2005 John F. Roatch

GLOBAL
LECTURE
S E R I E S
on Social Policy and Practice

2005

Roatch Global Lecture Series on Social Policy and Practice

Celtic Culture, Confidence and Credibility:
Implications for Minority
Language Retention in Arizona
Presented by
Agnes Rennie
April 22, 2005

With gratitude

The present
to Mary Roatch

The John F. Roatch Endowment was created by gifts made to
the university by John and Mary Roatch. The endowment
provides support for the Global Lecture Series on Social Policy
and Practice, organized through the Office of the John F. Roatch
Distinguished Community Service Scholar. We thank Mary
for her continued support and her son David for his enthusiastic
participation in the endowment’s activities.

Celebrating
John F. Roatch’s
Legacy

The memory

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5

I

first met Agnes Rennie nearly ten years ago in a community development
conference in Australia. In a milieu where economic development is a paramount subject of conversation, Agnes talked about social and language development. Her feelings for the value of place, culture, and dual language as pillars in
the development of children and in the improvement of society reflected mine.
I believe then, as I do now, that her message has much to offer in Arizona.
Our Hispanic culture and language must remain alive not as substitutes for
the global value of the English language but as valuable additions to it.
Spanish must be taught, learned and valued. It is an asset for all.
– Emilia E. Martinez-Brawley

Agnes Rennie, MBE
Chair, Pròiseact nan Ealan, National Gaelic Arts Agency
Vice chair, Bord na Gaidhlig, the Gaelic Language Board
Broadcaster, Gaelic BBC radio and TV

AGNES RENNIE is a community practitioner with many years of
experience in assisting community-led development in the Islands of
Harris and Lewis in Scotland. She works as a regular presenter
on Gaelic TV and current affairs radio programs. In 2001, Agnes received an MBE (Member of the
British Empire), an honor bestowed by the Queen for her services to the crofting community. Crofts
are small parcels of land where local people maintain traditional agricultural and creative practices.
She is deeply committed to the community she lives in and to the Celtic culture and Gaelic language.
Agnes was the Crofters Commissioner for Lewis and Harris for ten years, a position that involved
working with community development across the Highlands and Islands in Scotland, at the policy
and delivery levels. As a member of the Highlands and Islands Consultancy Group, she has worked
with public agencies and community groups. She has been involved in adult education through the
formal and informal sectors for several years and is currently working to validate language skills
within the context of vocational qualifications. Agnes has also been very interested in the arts in
local communities.
She chairs the board of Pròiseact nan Ealan (the National Gaelic Arts Agency) and is vice chair of
Bord na Gaidhlig (the Gaelic language board). Agnes was recently elected to the board of Urras
Oighreachd Ghabhsainn (Galson Estate Trust), an organization established to purchase land for the
community under the auspices of the new Land Reform Act. She was a founding board member
and latterly chairperson of Iomairt nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Enterprise).
Agnes is a graduate of the University of Aberdeen and Aberdeen College of Education, and lives
with her husband and two daughters on her native croft in Lewis.

Scenes from the Lecture

Celtic Culture,
Confidence and
Credibility
Implications for Minority
Language Retention
in Arizona

Thoir a-nuas dhuinn na coinnlearan òir
‘S annta càraibh na coinnlean geal, cèir
Lasaibh suas iad an seòmar a bhròinn
Taigh aire seann chànan a’ Ghàidheil
Thoiroa-nuas
dhuinn na coinnlearan òir
Se siud
chionn
fhad’ thuirt an nàmh
‘S annta càraibh na coinnlean geal, cèir
Ach fhathast
tha
cànan nan Gàidheal
Lasaibh suas iad an
seòmarbeò
a bhròinn

7

Taigh aire seann chànan a’ Ghàidheil
Se siud o chionn fhad’ thuirt an nàmh
Ach fhathast tha beò cànan nan Gàidheal

Bring out the golden candlesticks
And set up the white wax candles
out the golden candlesticks
LightBring
them
up in the room of mourning
And set up the white wax candles
HoldLight
a wake
forroomthe
ancient tongue of the Gael
them up in the
of mourning
wake for the
ancient
tongue of theonce
Gael
That Hold
is awhat
the
enemy
said
That is what the enemy once said
But the
Gael lives on
But thelanguage
language of the Gaelof
livesthe
on

April 22, 2005

– (Macfarlane, 1973)

I

have a poster on my study wall of a Namibian woman farmer. The poster
was produced by Oxfam and simply says
our culture
our freedom
our rights
our family
way of life
are all rooted in our land

