North Lewis Moors

The University of Glasgow and Comunn Eachdraidh Nis are seeking a doctoral student for their project ‘Air an Àirigh: Coimhearsnachd, caitheamh-beatha is mòinteach Nis.’  This project will be supervised by Dr Aonghas MacCoinnich and Mr Gillebrìde Mac’IlleMhaoil at the University of Glasgow in conjunction with Mr Iain Gordon MacDonald, Vice-Chairman of Comunn Eachdraidh Nis.  

The successful applicant will have the opportunity to help a Gaelic speaking community rediscover and reconnect with its recent past. For centuries, the community migrated annually with their livestock and grazed their herds on the interior of Lewis, a practice that continued in Lewis up until the later 1930s, longer than almost anywhere else in Scotland. While transhumance has attracted a lot of recent scholarly interest, Comunn Eachdraidh Nis, a community-led grassroots local history organization, started a programme of oral history recordings from the 1970s. These recordings, in Gaelic, offer the successful candidate the opportunity to develop a unique, community-led and individual (rather than an external) perspective on transhumance.  

This doctoral research project will offer the successful candidate the opportunity of working with and in a Gaelic speaking community and help them develop a community-centred perspective on an aspect of their recent past by investigating their historic connection with the Lewis moors. Good Gaelic skills will be essential for the completion of this project (although support will language will be available). Knowledge of historical research techniques, archival and oral, will be an advantage and training will be provided. Further details, including guidance on the application process, follows below. 

Tha oileanachd-rannsachaidh ga tabhainn airson ceum PhD a thoirt a-mach aig Oilthigh Ghlaschu. Bidh an tagraiche soirbheachail ag obair eadar Oilthigh Ghlaschu agus Comunn Eachdraidh Nis ann a bhith a’ rannsachadh a’ phròiseict Air an Àirigh: Coimhearsnachd, caitheamh-beatha is mòinteach Nis.’  Tha a’ mhòinteach an ceann a tuath Leòdhais a-nis na fàsach. Cha b’ ann mar sin a bha e fad cheudan bhliadhnachan – agus sluagh mòr de mhuinntir na sgìre a’ tàmh ann an àirighean agus aig na taighean earraich fad an t-samhraidh.  

Carson a bhiodh iad a’ dol ann?  Dè bhitheadh iad a’ dèanamh?  Dè am beachd a bh’ aca air am beatha, an obair agus air an àite?  Carson a lean iad cho fada ris a’ chleachdadh seo (rud a stad air tìr-mòr linntean na bu tràithe)? Agus, carson a chuir muinntir Nis an cùlaibh ris a’ mhòintich?  Tha mòran sgoilearan agus luchd-rannsachaidh a’ coimhead air cleachdadh nan àirighean o dhiofar sheallaidhean. Ach, tha am pròiseact seo eadar-dhealaichte leis gu bheil clàraidhean againn o Chomunn Eachdraidh Nis far an cluinn sinn guthan nan daoine fhèin.  

Tha sinn an dùil gum bi am pròiseact seo, co-dhiù an tràchdas a thèid a sgrìobhadh mar thoradh air a’ phròiseact, air a cur an cèill anns a’ Ghàidhlig. Tha e deatamach, le seo, gum bi deagh sgilean conaltraidh aig an tagraiche soirbheachail ann an Gàidhlig (ged a dh’ fheumas tagraiche a bhith comasach a thaobh na Beurla cuideachd).  

Feumaidh deagh sgilean sgrìobhaidh a bhith aig an tagraiche shoirbheachail – anns gach cànan agus bidh feum air sgilean rannsachaidh eachdraidheil cuideachd. Thathar an dùil gun cleachd an neach a ghabhas am pròiseact seo os làimh tùsan de dh’iomadh seòrsa eadar clàraidhean-fuaim, beul-aithris, bàrdachd, rannsachadh air làmh-sgrìobhainnean ann an tasglannan cho math ri fianais o arc-eòlas gus dealbh choileanta, ioma-fhillte, a thogail de chleachdaidhean agus caitheamh-beatha muinntir Nis air na h-àirighean anns an linn a dh’ fhalbh. Thèid trèanadh a thabhainn a bheir piseach air sgilean an oileanaich thairis air an trì bliadhna gu leth.  

Further details

First published: 13 May 2022

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