Sacred Singing among Scottish Travellers

This topic focuses on expressions of Traveller identity in wider society through sacred music performance. The student would document and analyse current singing practices, contextualising them within wider Traveller culture and identity. The project builds on half a century of ethnographic work with Scottish Travellers, but focuses on contemporary sacred performance rather than earlier fieldworkers’ emphasis on the preservation of past culture. The research follows on from the Elphinstone Institute’s Culture and Traditions of Scottish Travellers Project, 2003–2005, which was led by the late Stanley Robertson, and ties into contemporary work in Ethnology, Sociology and Folklore. Candidates from within the Traveller community are particularly encouraged to apply.

Research questions could include:

· How has sacred singing contributed to the establishment and reinforcement of Traveller identity both in the church (of particular relevance would be the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the Pentecostal Church) and wider community?
· How does sacred singing among Scottish Travellers fit in to the wider global context of sacred music performance?
· How is singing used to create and sustain group and community cohesion?
· Which organisations and venues have been particularly conducive to the further development of sacred singing among Scottish Travellers?
· How does subject matter of hymnody relate to the singers’ individual and group identity?

Benefit: This is a timely follow on from the Elphinstone Institute’s innovative research on, and longstanding commitment to, the Travelling community, and would place us strongly for a planned large-scale research project with European partners, related to Traveller culture across northern and southern Europe. The research would put us at the forefront of academic work with indigenous minorities in Britain.