I look at this poster most days and wonder at the simplicity of the statement
and marvel that such a statement by a woman who lives thousands of miles
from me could hold such a resonance. I would like to explore in the following
paper how these elements are just as inextricably linked for me as a woman
farmer living in the Hebrides of Scotland.
HOW THE STORY BEGAN
The story of Scotland’s Celtic culture is part of the great story of the Celtic
languages of Europe. Historians now believe that as long as 5,000 years ago
the nomadic Celtic tribes started to move from east to west across the
great continent, finally reaching the islands of Britain. As the people settled
in their own distinct communities, the languages developed into what we now
know as Scottish Gaelic, Irish Gaelige, Welsh, Cornish, Manx and Breton.
As recently as 500 years ago, about half of the population of Scotland spoke
Gaelic and even 150 years ago there were still 250,000 speakers. By this time,
the Gaelic speaking community was mainly established in the north and west
highlands in the areas north of Perth. According to the census of 2001, the
number of native Gaelic speakers has now declined to 65,000, or just 1% of
the population of Scotland. Most of these speakers live in what is now known as
the Gaelic Heartland, the communities of the Hebridean Islands that lie of the
northwest coast of Scotland. A large number are also dispersed across the country
with significant numbers in the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow.
My own personal story has been part of the bigger story and I will relate it
to exemplify how language and culture and community confidence are so
inextricably connected. My family has lived in the islands for countless generations
and I now live with my husband and daughters on the small farm (known
specifically in Scotland as a croft) that my parents and grandparents lived on
since the croft system was established circa 1924.

8

Around the middle of the 1800’s, the Island of Lewis was
bought by Sir James Matheson, one of the senior partners
in the merchant company of Jardine Matheson, who
had made their fortune trading in opium in Hong Kong.
Matheson planned to earn some financial return on
the money spent on the island, and the people were
expendable where they did not fit the plan. (MacKenzie, 1994)
The whole of the village of Galson was cleared of everybody who lived there in 1863 as part of the process of
clearance that was occurring all over the Highlands
of Scotland at the time.
The process of “clearances” was ruthless and complete.
Every living soul in a village had to go and if this could
not be achieved voluntarily then whatever force was
required would be employed. Most of the people of
Galson gathered their meagre belongings and joined an
emigrant ship that took them across the Atlantic to
Quebec in Canada. The land in Galson was then let as a
sheep farm to a tenant farmer who moved into the island.
Occasional skirmishes between the farmer and people
from the neighbouring villages became a regular feature
of the next forty years until matters came to a head after
the First World War. Having seen the horrors of the
trenches, the returning servicemen were not about to take
no for an answer to their demands for land, and eventually
the Government of the day realised that the demands of
the crofters had to be listened to. The civil war in Ireland
in 1917 undoubtedly helped Gladstone’s Government
to reach this decision and, in 1924, the farm was broken
into crofts. (Hunter, 1978)
My maternal grandparents and my paternal grandparents
were allocated crofts and the latter is the croft where my
family still lives.

children. On the other hand it produced generations of
children whose own cultural heritage was negated in every
way possible: the language of teaching was English, they
were not taught to read or write in Gaelic, they were not
taught anything about their own culture or history, and
they were being actively encouraged to turn their backs
on the language if they wanted to “get on” in life.
In a report to the Scottish Parliament in 2000, John Alick
MacPherson wrote:
It is a tribute to its tenacity, if not a miracle,
that Gaelic has survived thus far. The language
has suffered from stigmatisation and from
attrition. Within an overall ideology of linguistic assimilation—and the stranglehold of a
dominant language—Gaelic has been neither
an official nor a promoted language. At worst
it was discouraged, sometimes by restrictive
legislation including education acts. At best it
was tolerated by the authorities. The history
of the Gaelic language has been a chronicle of
dereliction; official negligence; malicious
intent; deliberate denial; and—perhaps most
damaging of all—benign neglect.
(MacPherson, 2000)

THE GAELIC COMMUNITY TODAY
As John Alick MacPherson said in his report, it is a miracle
that Gaelic has survived. Yet the language has not survived
as a poor replacement for a previously rich culture; instead,
despite the declining number of speakers, it has survived
as a vigorous and creative force that extends across the
whole of Scotland. Gaelic culture is without a doubt one
of the mainstays of Scottish identity. We have used it to
name our landscape, it has done and continues to inspire
some of our greatest poets and visual artists, and musicians and singers draw from a rich legacy of material and
are still adding to that body of material. Gaelic culture has
provided many of the Scottish national emblems which
identify the country all over the world such as kilts, tartan,
bagpipes and some suggest even whisky.

