Celtic Geographies

Old Cultures, New Times

David C. Harvey, Rhys Jones, Neil McInroy, Christine Milligan

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2001
• eBook ISBN: 9781134593002
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Naturwissenschaften
• Subtopic: Geographie

Celtic Geographies questions traditional conceptualizations of Celticity that rely on an homogenous interpretation of what it means to be a Celt in contemporary society. The various contributors break away from these traditional interpretations to critically explore a Celticity that is diverse in character. The book explores a number of themes that are central to historical and contemporary Celticity:
* the historical geographies of Celtic peoples
* devolution and politics in Celtic regions, such as Wales and Scotland
* the commodification of Celticity in the tourism practices of Brittany and Ireland
* the role of diaspora in the development of Celtic identities, in both North America and in the west of Scotland
* the relationship between Celticity and forms of contemporary culture.

1 TIMING AND SPACING CELTIC GEOGRAPHIES

David C. Harvey, Rhys Jones, Neil McInroy and Christine Milligan

Recent years have seen an upsurge of interest in all things Celtic – providing a renewed impetus and vigour to Celtic studies, debates, culture and politics.Within the broad arena of Celtic culture, for instance, there have been sustained efforts to reinvigorate the indigenous languages of the various Celtic regions.The formation of the Welsh Language Board and TV Breizh – or Breton-language television – in recent years can be seen as examples of such attempts to promote the use of Celtic languages in both the public and the private sectors, making them more relevant to contemporary politics, commerce and culture. Allied to this have been the efforts to promote various other elements of Celtic culture – with regard to music, art and dance – and, moreover, to highlight the cultural commonalities that exist between the constituent Celtic countries.The cultural exchange schemes that operate between the various Celtic countries, for example, have led to an increased awareness among Celtic people of the cultures and art forms of their Celtic ‘cousins’.This has, in many ways, helped to foster within the Celtic people a sense of cultural Pan-Celticism, one which can be represented by the dictum ‘Six nations, one soul’.

A similar process of revitalisation has occurred in the context of Celtic politics. Though this is a process which has its roots in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, there is no doubt that the current period has witnessed a further energisation of Celtic identity politics. This has been most clearly evident in the process of the devolution of power within the UK in 1997. Even though this process was couched in terms of democratising politics in the UK, it has served to emphasise the separateness of Scotland and Wales within the UK nation-state. Significantly, for many nationalists in both countries, devolution is seen to offer a space within which Celtic identities and politics may be sustained and developed. Indeed, one of the less publicised outcomes of the Good Friday Agreement over the position of Northern Ireland was the founding of an ‘Irish –British Council’. Popularly known as the ‘Council of the Isles’, this statutory body will have representatives not only from the sovereign governments, but also from Northern Ireland, Scotland,Wales, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. Crucially, as well as ‘higher-level’ summits, this body will also meet to consider a range of named cross-sectoral matters including ‘Celtic linguistic and cultural concerns’ (Williams 2000: 215).

As well as witnessing a growth in the vitality of Celtic cultures and politics within the constituent Celtic countries, the present period has also experienced an exportation of Celticity to the world. This process is partly associated with the existence of diasporic Celtic communities in various parts of the world, and is illustrated, among other things, by the interest shown by the inhabitants of the New World in tracing their Celtic heritage and roots. Historical processes of migration are not the only explanations for the internationalisation of the Celtic. In many ways, the signs and symbols of Celticity have been appropriated by a variety of media of popular culture, ranging from art to music, and from dance to religion. Pop artists such as Nirvana and many New Age religions, for instance, see the Celtic as something that is central to their identity and imagery. Not surprisingly, this Celtic renaissance has also led to a great deal of academic interest in the whole nature of the Celtic. Academic and lay studies, as well as university courses, are burgeoning as various individuals seek to tease out the various forms which Celtic cultures, politics and institutions have taken in both past and present times. Indeed, this increased appeal in all aspects of Celticity has led Payton (1997) to proclaim a new ‘self-confidence’ within Celtic studies.

Running parallel with this growth of interest in ‘things Celtic’, however, has been an increased questioning of the exact nature of the concept, and a degree of scepticism concerning the veracity of the term ‘Celtic’ as a meaningful category (see, for example, Chapman 1992; James and Rigby 1997; James 1999a). Chapman (1992), for instance, has argued that the ‘myth of the Celts’ represents a ‘continuity of naming’ rather than a continuity of experience. He points out that although many modern writers assume that some groups of people in early Europe ‘called themselves Celts’ (his emphasis), very little evidence for this actually exists (Chapman 1992: 30). Rather, the category is purely a social construction, stitched together from written sources, literary endeavours and archaeological remains.

