish Language to refer to a variety of small Irish and Scottish harps....
 or Celtic harp
Harp

The 'harp' is a stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicular to the Sounding board. It is also considered to be a percussion instrument....
 until it was replaced by the Highland pipes in the 15th century. Symbols like the tartan
Tartan

Tartan is a pattern consisting of criss-crossed horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven cloth, now used in many other materials....
, the kilt
Kilt

The kilt is a knee-length garment with pleats at the rear, originating in the traditional dress of men and boys in the Scottish Highlands of the 16th century....
 and bagpipes are widely but not universally liked by Scots, their establishment as symbols for the whole of Scotland, especially in the Lowlands
Lowlands

Lowlands or The Lowlands can refer toGeographic regions* Scottish Lowlands, all of mainland Scotland that isn't the Highlands * Northern European Lowlands, a region of Europe between the Central Highlands and the North Sea...
, dates back to the early 19th century. This was the age of pseudo-pageantry: the visit of King George IV to Scotland
Visit of King George IV to Scotland

The 1822 visit of King George IV to Scotland was the first visit of a reigning Monarchs of Scotland to Scotland since 1650. Government ministers had pressed the King to bring forward a proposed visit to Scotland, to divert him from diplomacy intrigue at the Congress of Verona....
 organised by Sir Walter Scott
Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet, was a prolific Scotland historical novelist and poet popular throughout Europe during his time.In some ways Scott was the first English-language author to have a truly international career in his lifetime, with many contemporary readers all over Europe, Australia, and North America....
. Scott, very much a Unionist and Tory
Tory

In the political tradition of some List of countries where English is an official language, the term Tory may refer to a variety of Political party and creeds since it was originally used in the late 17th century to describe opponents to the Whig Party ....
, was at the same time a great populariser of Scottish mythology through his writings.

Further reading

  • of Constructing National Identity: Arts and Landed Elites in Scotland, by Frank Bechhofer, David McCrone, Richard Kiely and Robert Stewart, Research Centre for Social Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Cambridge University Press
    Cambridge University Press

    Cambridge University Press is a printer and publisher granted a Royal Letters Patent by Henry VIII of England in 1534. It is the world's oldest continually operating book publisher....
    , 1999
  • of The markers and rules of Scottish national identity, by Richard Kiely, Frank Bechhofer, Robert Stewart and David McCrone, The Sociological Review, Volume 49 Page 33 - February 2001,
  • , by Ross Bond and Michael Rosie, Institute of Governance, University of Edinburgh
    University of Edinburgh

    The University of Edinburgh founded in 1582, is an internationally renowned centre for teaching and research in Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom....
    , June 2002
  • of Near and far: banal national identity and the press in Scotland, by Alex Law, University of Abertay Dundee
    University of Abertay Dundee

    The University of Abertay Dundee, usually known simply as Abertay University, is a New Universities located in Dundee, Scotland....
    , Media, Culture and Society, Vol. 23, No. 3, 299-317 (2001)
  • of Scottish national identities among inter-war migrants in North America and Australasia, by Angela McCarthy, The Journal of Imperial & Commonwealth History, Volume 34, Number 2 / June 2006
  • , by IGC Hutchison, University of Stirling
    University of Stirling

    The University of Stirling founded in 1967, in Stirling, Scotland. The Times 2008 University Ranking League tables of British universities placed the university fifth in Scotland and thirty-seventh in a list of 113 UK universities....
    , 68th IFLA Council and General Conference, August 18-August 24, 2002
  • : Vernacular constructions of ‘national identity’ in post-devolution Scotland and England, by Susan Condor and Jackie Abell, to appear in: J. Wilson & K. Stapleton (Eds) Devolution and Identity
  • : Welfare Solidarity in a Devolved Scotland, by Nicola McEwen, Politics, School of Social and Political Studies, University of Edinburgh, European Consortium for Political Research Joint Sessions, 28 March - 2 April 2003


See also

  • A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle
    A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle

    A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle is a long poem by Hugh MacDiarmid written in Scots language and published in 1926. It is composed as a form of monologue with influences from stream of consciousness writing#Literature genres of writing....
  • A Man's A Man for A' That
    A Man's A Man for A' That

    The Scots language song "Is There For Honest Poverty", by Robert Burns, is more commonly known as "A Man's A Man For A' That", and famous for its expression of egalitarian ideas of society, which may be seen as anticipating the ideas of liberalism that arose in the 18th century, and those of socialism which arose in the 19th century....
  • Jock Tamsons Bairns
  • Scottish people
    Scottish people

    The Scots people are a nation and an ethnic group indigenous to Scotland.Historically, as an ethnic group, they emerged from an amalgamation of Celts, Picts, Gaels and Brythons....
  • Tartanry
    Tartanry

    Tartanry is a word used to describe the kitsch elements of Scottish culture that have been over-emphasized or super-imposed on the country first by the emergent Scottish tourist industry that grew up with the British state in the 18th and 19th centuries, and later by an American film industry....
  • List of Scotland-related topics
    List of Scotland-related topics

    This is a list of articles relating to Scotland. It does not include articles which are already properly listed within other articles included below; such as towns and cities....