At the end of the 19th century another event took place
that was to have a profound influence on the cultural
history of the Gaelic-speaking communities. The 1872
Education Act of Scotland legislated to provide free
education for children throughout Scotland. A programme
of school construction was embarked on that resulted in
a legacy of school buildings that still function as schools
in many parts of Scotland. There was, however, within the
Act a clause that determined that English should be the
language of the classroom and this was adhered to assiduously by generations of determined teachers, many of
whom were themselves Gaelic speakers. Children came
to school as monoglot Gaelic speakers and from day one
were taught in English, and heaven forbid they be caught
using one word of Gaelic in the classroom. If they were,
then they were punished and, in the 1930s, my own
mother was belted with a leather strap for speaking Gaelic
whilst she was in primary school.

The language is still spoken and, most remarkable of all,
where parents demand it children can now be taught
through the medium of Gaelic. Since the first Gaelic
medium school was opened in 1985 with 24 pupils there
are now some 2,000 pupils in 65 schools across Scotland
being educated in Gaelic. There is also a vibrant preschool
movement that, until recently, was mostly run by parent
volunteers but has now been incorporated into the formal
preschool system. This has grown from no provision 30
years ago to more than 200 across Scotland today.

The effect of this regime was two-fold. On the one hand
it produced generations of well-educated children who
remarkably, despite their often negative school experience,
extolled the virtues of a good education to their own

The influence of national curriculum in this situation is
enormous and, as has been the case in Britain in recent
years like America and elsewhere, the emphasis on
standardisation and testing does not encourage or even

9

create space for minority cultures. The effect of this can be far-reaching and,
even where legislation is introduced to encourage space for the “local” culture,
the greater pressure of meeting national tests together with the lack of resources
will see many teachers not using this opportunity as has happened, for example,
in Norway.

Children…from day one
were taught in English,
and heaven forbid they
be caught using one word
of Gaelic in the classroom. …my own mother
was belted with a leather
strap for speaking Gaelic
whilst she was in primary school. The effect …
was generations of children whose own cultural
heritage was negated in
every way possible. Yet,
the language … has
survived as a vigorous

There are some good examples of countries that have recognised the need for
the curriculum to acknowledge place-based learning as a key component in the
curriculum and not simply an optional extra after all the “real” subjects. New
Zealand, as part of the effort to integrate the Maori, has given high priority to
local culture and other learning activities. This policy is reinforced by ensuring
that new teaching graduates, whether Maori or not, are equipped to deliver the
cultural components of the curriculum.
In Scotland, the First Minister Jack MacConnell delivered his St. Andrews Day
speech in 2003 and chose culture as his theme. He spoke of the citizen’s “right
to access cultural participation and excellence.” Since then, Local Government
Authorities have been asked to prepare local cultural plans, and a commitment
has been made that all children of primary school age will access music tuition
for a minimum period of two years.
Coincidentally, also in November 2003, the Scottish Arts Council launched its
first-ever Gaelic Arts Policy. (Gaelic Arts Policy, 2003) This was the result of considerable lobbying by the Gaelic Arts sector but also acknowledged the steady
growth in Gaelic cultural activity during the previous 15 years. In his foreword
to the policy document, Graeme Berry states that “a consistent theme has arisen
during the discussions that have informed the policy: the vital and central
relationship of language and the arts to national culture and identity.”
Scotland is now a country of wide cultural diversity reflecting the many people
from all over the world who have chosen to make their home here. Rightly, there
are increasing efforts to reflect this diversity in all sections of Scottish life. The
actions of the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Arts Council have to be seen
against a context where Gaelic is an autochthonous language only of Scotland.
The 1998 Sproull Report states:

and creative force that
extends across the whole
of Scotland.