In part, the adoption of this more critical stance towards the Celtic stems from wider changes within academia as a whole, whereby various terms, categories and analytical constructs have been subject to increasingly critical examination in relation to the processes surrounding their production and consumption. Geography, as a specific field of study (including its various sub-disciplines), has not escaped this move towards more discursive and critical self-reflection, with a number of geographers seeking to question its objectivity as a discipline, by, for example, demonstrating its strong links with powerful elites and imperial projects (e.g., Driver 1992).

It is our belief, however, that there are more specific reasons why the ‘Celtic’ has recently been viewed as a label worthy of greater critical examination. On the surface at least, the ‘old Celtic culture’ has very deep historic roots. However, there is a widespread perception that in these ‘new times’ it is becoming merely one among many Celticities. Though traditional territorial or linguistic interpretations of Celticity are still important, they are being supplemented by alternative versions of Celticity, ones that are characterised by notions of hybridity and contestation. In a post-modern world, the (perceived) old and secure Celtic categories of the past are being reworked in interesting and novel ways. This does not mean that the conventional Celtic category is devoid of meaning in the contemporary world; rather, it means that it is being complemented by other, often less place-specific and more hybrid interpretations of Celticity. As a result of these changes, it is unsurprising that old ideas, assumptions and preconceptions concerning the notion of Celticism, as well as their current transformations, are becoming the source of much debate within certain sections of academia.

Given the evident territorial connections associated with Celtic issues, and the obvious spatial themes inherent in both ‘old’ and ‘new’ interpretations of Celticity, it is somewhat surprising that the contribution of geographers to this contemporary academic debate has been largely conspicuous by its absence. Although there are a few notable exceptions (see, for example, Bowen 1969; Gruffudd et al. 1999), we would suggest that the Celtic category has not received the sustained interrogation of space and place that it deserves. This book goes some way towards redressing this deficiency by bringing together a collection of work by academics that seeks to reflect upon, and critically examine, a range of different aspects of Celticism from a geographical perspective.

The contributors to the book seek, in their various ways, to explore the nature of both the more conventional aspects of Celtic culture and its more contemporary manifestations. Different approaches are adopted by the various contributors in order to achieve this aim. Some contributors touch upon points of commonalty between Celtic peoples and lands, highlighting the extent to which old points of reference remain, and new points of reference are emerging. These can be viewed as thematic studies – of Celtic politics, culture and identity, for instance – that draw upon specific illustrations from all the Celtic countries and regions. Some contributors emphasise, therefore, that common themes can run between old and new versions of Celticity, and that broad similarities exist between the experiences of Celticism within various countries and regions. The majority of the contributors, however, place their emphasis on exploring particular aspects of Celticism within specific geographical areas. Indeed, this explicit focus on case studies from one geographical region is viewed as one of the strengths of the volume, since it helps to foreground the often diverse and hybrid nature that Celticity is taking in the contemporary world.

The different approaches used by the various contributors to this volume in order to explore aspects of Celtic geographies help to underline the plurality of Celticities in the Celtic world. As a consequence, we adopt a relatively broad definition of Celticity in the present volume, one which seeks to reflect the flexibility of the Celtic category today. To us, the term Celtic refers to a group of people living on the Atlantic seaboard of Europe who share common cultural and/or ethnic characteristics, but it has been reworked and appropriated in recent years to include a large number of other individuals, living beyond the Celtic territories, who feel an affinity to various aspects of Celtic culture.

The Celtic, and the idea of ‘being a Celt’, form, therefore, a convenient and very real identity for a range of people and groups, both in the traditional Celtic territories and beyond. Indeed,we would not wish to belittle the sense of Celticity felt by those individuals living outside the Celtic territories. For them, the Celtic is a social and often personal construction that carries weight and a great deal of meaning. Thus, where Celtic identity is expressed, ‘we must be aware that these aesthetic responses are the result of deep convictions and personal choices that need to be treated with the utmost respect’ (Hale 1997a: 97). In this spirit, we echo Ford (1999: 473) when he celebrates ‘the present experience and efficacy of “the Celtic” rather than the pursuit of it as some kind of historical fact or veracity’.

