Abstract
This thesis explores the visibility of women in traditionally masculine Scottish national narratives as evidenced by their physical representation, or lack thereof, in the cultural heritage landscape. Beginning with the 1707 Act of Union between Scotland and England, a moment cemented in history, literature, and popular memory as the beginning of a Scottish rebirth, this thesis traces the evolution of Scottish national identity and the tropes employed for its assertion to paint a clearer picture of the power of strategic selectivity and the effects of sacrifice in the process of community definition. Following the transformation of the rugged Celtic Highlander from his pre-Union relegation as an outer barbarian to his post-Union embrace as the epitome of distinction and the embodiment of anti-English, anti-aristocratic sentiment so crucial to the negotiation of a Scottish place in union and empire, this thesis hones in on notions of gender and peformative identity to form the basis for an analysis of twentieth and twenty-first century national heritage dynamics. An innovative spatial study of monuments and memorials in the Scottish capital city of Edinburgh highlights the gendered inequity of memorialization efforts and the impact of limited female visibility on the storytelling potential of the cityscape. Such a perspective not only adds a distinct visual component but also brings my study full circle by exemplifying contemporary discussions on the role of gender in narrative-setting, the sociocultural relevance of monuments and memorials, and the nature of representation in public spaces.
Notes
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Graduation Date
2019
Semester
Fall
Advisor
Lyons, Amelia
Degree
Master of Arts (M.A.)
College
College of Arts and Humanities
Department
History
Degree Program
History; Public History
Format
application/pdf
Identifier
CFE0007846
URL
http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0007846
Language
English
Release Date
December 2019
Length of Campus-only Access
None
Access Status
Masters Thesis (Open Access)
STARS Citation
O'Neill, Carys, "'A Room of Their Own': Heritage Tourism and the Challenging of Heteropatriarchal Masculinity in Scottish National Narratives" (2019). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 6738.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/6738