Gaelic arts and cultural activities appear to be making a substantial
contribution to many of the main objectives set by public agencies
dedicated to economic, social and linguistic development in the area.
These include direct and indirect employment and output creation, the
encouragement of tourism, the creation of business opportunities, the
raising of self-confidence, and local attachment to an area historically
plagued by out-migration. (Sproull & Chalmers, 1998)

It is only right, then, that after hundreds of years of political neglect the Scottish
Parliament is now moving a Gaelic Language Bill through the final stages of
consultation. The Bill is not perfect, and there are many language activists who
consider it a weak piece of legislation compared to what is actually required.
Nevertheless if, as it looks increasingly likely, the bill becomes statute in June
of 2005, the first-ever Gaelic Language Act will be passed and will empower
Bord na Gaidhlig (the Gaelic Language Board) to act on behalf of the Scottish
Parliament to protect and progress all matters relating to the language.
BUILDING CONFIDENCE
I have spent a lifetime working in grassroots community development. I have
been privileged to work in my own home community and in communities across
Scotland, with community groups and organisations of all kinds.

10

It has become clear to me that, irrespective of financial
incentives, if a community is not clear of its own development agenda and confident of being able to realise that,
then development will not happen. Or, if activity does
result from outside intervention, it is unlikely to be
sustainable in the long term.
I have observed how over the last twenty-five years small
initiatives within communities have seen a blossoming of
related activities in similar communities. One good example
of this has been the growth of community organisations
in the voluntary sector where local people are inspired by
activity in a neighbouring community to take charge of
a situation in their own locality. Of course there is no one
answer to this, but there is certainly a link between this
progress and the health and vitality of any community.
When a village has lost most of its young people, has
mainly elderly people left, has gradually had to abandon
the traditional occupations due to lack of young people
to assist with physical work, has no young people to reinvigorate the social life of the village, and as individuals
have always been denied the worth of their cultural
heritage, then that village and every individual who lives
in it is being denied the most basic foundation on which
they could have built a future.
I occasionally work in an office where there is a cartoon
on the wall where the teacher asks the class, “What do
you call someone who speaks two languages?”
“Bilingual,” came the reply. “And what do you call someone who speaks three languages,” she asked next?
“Trilingual,” came the reply. “And what do you call someone
who speaks one language?” “British,” was the unfortunate reply to that. The cartoon always makes me smile,
but there is a bitter truth hidden in its humour.

behind the tunes, they learn Gaelic songs and dance, they
act in their Gaelic dramas and they do all of this as confident citizens of a global community. They are not taught
to “get on and get out;” instead, they are encouraged to
be confident young people, proud of their heritage and
aware of their place in the international community. These
are the young generation who are now choosing to pursue
their post-school education in the modern setting of the
University of the Highlands and Islands and, having done
so, many are then choosing to stay and work in their own
communities. I use the word “choosing” very deliberately
here because I do not subscribe to the view that you
can engineer the future of a community by forcing young
people to stay anywhere. The important thing here is
choice that includes an option to stay where before there
was none.
A recent report from Highlands and Islands Enterprise
network suggested that no project will have greater impact
on the regional economy than the creation of the
University of the Highlands and Islands. (Annual Report, 2003a)
The option of choosing a higher education course within
their own community is vital for young people, but equally
it contributes economically and intellectually to small
communities that have been traditionally deprived of such
opportunities. At a very superficial level, it is possible to
justify the investment in a new educational infrastructure
by forecasting the number of students who will benefit
educationally as well as the jobs created to deliver that
education. I wish to suggest that the economic investment
is justified to a much greater extent by the contribution
the institution makes, through its 15 campuses and 110
local learning centres, across the Highlands and Islands,
adding to the growing confidence of these communities.

Later, I will describe some specific examples of initiatives
that I have seen in action and the way in which they have
affected the confidence of people, but now I would like
to return to education and how our first encounter with
the education system can have a profound effect on
self-esteem and self-confidence. Our two daughters both
attend Gaelic medium schools and have been educated
in their first language since they started school. Their first
language is Gaelic and Gaelic is the language of the
home and of their extended family on their mother’s side.
It is still, remarkably, also largely the language of the
community we live in. As such, they are completely at
ease with speaking two languages from preschool. As a
teacher friend once said of her bilingual class, “They have
two windows on the world, where others only have one.”