In considering the construction of Celticism, the volume has two main aims. First, it seeks to contribute to the debate surrounding the nature of ‘old’ and ‘new’ Celticities. The book examines the more conventional forms of Celticity, takes a long-needed critical look at traditional ways of conceptualising Celticity and also explores new aspects of Celtic identity, politics, culture and historiography. Second, it seeks to act as a means of energising the study of Celticity from a geographical perspective. In this respect, we do not claim that the chapters drawn together in this volume encompass all those aspects of Celticity that may be of interest to geographers. Rather, they are seen as providing a starting point – a lens through which it might be possible to examine how a new, revitalised Celtic geography might look.We anticipate, therefore, that the various issues raised here will help to generate further and future interest in the field of Celtic Geography. Celticity, as a category, contributes to the illumination of a number of issues that are of crucial importance to contemporary society. Examples include the politics of exclusion, division and subversion within supposedly unified folk-groups, the promotion of difference as a political, cultural or economic device, and the search for identity and belonging within a post-modern, consumerist society. Geographical debate can play a key role in helping to illuminate how these issues impact on this socially and/or spatially distinct category.

Despite the variety of stances adopted by the contributors to the volume, we, as editors, have sought to tease out common themes that seem to inform their varied interpretations of Celticity. These include discussions of: traditional places and alternative spaces of Celticism; Celtic cultures of homogeneity and heterogeneity; the institutionalisation and politicisation of Celticity; and Celticism and cultural capital. The remainder of this introduction is devoted to a wider discussion of these themes, drawing attention to the ways in which particular chapters have sought to discuss specific aspects of them. As a means of developing these themes, both here and in the subsequent chapters, it is important that we reflect broadly on Celtic studies at the outset, and consider how Celtic culture has been and is now interpreted. This will serve not only as a means of situating this volume within the wider study of Celticism, but will also create a basis from which the study of this old culture can be explored within these new times.

The scholarly legacy and popular (re)interpretations of Celticity

To contextualise the work within this volume, and as a backdrop to interpreting the contemporary interest in and understanding of Celticism, it is important to reflect upon the scholarly basis to Celtic studies. Descriptions, commentaries and rudimentary investigations of ‘the Celts’ first came to the forefront of both academic and popular attention in the nineteenth century in the form of ‘race theory’ (Kearney 1989: 230–1). Utilising the latest and most fashionable ideas, ‘the Celtic’ was seen by academicians and scholars as an essentially aboriginal ‘British type’. For Arnold (1867), the process of defining ‘the Celt’ involved a supposedly disinterested scientific examination of racial characteristics. As was common with a number of other commentators of the time, he provided a long list of supposedly ‘Celtic characteristics’, including eloquence and sensitivity, sociability and hospitality, extravagance and anarchy. ‘He is sensual . . . loves bright colours, company and pleasure’ (Arnold 1867: 105). These essential characteristics were contrasted with the solid temperament and patience of the Anglo-Saxon, ‘disciplinable and steadily obedient within certain limits, but retaining an inalienable part of freedom and self-dependence’ (ibid.: 109). In other words, the Celts were viewed as a ‘people’ who could make brooches and petty ornaments, but who could not undertake great works or ‘make progress in material civilisation’.

Indeed, such scholarly interpretations of Celticity, based on the ideals of race theory, also gained currency in more popular circles.An editorial in The Economist, written during the Irish Famine, for example, does not mince its words, simply proclaiming ‘Thank God we are Saxons!’ (Anon. 1848). It then continues by listing a number of Celtic characteristics that include excitability, wildness and a distinct propensity to unprovoked violence. As part of a wider comparison between the Saxon and the Celt, The Economist lists as ‘Celtic folly’ the Irishmen’s ‘passionate cherishing of old traditions, their too vivid recollection of the times when the land which they now till as peasants, or covet without tilling, belonged to ancestors who lost it by their extravagance and recklessness’ (ibid.: 477). Based on these interpretations of what it meant to be a Celt, both the Famine in Ireland and the existence of the British Empire were neatly explained in terms of essential racial characteristics.

Although such accounts of ‘racial difference’ were obviously written within the contexts of mid-nineteenth-century academia and popular debate, they reflect a significant number of the common strands that have continued to be implicit in many Celtic commentaries. In the 1860s, for example, Arnold (1867: 100–8) wrote that the Celts were not ones for business, organisation and politics but, rather, were absorbed with over-emotional music and poetry, and a strong feeling for nature. In the 1930s, Bloch (1962 translation) still referred to western Britain and Ireland as having once been inhabited by a largely undifferentiated Celtic ‘tribe’. But even as late as the 1990s, Hastings (1997: 68–70) maintained that ‘bureaucracy was not the mark of the Celt as it was of the Saxon’, adding that nationalism in medieval Wales and Ireland was, instead, felt and expressed through bardic and musical gatherings, ‘something that the English could not conceivably have done’. Running through all these conceptions of Celticism, it is possible to see a continuous one-dimensional, oppositional definition, centred on the idea of being ‘not English’ – a homogenising outlook that has sought to shoehorn people and cultures into a common Celtic brotherhood defined by racial characteristics.

