Simon Fraser University's Research Centre for Scottish Studies is dedicated to decolonizing Scottish Studies. In November 2024, we hosted, Unsettling Scottish Studies: Canon, Chronologies, Colonialisms, the first international multi-disciplinary workshop focused on this objective. We brought together nearly 30 established and emerging scholars and graduate students from Canada, the US, the UK, Europe, and New Zealand to share their research at Simon Fraser University's Vancouver campus.
Scholars from the fields of Celtic Studies, Education, Fine Arts, History, Indigenous Studies, Literary Studies, and Tourism Studies exchanged knowledge, producing a new understanding of the field of Scottish Studies and of Scotland's historical role in global colonialism for both academic and more general audiences. By holding the event in a location where histories of Scottish settlement and Indigenous displacement collide, on the unceded traditional territories of the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Musqueam Nations, and by collaborating with Indigenous scholars, we aimed to unsettle the dominant narratives of Scottish Studies which situate colonized peoples at its margins.
*We gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the following organizations, whose contributions made this conference possible: the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada; Simon Fraser University’s Office of the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences; the Office of the Vice-President, Research, Simon Fraser University; the St. Andrew's and Caledonian Society of Vancouver; the Community Engagement Initiative, Simon Fraser University; the Research Institute for Irish and Scottish Studies, University of Aberdeen; and the James Hogg Society.
To learn more, please visit our conference page