Category: folklore
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The Gaelic Bagpiping Tradition: Did it Stay Truer to its Roots in Nova Scotia than in Scotland
In this blog, UHI Institute for Northern Studies student, Hazel Gunn, studying BA Hons in Culture and Heritage, outlines the findings of her research. The Gaelic tradition of bagpiping in Nova Scotia began with the arrival of people from the Highlands and Islands who emigrated to escape from poverty and…
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Institute for Northern Studies Summer Course 2026 Now Open for Registration
Stories Written in Stone: The People who Built Scotland Date: 15-19 June 2026 Venue: UHI Perth, Scotland, UK Following on from the success of the 2025 INS Summer Course, we are delighted to announce that the Summer Course 2026 is now open for registration. The theme of the week-long series…
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SEAGULLS AND STANDING STONES, BISHOPS AND BUTTER, BAGPIPES AND BULLETS: THE NORSE IN CAITHNESS MEMORY
This blog post was written by UHI Institute for Northern Studies MLitt Viking Studies student, Stephen Barnaby. I grew up in Thurso, surrounded by streets named after luminaries from the days of the northern Norse jarldoms: Sigurd, Thorfinn, Sweyn, Harold, Magnus. I’d like to claim these dated from the eleventh…
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INS PhD Student Published in North Ronaldsay Booklet
University of the Highlands and Islands Institute for Northern Studies PhD researcher Niamh Mackenzie discusses how the continued maintenance of the unique North Ronaldsay drystane dyke can be seen as intangible cultural heritage in the booklet, ‘Making Sense of the North Ronaldsay Sheep Dyke’. The booklet is edited and written…
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UHI Institute for Northern Studies Well Represented at SIEF Congress
The University of the Highlands and Islands Institute for Northern Studies was well-represented at the June 2025 congress of the International Society for Ethnology and Folklore (SIEF), hosted this year by the Elphinstone Institute at the University of Aberdeen, with the theme of ‘unwriting’. Ullrich Kockel, (UHI INS) Professor of…
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