Undergraduate Course: Highland Problems,1851 to 1953 (SCHI10018)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 40 |
ECTS Credits | 20 |
| Summary | The course aims to consider the way in which the UK government dealt with the problems of the Scottish highlands in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The response of the people of the region lie at the heart of the course. The issues relating to the highlands will be treated in a comparative context. |
| Course description |
In the immediate aftermath of the potato famine in the Scottish Highlands a Report on Highland conditions by Sir John MacNeill recommended that assisted emigration should be employed to deal with the 'surplus population of the region'. In 1953 a Commission of Enquiry into Crofting Conditions considered the issue of how to reform land tenure in order to revitalise the Highlands. Between these two dates the Scottish Highlands were one of the major issues in Scottish politics. The bulk of this course will consider the period from 1880 to c1925, encompassing the Crofters' War, the granting of security of tenure to Highland crofters and government attempts to place more land at the disposal of crofters. The main theme will be the variety of approaches adopted by governments of the period to cope with the problems presented by the Highlands. The background to the problems which the government perceived will be examined in depth. A key component of the course will be to place the developments in a wider context, for example, in terms of changes in landownership in Scotland and Britain, the relationship between the Highland land issue, party ideology and Westminster Politics, or the development of policy in other areas of the British Isles, e.g. Ireland or Wales, and the British Empire At the end of the course we will think about this historical material in the context of the current debate on land reform in Scotland.
|
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | A pass in 40 credits of third level historical courses or equivalent.
Students should only be enrolled on this course with approval from the History Honours Programme Administrator. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2024/25, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
|
Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Full Year |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
400
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 44,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 8,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
348 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
40 %,
Coursework
40 %,
Practical Exam
20 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Coursework:
Two 4000 word essays (20% each)
Non-Written Skills:
Two presentations (15 minutes) (10% each)
Written Exam:
Three-hour exam (40%) |
| Feedback |
Students will design their essay topics with the Course Organiser and will receive formative feedback on a plan and a bibliography prior to submission of the essay. Further, students will receive written feedback on their coursework, and will have the opportunity to discuss that feedback further with the Course Organiser during their published office hours or by appointment. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- know and understand this period of Scottish History;
- have some skills in critical reading of primary and secondary sources;
- have some skills in completion of independent research leading to seminar presentation and submission of written work to a required standard;
- demonstrate some skills in participation in group seminar work and an appreciation of the responsibility to other members of the group that such work entails.
|
Reading List
Cameron E, Land for the People? The British Government and the Scottish Highlands, 1880 to 1925 (East Linton, 1996)
Hunter, J, The Making of the Crofting Community (Edinburgh, 1976)
Hunter, J, The Claim of Crofting (Edinburgh, 1990)
Leneman, L, Fit for Heroes: Land Settlement in Scotland after the First World War (Aberdeen, 1989)
MacColl, A, Land, Faith and the Crofting Community: Christianity and Social Criticism in the Highlands of Scotland 1843-1893 (Edinburgh, 2006)
Newby, A, Ireland, Radicalism and the Scottish Highlands, 1870-1912 (Edinburgh, 2007)
Robertson, I J M, Landscapes of Protest in the Scottish Highlands after 1914 (Farnham, 2013)
Tindley, A, The Sutherland Estate, 1850-1920: aristocratic decline, estate management and land reform (Edinburgh, 2010). |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
On completion of the course students will have developed skills in the following graduate attributes:
Ability to read and assess large amounts of evidence: textual, visual, oral.
Ability to write clear and coherent prose in the construction of an argument
Ability to make sense of polemical material
Ability to make clear and coherent presentations.
Ability to understand and historically contextualise a contemporary political issue, ie land reform. |
| Keywords | Highland,Scottish,land reform,protest,politics |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Ewen Cameron
Tel: (0131 6)50 4031
Email: E.Cameron@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | |
|
|
University Homepage