That same choice is echoed in the general population in
many of our communities. At the same time as we lament
the decrease in population figures and the impact this will
have in the future, we have to recognise that many people
live in these communities now because they have chosen
to do so. Whereas historically most of the population
stayed because they had no choice, the communities of
the Highlands and Islands now live here because they have
chosen to stay or to move here from other parts of Britain.
This choice is often based on factors that include quality
of life, a clean environment, and a recognisable and rich
cultural heritage. A recent study showed that there are
indirect consequences of attachment to place such as
the desire of young people to continue to live and work in
their home area and the building of community self
confidence. (Chalmers, D., 2003)

These modern Gaelic-speaking children sit down in Galson
and watch satellite television and listen to the same pop
music as their peers in Glasgow and London and even in
Phoenix. Their pop icons are Greenday and Anastacia,
Scooby Doo is the same wherever you watch it, and the
latest fashions are probably set by the same trendsetters.
They also learn to play traditional fiddle and the stories

Despite many similar examples it is, however, very much
more difficult to provide hard targets to satisfy public and
business investment in the fields of arts and culture.
Initiatives that enrich and inform our lives can also often
lead to the creation of jobs in the process. There is,
however, a continued tension between the process of
sustaining cultural integrity on the one hand and exploiting

11

The emphasis on standardisation and testing

economic opportunities where they present themselves. This tension has never
been fully resolved and the crass representation of the caricature Highlander is
not something that the modern Gael is ever comfortable with. Compare this with
the Appalachian hillbilly who is represented as drunken, lazy, and aggressive or
the Hispanic who is portrayed similarily. Fortunately, the modern Gael does not
rely on the caricature representation of others; and performers, writers and visual
artists live in and are inspired by their Celtic heritage and share that inspiration
on a world stage.

does not encourage or

EXAMPLES OF ACTION

even create space for

I would like to describe some initiatives that demonstrate in different ways the
many diverse ways in which cultural activities can inform and enrich. Each of
the projects has originated in or been developed from community experience
and whilst some continue to operate at the heart of the local community others
have grown and their impact is now being felt far beyond where they were
first conceived.

minority cultures even
where the emphasis on
standardisation and testing
does not encourage or
even create space for
minority cultures. Even
where legislation is introduced to encourage space
for the “local” culture,
the greater pressure of
meeting national tests
together with the lack of
resources will see
many teachers not using
this opportunity.

Comann Eachdraidh Nis (Ness Historical Society) was the brainchild of a local
community worker in the Ness area of Lewis. She had been visiting in the United
States and had seen the work of the FoxFire project where young students had
been encouraged to gather stories of local history from local elders. They were
so inspired by their research that for many it not only informed them of their
own local history, but it also changed their attitude to the possibilities of school
having a meaningful purpose. Comann Eachdraidh Nis employed six young
people on a project funded through a government programme to provide work
for unemployed people. The initial application was greeted with derision by
the programme administrators. Up until then, all their applications had been for
projects to do real work like building roads and stock pens and it was very
difficult for them to envisage a historical project achieving any worthwhile outcomes. Eventually the project was approved, and as a new graduate I was
appointed to supervise the team. It was an educational experience for me on
a par with my years at university and during that first year we set down the
building blocks for an organisation that still plays an important role in the
community twenty-five years later. It has also been copied and remodelled to
suit countless other communities across the Highlands and Islands. Remarkably,
it has also been taken back across the Atlantic by a visitor from The Highlander
Research Education Centre in Tennessee who was inspired by her visit to
Comann Eachdraidh Nis.
Feisean nan Gaidheal (The Festivals of the Gaels) began with a small gathering
on the Island of Barra some twenty-five years ago. It was organised by a
group of parents, with support from the local priest, in frustration at the lack
of traditional music, song, and dance tuition in the schools. The festivals are
mostly held each summer during the school holidays and have grown to thirtyseven separate events all over Scotland. In 1996, a study of the fèis movement
identified three key characteristics. First, the centrality of the community in
each fèis because they matter deeply and are fuelled and directed by voluntary
commitment. Secondly, the important role of Gaelic as the source of the culture
and its meanings. Thirdly, a very high quality of performance given that many
of the best musicians are involved at all levels. (Matarraso, F., 1996)
Countless young people have enjoyed first-hand experience of the arts through
their involvement in the fèis movement, and irrespective of ability, the noncompetitive nature of the fèis makes the experience worthwhile for
all participants.

