Carrying The Weight Of History
Sir Tom Devine’s latest work tackles the Clearances to powerful, provocative effect
WHEN it comes to Scotland’s history, you could say that Sir Tom Devine knows a thing or two. The professor has penned 34 books and more than 100 articles, and has received an OBE and a knighthood for services to Scottish History.
His latest book is entitled The Scottish Clearances, but despite the rave reviews it has already garnered, Sir Tom believes there is a chance it might generate an altogether different response in some parts of Scotland.
“I always joke that my publishers send me a flak jacket to wear when I venture north!” he says. “People can become really emotional, especially over this subject. It can be unsettling as history makes up our identity. We use it to create a sense of ourselves and our communities.”
The Scottish Clearances examines the violent process of the forced clearances which took place during the 18th and 19th centuries – not just across the Highlands.
Sir Tom adds, “Through my work, it became obvious that displacement of people was just as commonplace in the rural Lowlands and the Borders as it was north of the Highland line and even more so.”
Sir Tom tells me that one of the reasons that the plight of Lowlands Scotland isn’t remembered, is because of our great love affair with the Highlands.
“In the early 19th century, maybe even before that, an extraordinary transformation occurred. Some of the elites in Lowland Scotland began to adopt Highland symbols and costume. One of the reasons for this was to differentiate Scotland from England, because there was great fear amongst upper classes in Scotland. Although they were gaining from the Union they were losing in terms of the possible suppression of Scottish identity.
“So, despite the fact the real Highlands was going through horror at this time, a sentimentalised view of the Highlands began to develop.
“Writers such as Sir Walter Scott, began to portray the Highlands as the Scottish past living into the present.
“The transformation of this perception saw the Highlands became known as almost the soul of Scotland.”
Sir Tom says his book is something that he’s been thinking about and researching for over 40 years. Having dedicated so much of his life to the study of history, what compels him to focus on Scotland?
“It’s just good fortune that I was born into a period that was revolutionising the study of the Scottish past.
“I’ve lived through that revolution. When I graduated, all the big questions of modern Scottish history were still there to be answered.”
Sir Tom will appear at the Aye Write! book festival at 6.30pm on March 16 at Glasgow’s Mitchell Theatre. For more highlights from the festival, turn the page.