Abstract
According to its critics, Ulster-Scots is a Unionist-Loyalist weapon in a cultural war: an invented tradition and a DIY language of political Unionism. At best it is a Protestant delusion, and at worst it is twentieth-century-style Loyalist supremacy under cover. By contrast, many of its promoters seek to disconnect it from such ideologies, claiming that it is simply an ethnic group, a category of cultural heritage and a language. In this book, I argue that neither of these explanations accurately explains the Ulster-Scots movement. While the relationship between Ulster-Scots and Unionism/Loyalism, Britishness and Protestantism is unequivocal, it is more complex than a veil. Rather, Ulster-Scots is an ethnic dignity movement of a historically dominant but recently demerited peoplehood. It arose at a moment in which ethno-cultural identities had become normative under the Northern Irish peace process, Protestant humiliation had become conspicuous and a sense that expressing pride in being Protestant/Unionist/Loyalist was no longer socially acceptable. I contend that Ulster-Scots is an attempt to reinstate a sense of collective dignity using the language of ethnicity as a conduit. Hence, promoters express an ambiguous relationship to the various features of the ‘Protestant community’, part rejection and part attempt at rehabilitation.
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Notes
- 1.
At the time, two schools were integrated, two were national schools within the Republic of Ireland, and all others were Protestant-majority controlled schools in Northern Ireland.
- 2.
Although, according to the 2011 census, 3 per cent of Catholics stated that they speak Ulster-Scots, it is also common for Ulster-Scots promoters to insist that many Catholics who oppose Ulster-Scots are in fact speakers of the language.
- 3.
UP8: The 8th Unionist Politician interviewed.
- 4.
Respectively, CEO and an Education Officer at the Ulster-Scots Agency.
- 5.
The Sash is a ballad most famously played by the Orange Order in their band parades. It commemorates the victory of Protestant King William of Orange over Catholic King James II and is generally considered offensive due to its perception as a celebration of the killing of Catholics.
- 6.
Traditionally associated with Irish traditional music, as well as being an emblem of Irish nationhood.
- 7.
The Irish national anthem.
- 8.
Meaning the flute used in Protestant marching bands.
- 9.
This phrase was used by USP1 during my interview with him.
- 10.
Referring to the centre-ground, moderate Alliance Party and its supporters.
- 11.
Referring to those who support or are aligned with support for Integrated education.
- 12.
The idea that the addition of Scottishness, purportedly less prominent elsewhere, makes Northern Ireland a distinctive entity on the island of Ireland. Such rationales have been utilised by unionists since the late seventies to legitimate the partition of Ireland (Heslinga 1979).
- 13.
James Orr was a Protestant United Irishman and a poet from Ballycarry, in what is now Northern Ireland. He is considered to be a Rhyming Weaver poet, considered to be part of the Ulster-Scots literary tradition.
- 14.
King James Version bible translation.
- 15.
Non-Anglicans, mostly Presbyterians.
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Gardner, P. (2020). Loyal, Not Loyalist. In: Ethnic Dignity and the Ulster-Scots Movement in Northern Ireland. Palgrave Politics of Identity and Citizenship Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34859-5_3
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