12

Proiseact nan Sgeulachdan (The Storytelling Project) was
started three years ago by Proiseact nan Ealan (The Gaelic
Arts Agency) and is mainly based in the Hebrides. The
project coordinator organises informal events involving
storytelling and occasional singing where everybody
participates and there are no professional performers.
The experience is mainly social, but is intrinsically cultural
in content. Possibly the most powerful aspect of it so far
has been the creation of opportunities to link tradition
bearers with school pupils, to share stories and relate
experience. Some of this activity was recorded by the
children themselves in paintings and drawings and was
later displayed at one of the island art galleries.
Leabhar mor na Gaidhlig (The Great Book of Gaelic) is
a book and an exhibition containing one hundred pieces
of Scottish and Irish Gaelic literature and one hundred
specially commissioned pieces of art by Irish and Scottish
artists. The Leabhar Mor project also includes a specially
developed education pack and a Web site, and countless
literary and other events have taken place around the
exhibition wherever it has been situated. The Leabhar Mor
was produced by the Gaelic Arts Agency and, as well as its
Scottish and Irish venues, it is expected to tour to several
European countries, Canada, and America in due course.
During its first showing in the Glasgow Gallery of Modern
Art, it was described by the Independent newspaper
as “a brilliant bridge between tradition and modernity.
The loveliest fruits of the Northern Ireland peace process
thus far.” The latter statement is becoming a reality with
the exhibition currently on show in Cork and soon to be
displayed in the Ulster Museum in Belfast.
Crofting Community Trusts have grown in number over
the last twelve years. In 2003 alone, over thirty community
land purchase initiatives were successful. As I described
earlier, crofts were small tenant farms created by Act of
Parliament to provide an increasingly restless community
with homes, and to prevent the possibility of revolution.
The 1886 Crofters Scotland Act also provided all crofters
(as long as they remained tenants) with security of tenure.
That law remained largely unchanged until 2004 when the
Scottish Parliament passed the Land Reform Scotland Act.
Amongst a number of significant clauses the one that
allowed crofting communities to buy their own land was
the most controversial and the most exciting. Galson village where I live is part of Galson estate, and in November
last year I was pleased to be elected by public ballot to
become a member of the Trust established to purchase the
land back for the community. The ready support from the
community for the Trust to proceed with the purchase of
this estate is a reflection on the confidence and leadership
that now exists within the community.

BRING OUT THE GOLD CANDLESTICKS …
I began with a quote from the great Gaelic poet Murdo
Macfarlane who wrote some of the most hauntingly
beautiful Gaelic songs of the 20th century as an emigrant
in Canada in the ‘20s. He returned to Lewis and was
steeped in the culture of the islands and by the 1970s,
although an elderly man, recognised the importance of
the young if the Gaelic community was to survive. He
started writing popular songs designed to entertain, to
record a passing way of life and, most important of all,
to inspire. The gold candlesticks are still in their cupboard
and will remain there whilst new generations of young
people emerge as tradition bearers of a new age.
We cannot escape the global assault of satellite television
and electronic media in its many forms. We can, however,
acknowledge the importance of sustaining minority
and regional cultures and the benefits of teaching young
people to be proud of their cultural heritage. They do
not have to get lost in the homogenised porrage that is
satellite mid-Atlantic pop culture. They can enjoy and
participate in this, but grow to be confident young citizens
who know who they are and where they come from.
On the other hand, Gaelic language broadcasting has
contributed both energy and resources to the process of
language development during the last 20 years. There
is no doubt that television is one of the most effective
tools to reach young people, and the opportunity both to
participate and view their peers in the medium that they
know best is very powerful. Equally, for the community
generally, Gaelic television, and radio in particular, have
encouraged comment and debate on matters that are at
the heart of the development process in their community.
The leading Development Enterprise agency in the
Highlands and Islands recently stressed that economic and
social progress go hand in hand. This means that the
challenges of generating employment and learning opportunities, stimulating entrepreneurial activity and building
community confidence are not separate. According to the
report, they are all interconnected and support each other.
(Annual Report, 2003b) The challenge for those of us engaged
in community development activity, whether at the policy
level, the agency level or the grassroots delivery level is to
ensure that we continue to recognise the importance of
this interconnection. A culture preserved as some kind
of museum piece is dead. We have to cherish and sustain
cultural heritage that inspires individual and community
confidence and know that the return on investment in
related activities is not measured on a balance sheet but in
the well-being of the people. The community I know best
is, of course, my home community in Scotland, but one of

13

the great privileges of working in community development today is that we
can share that experience and learn from others in communities all over the
world. I will conclude with some questions to my respondents on the
experience in Arizona:

We have to cherish and
sustain cultural heritage
that inspires individual

•
•

•

and community confidence
and know that the return

•

on investment in related
activities is not measured
on a balance sheet but

•

Is there recognition of the correlation between cultural identity and
individual confidence and self-esteem?
Does the education system in general, and the primary curriculum
in particular, ensure that young people have their cultural heritage
acknowledged and honoured?
Does the education system ensure that the wider community understands
the value of cultural heritage and the contribution this makes to the well
being of all communities?
Are cultural projects resourced adequately with an understanding of
the true value of investment in projects that celebrate cultural heritage
and artistic achievement?
And, finally, can we put the gold candlesticks away because as a
society we do celebrate and gain enrichment from our many different
cultural experiences?

