Jenny Macdonald's Edinburgh

WHA'S LIKE US? WAS THE QUESTION POSED BY A RECENT EXHIBITION on Scottish identity at the City Museum of Edinburgh. This reference to a popular Scots toast evades the somewhat dissatisfying answer: 'damn few and they're all dead.' For me it was somewhat surprising to see another nation grappling with an issue I perceive as obsessively Canadian and the nation is Scotland (if Scotland is not technically its own state, it is certainly a political nation), a land to which young Canadians of even the most nebulous Scottish ancestry flock in search of the type of objectifiable culture they feel is lacking in their own country. I am often told by compatriots abroad that they identify more strongly with their 'Scottish identity' (transposed through a parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, and so on) than with their Canadian one. But to assume that because they have shortbread and tartans and William Wallace, the Scots have not had identity struggles of their own does disservice to the extraordinary achievement of Scottish devolution. On 11 September 1997, the Scottish people voted overwhelmingly in favour of a Scottish parliament (78 per cent) with tax-raising powers (68 per cent). What young Canadians can learn from living in Scotland is what the Scots already know: bagpipes are great for tourism, but sovereignty is what identity is for. This is sticky stuff on many levels. Culture and identity are two of the more elusive words in the English language. And despite international perceptions, Scottish identity and the Scottish people's approach to it are far more complex than tartan and bagpipes. Indeed, what is often considered to be Scottish identity is really Highland identity, derived from a way of life almost completely destroyed and never lived by more than a small proportion of the population. As Jim McCarthy says, the 'most potent symbols of identity are from the most uninhabited parts of the country.'(f.3) In a sense, Canadians of Scottish origins are wise not to forget their roots, but not because haggis and whiskey can replace their missing sense of nationhood. An examination of how another nation has dealt with its identity struggles, how a nation once renowned for its inferiority complex has now committed itself to the creation of a parliament by 2000, is an extraordinary lesson in decisive political confidence. While Canadians travel to Scotland in search of tartan and bagpipes, the Scottish people are more interested in increasing political represent