It would be unwise, however, to view such definitions of Celticity as being solely imposed by a dominant English (and French) core on a Celtic periphery. Both ‘Celtophiles’ and ‘Celtophobes’ have drawn strength from such culturally homogenising processes, so that Celtic nationalist rhetoric could form a rallying cry around a flag of Celtic sports, folk art, music and literature. As Samuel notes (1998: 35), ‘each after its own fashion worshipped at the feet of race consciousness, that scientistic version of natural selection theory which in the later nineteenth century intoxicated thinkers of all stripes’.

This simple analysis of Celtic difference – based on ideas of race and ethnicity – is often matched by an equally simplistic conception of Celtic history. In much the same way as knowing that the period before 1066 was ‘Dark’, the popularly held conception is that the period before the Romans was ‘Celtic’, and that the Celts continued to prosper in those parts which the Romans did not conquer. The Celts were to suffer, however, as a result of the invading Saxon hordes and their successors. Thus, in spite of the valiant efforts of King Arthur, the Celts spent the next fifteen centuries under increasing English subordination, pressed into the damp islands and craggy peninsulas of the far north and west of these islands.Whether they are Braveheart nationalists, or avid Economist readers, people know that the reawakening of Celtic spirit during the last two centuries has been characterised by an essential set of Celtic values and attitudes, distinct language and culture and, perhaps most importantly, a definite territorial homeland. Although we may be criticised for presenting too harsh a caricature here, a quick trawl through any bookshop, and many a museum, would implicitly add fuel to this popularly held conception.

Though conventional interpretations of the Celtic have sought to promote the notion of an old culture by using these essential racial characteristics, increasingly there has been an elaboration in these new times of the various, and often disparate, forms which Celticity can take. Indeed, one particular type of revisionist interpretation has questioned the whole basis of the Celtic category. Chapman (1992) and James (1999a), for example, stand out as self-proclaimed ‘de-bunkers of the Celtic myth’. Their claims that the Celtic is a bogus category have made waves that spread well beyond the confines of academia (James 1999b; see, however, Cunliffe 1997). In many ways, Chapman’s and James’s revisionist stance helps to emphasise the more varied and critical interpretations of Celticity present within current scholarly and popular debates. For instance, we have witnessed a resurgence in Celtic culture and politics – a resurgence that has occurred in both the Celtic ‘heartlands’ and, importantly, in other places not normally associated with Celticity. There has also been an expansion in the use and adoption of Celtic motifs and symbolism in all forms of popular culture. These themes, indicative of a broader and possibly more eclectic notion of Celticity, receive considerable attention in this volume. Robb, for example, offers a personal account of the rise of new forms of Celticity, one that bears relatively little relation to the Celtic signifiers of the past. Similarly, Kent explores the crucial relevance of Celtic themes and symbols for many aspects of British youth culture. In both these chapters, emphasis is placed on illustrating some of the ways in which notions of the Celtic are changing and adapting to meet the new demands and experiences of contemporary society.

Rather than charting the continuous development of a homogenous folk, with a destiny founded upon the nostalgia for a common Celtic Golden Age, the contributors to this book seek to problematise Celtic history and historiography and explore the myriad identities founded upon notions of the Celtic. In doing so, the construction of such apparently simple categories as ‘Celtic landscape’ and ‘Celtic territory’ are also problematised, as contributors begin to explore how these complexities might be unpacked within a contemporary Celtic geography.

Traditional places and alternative spaces of Celticity

From a geographical perspective, the chapters in this volume help to foreground the close relationship between ideas of space and place, and traditional and alternative versions of Celticity. In this respect, traditional interpretations of Celticity have tended to stress issues of the spatiality of the Celtic culture-group. The so-called Celtic ‘regions’ of Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man,Wales, Brittany and Cornwall are widely recognised as self-evidently bounded territorie...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Critical Geographies
• Plates
• Figures
• Tables
• Contributors
• Acknowledgements
• 1: Timing and Spacing Celtic Geographies
• Part I Othering and Identity Politics
• part II Sites of Meaning
• Part III Youth Culture and Celtic Revival
• Part IV Epilogue
• Bibliography