Jacobites exhibition facing protests by Gaels
Campaigners target attraction over treatment of historic language
A major new exhibition on Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobites is facing protests today over claims it has sidelined the Gaelic language.
Campaigners will stage a demonstration outside the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh amid allegations of “cultural appropriation and English language colonisation”.
The museum also stands accused of failing to provide Gaelic translations for visitors and of minimising the role of the language in the exhibition.
The first show to be devoted to the story of the Jacobites for 70 years, it features more than 350 treasures drawn from 44 different collections, including the Vatican and the Louvre in Paris. It is billed as an exploration of “a 200 year sweep of Scottish, British and European history from the perspective of the dynastic claim of the Stuarts to the thrones of Scotland, England and Ireland”.
The museum says there has been a “misunderstanding” over the exhibition, insisting reflecting Gaelic language and culture has been a key part of the planning of the exhibition.
In a letter to the protest organisers, director of programmes, Ruth Gill, said: “We specifically represent Gaelic language and culture in the penultimate area of the exhibition where we examine the events of 1745-6 and the aftermath, including its profound consequences for Highland people and culture.”
Publicity material for the protest, announced by campaign group Misneachd before the opening of the show yesterday, states: “This is cultural appropriation and English language colonisation of our history. The museum is attempting to make money and raise its profile internationally from a history completely interlinked with the language of the Highlands.
“Even now, we sing the Gaelic songs composed at that time and tell the tales connected with the events. Gaelic, and the Gaelic peoples of the Highlands as a minority population, still suffer from the consequences of Culloden.
“One of the main difficulties faced by Gaelic speakers is their compatriots’ lack of understanding of how strong the link is between Gaelic and the important events in our history. If we present our history without any reference to the important part Gaelic played in it, it is little wonder some Scots still don’t understand that Gaelic has relevance in Scotland today.”
Màrtainn Mac a’ Bhàillidh, one of the protest organisers, said: “We’ve got a lot of support from the Gaelic community in Edinburgh for the protest. There is a feeling the museum is not pulling its weight in terms of its obligations to the Gaelic Language Act.”
Dr Gordon Rintoul, director of the museum, said: “People are commenting on an exhibition they’ve not seen. I’d encourage them to see it for themselves. I’d suggest they don’t know what it’s about.
“It’s not an exhibition that focuses on the Highlands or the Jacobite risings. It’s an exhibition that covers a huge sweep of European history over 200 years. We are telling a broad story of the attempts by the Jacobites to restore the Stuart dynasty. It’s not a Scottish story, or a narrow Gaelicrelated story. There is a misunderstanding or assumption of what it might be about.
“In many ways, this underlining one of the reasons we wanted to mount the exhibition. We felt it was important to get behind misconceptions which have grown up over quite a long period about the Jacobites, who they were, where they came from, and what their allegiances were.”