in the well-being of
the people.
SOURCES

&

Annual Report (2003a). Highlands and Islands
Enterprise. Inverness, Scotland.
Annual Report (2003b). Highlands and Islands
Enterprise. Inverness, Scotland.
Chalmers, D. (2003). The economic impacts of
the Gaelic Arts and Culture. Glasgow, Scotland:
Glasgow University.
Gaelic Arts Policy (2003). Edinburgh, Scotland:
Scottish Arts Council.
Hunter, J. (1978). The making of the crofting
community. Edinburgh, Scotland: John Donald
Publishers.
Macfarlane, M. (1973). Canan nan Gàidheal. In
An Toinneamh Diomhair. Stornoway, Isle of
Lewis, Scotland: Stornoway Gazette.

MacKenzie, J. M. (1994). Diary, 1851: John
Munro Mackenzie, Chamberlain of the Lews.
Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, Scotland: Acair.
MacPherson, J. A. (2000). Revitalizing Gaelic: A
national asset. Report to the Scottish Parliament,
Edinburgh, Scotland.
Matarraso, F. (1996). Northern Lights: The social
impact of Arts Programmes. Bournes Green,
Gloucestershire: Comedia.
Sproull, A. & Chalmers, D. (1998). The demand
for Gaelic artistic and cultural products and services: Patterns and impacts. Glasgow, Scotland:
Glasgow Caledonia University.

14

A Man in Assynt

(excerpt)

in Norman MacCaig 1910 – 1996
Collected Poems

Who owns this landscape?
Has owning anything to do with love?
For it and I have a love-affair, so nearly human
we even have quarrels.—
When I intrude too confidently
it rebuffs me with a wind like a hand
or puts in my way
a quaking bog or a loch
where no loch should be. Or I turn stonily
away, refusing to notice
the rouged rocks, the mascara
under a dripping ledge, even
the tossed, the stony limbs waiting.
I cant pretend
it gets sick for me in my absence,
though I get
sick for it. Yet I love it
with special gratitude, since
it sends me no letters, is never
jealous and, expecting nothing
from me, gets nothing but
cigarette packets and footprints.
Who owns this landscape?—
The millionaire who bought it or
The poacher staggering downhill in the early morning
with a deer on his back?
Who possesses this landscape?—
The man who bought it or
I who am possessed by it?

15

Respondent Timothy M. Hogan
Timothy M. Hogan
Executive Director
Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest
As a lawyer attempting to secure adequate state funding for language
acquisition in Arizona, I see strong parallels between the story told by Agnes
Rennie and the history of language acquisition in Arizona. Of course, the
problem is that in Arizona we’re about 130 years behind Scotland’s treatment
of Gaelic in government and public schools.
According to Ms. Rennie, it was in 1872 that the Education Act of Scotland
was enacted which established free education for children throughout the
country. However, the Act also determined that English should be the language
in the classroom and that Gaelic was banned and its use punished.
Arizona’s recent history provides a striking parallel. In 1988, Arizona voters
approved a ballot initiative establishing English as the official language of the
state for purposes of voting, public schools and all government functions and
actions. The initiative further required the state to take all reasonable steps to
preserve, protect and enhance the role of English and prohibited the state from
using or requiring the use of languages other than English. In school, the initiative
allowed the use of another language only to assist English learners to the extent
necessary to comply with federal law, and allowed instruction in a language
other than English to provide as “rapid as possible a transition” to English.
It took ten years but the Arizona Supreme Court finally declared the official
English initiative unconstitutional. That hasn’t stopped the state legislature from
trying to reverse that court decision by making minor changes to the initiative.
The legislature is currently considering a proposal to a slightly revised English Only
proposal, which would go to voters for their approval in 2006.
A related measure was approved by Arizona voters as Proposition 203 in
2000. That initiative established sheltered English immersion as the methodology
for English acquisition in Arizona’s public schools. The same initiative repealed
bilingual, English as a Second Language and bilingual/bicultural programs as
alternative methods for teaching English language learners in Arizona’s schools.
Whatever the merits of English immersion as an educational methodology, its
adoption in Arizona speaks volumes about how we as a state view the ability to
speak, read and write a language other than English. Instead of viewing that
ability as a resource that should be cultivated and preserved, Arizona’s approach
seems to be one of suppression and exclusivity.
The sad fact is that although our laws demand English and English Only,
the state has never provided the funding for English language learners to actually
become proficient in English. In 2000, a federal judge ruled that the state’s
system for funding English language programs was arbitrary and unrelated to
their cost. A recent study authorized by the legislature indicates that funding
should be increased by about five times its current level in order for effective
English acquisition programs to be put in place and delivered to students. So
far, the legislature has balked and is under threat of court sanctions if it doesn’t
comply by the end of the current legislative session.
As a result, non-English proficient students in Arizona have the worst of
both worlds. The state wants to suppress their native language and won’t
provide the funding necessary for them to learn English. The consequences are
predictable. English language learners fail the AIMS test at two to three times
the rate of their English proficient peers.
To be sure, Arizona is not Scotland and it’s not hard to explain the differences
in attitude toward native languages between here and there. What is difficult to
explain is our failure in Arizona to view non-English language students as assets
who can add value to our education system. Instead of figuring out how to extinguish the languages that those students bring to school, we should be trying to
establish a language system that takes advantage of multiple languages and
shares them with other students.
But there is hope. Agnes Rennie’s story is cause for optimism and teaches us
that meaningful change must start at the grass roots level and in Arizona there are
many who share the view that language diversity can enrich the lives of all students.

