We are delighted to announce the launch of the Scottish Network for Nineteenth-Century European Cultures Framework – now hosted by the ScARF website.
Scotland was a leader of the world-changing industrialisation of the nineteenth century and a world-beating exporter of romantic nationalism—through the writings of Macpherson, Burns, and Scott—and scientific ideas and innovation. And yet, besides shipbuilding, textiles, mining and transport, the cultural significance of Scotland’s past could be easily taken for granted.
This framework was created as a result of a series of workshops funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, which focused on exploring the inter-connectivity of people and culture in Scotland and Europe during the long nineteenth century – it critically assesses Scotland’s connections with European countries in the long nineteenth century. Taking a broad multidisciplinary approach and drawing on a range of contexts and methods—such as literary criticism, cultural history, philosophy, science, technology and health history—the framework is built around several themes. The themes were designed in a way that brought together expertise on texts, material objects, and peoples that illuminated cultural practice in relation to local and global contexts.
Strong cross-cultural links are explored to highlight the importance of Scottish contributions to nineteenth-century culture
The Framework’s structure is designed to draw out a holistic understanding of the value and significance of Scotland’s relationships with European ‘nations-in-the-making’ in the long nineteenth century and enable us to reflect on what this knowledge then offers us for now. This emphasis on value provides the best hope of making a difference for the future. To this end, the Framework identifies research principles, problems, practices, and ideas for projects, some enhancing existing initiatives and others suggesting new directions.
Check out the Scottish Network for Nineteenth-Century European Cultures framework here!
This project was funded by the RSE and supported by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
