Oatmeal and the Catechism: Scottish Gaelic Settlers in Quebec

Research output: Books, editions or reportsBookpeer-review

Details

Oatmeal and the Catechism: Scottish Gaelic Settlers in Quebec, John Donald, Edinburgh and McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal, 1998. Second (expanded) edition, Birlinn, Edinburgh, 2004. Winner of the Canadian Historical Society’s Cleo Award for History, 1999.

Synopsis:
Relying heavily upon oral tradition, the book embraces the diverse disciplines of folklore, history, language, geography, literature, sociology, agriculture, botany, and home economics. It covers emigration history, community and domestic lifestyles, religious and social structure (including songs, poems, legends, and folktales), customs and beliefs, and material culture. Discussions are supported throughout by testimonies of many Townshippers, quoted verbatim, enabling the "voice" of the Gael to continue to be heard. Oatmeal and the Catechism will be of great interest to scholars and students of Gaelic studies and folklore in addition to Quebecers and others whose Scottish ancestors settled in Quebec and eastern Canada and helped carve a country out of the wilderness.

Review:
'There can be few scholars on either side of the Atlantic who succeed in combining such a wide range of skills as Margaret Bennett... Margaret Bennett embodies all that is best of the spirit of Scotland' - Hamish Henderson 'a meticulously researched and well-written book' - History Teaching Review
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationEdinburgh, Scotland & Montreal, Canada
PublisherJohn Donald and McGill-Queen’s University Press
ISBN (Print)9780773518100 , 9780859764612, 9780859765749
Publication statusPublished or Performed - 2004

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