16

Respondent Terrence Wiley
Terrence Wiley
Director, Division of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
College of Education
Arizona State University
Co-Director, Language Policy Research of the Educational Policy Studies Laboratory
Agnes Rennie’s excellent discussion of efforts to maintain and promote
Celtic, an indigenous language of the U.K., should give us pause regarding the
condition of heritage languages and language education in the U.S. and Arizona.
First, consider a few facts about language diversity: About one-in-four Arizonans
can a speak language other than English compared to two-of-five in California
and less than one-in-five nationally. Arizona, like many states also, has a rapidly
growing Latino and Spanish-speaking population.
How well do current educational policies in Arizona and the U.S.
embrace and build on language diversity as a resource? Arizona’s
Proposition 203 restricts bilingual education and delays the opportunity to develop
languages other than English for children who already speak them. The current
political clamor by some to make English the official language and restrict
services in other languages is misguided because most of those who speak other
languages either speak English or are trying to learn the language. According to
the 2000 U.S. Census, nearly 98% of those who can speak other languages also
speak English at some level. Although Arizona has one of the largest Native
American populations in the U.S., Native American languages are being lost at an
alarming rate. Given the restrictions of Proposition 203, many students are
deprived of an opportunity to maintain their heritage languages.
What is the effect of the lack of emphasis on language learning for
the monolingual English-speaking majority? Nationally, only 31% of the
elementary schools attempt to teach languages other than English at all, and
most of the schools that do only try to “expose” students to other languages.
Only one-in-five of schools that teach other languages try to develop proficiency
in them.
The situation in the upper grades is not impressive either. Of the languages
taught in grades 7-12, with the exception of Spanish, many are languages that
are declining in the general population, as French and German are. Meanwhile,
many of the rapidly growing immigrant languages and languages of global
importance are scarcely being taught (Wiley, in press). Mandarin Chinese, for example,
it barely registers among the foreign languages being offered. Even in the case of
Spanish, most of the Spanish is being offered as a “foreign” language, despite
the fact that there are more than 28 million speakers of Spanish in the U.S.,
which makes this country the fifth largest Spanish-speaking nation in the world!
In college, foreign language enrollments, as a percentage of total enrollments,
decreased dramatically from 16% in 1965 to 8% in 1994, where they have
remained since. “But more telling, enrollment in the languages considered critical
to national security, including Chinese, account for less than 10 percent of these
enrollments, according to the National Foreign Language Center.
Where does this leave us? The U.S. and Arizona are missing important
opportunities to develop and build on the languages of those among us who
speak other languages. In the 21st century, who among us will be able to
communicate in languages other than English in the global economy? Better
that we see the rich linguistic diversity of the U.S. as a resource upon which to
build rather than as a deficiency.
Sources:
www.language-policy.org, downloaded 07/05/2005
Rhodes & Branaman, 1997
Austin, 2004

© 2005 ASU Board of Regents
Editor Emilia Martinez-Brawley, Technical Editor Julie Riddle
Graphic Design Chrys Gakopoulos, Deanna Johnson
Photography Deanna Johnson, Margo Rivera-Wilson