POOR TV about Scotland’s history helps perpetuate myths and misunderstandings about our place in the Union and the British empire, a leading historian says.
Imagined versions of Scotland are seen on screen in shows like US time-travel romance Outlander or movies like 2018’s Mary Queen of Scots, which was criticised for its inaccurate portrayal of the monarch’s life and death.
Now an expert in a key period of the country’s past says the broadcast of fact-filled documentaries and dramas could help dispel mistaken ideas about Scotland’s status, including the notion that it is a British colony.
A furious row erupted about that issue on social media in recent days.
Dr Allan Kennedy, who specialises in the pre-history of and influences on the Anglo-Scottish Union, told the Sunday National: “Scotland is striking compared to some other countries for not entrenching its own history within civic culture. I think that does lead people to perhaps underestimate the distinctiveness of Scottish history.
“Scotland is not just England with a funny accent, there are deep roots and historical trends that some of us don’t recognise and allow for the proliferation of these mythical narratives. These have their own particular canards.”
He went on: “What we have a problem in Scotland across the board in the mass communication of the realities of historical research.
“We don’t have a mass media environment which is particularly good at translating the understanding of Scottish history to a wider audience.”
The Dundee University expert – a consulting editor of History Scotland magazine who has published works on the governance of the highlands – says all broadcasters have a role to play and the big screen treatment of Scottish history has focused on the “same stories from the same perspectives”, with several productions made about particular figures.
While Kennedy praises the history content on BBC’s radio services, including the Time Travels series, he says of the corporation’s iPlayer: "If you look on the first page of iPlayer you’ll see documentaries about English history and Russian history or American history. You’ll find very few on Scottish history and the ones you do find are not going to be terribly illuminating.”
Kennedy’s comments come days after the SNP’s Tom Arthur MSP was called a “Quisling” and “Vichy jock” in a row over All Under One Banner’s plans to protest outside the Scotland Office building in Edinburgh, which it described as “colonial”.
Arthur, an SNP deputy whip and former parliamentary liaison officer to the Culture, Tourism and External Affairs Secretary, branded that claim “historically illiterate nonsense” and told the Sunday National he is “surprised” that there is a question over the country’s relation to the British empire in 2021.
He stated: “Scotland was not settled in the way the colonies of North America or Australia or New Zealand were, with the consequent displacement and subjugation of peoples. Scotland was not the subject of a carve up by imperial powers as in Africa. Scotland was not a plaything for something equivalent to the East India Company. We weren’t hived off as the consequence of a negotiation following a conflict as with Hong Kong and the Opium Wars.
“All of these have different histories and experiences, there’s similarities and variations, but it isn’t the case for Scotland.
“We were part of the largest colonial enterprise in history. There’s been a lot of debate in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement about Scotland’s past. I’m conscious of the association that names in my constituency like Milliken Park have with individuals who profited from slavery.
“You can go to those corners of the world where the Union flag once flew and find streets names with an association with Scotland.”
Arthur says that while some people use terms like "colonial" as “shorthand or metaphor” for the constitutional situation, “we need to be more conscious about the idea that things like that just stay in Twitter and don’t impact on the real world”.
On the Twitter row, he said: “I want Scotland to become an independent country, I think we need to be to build a fairer, more equal and prosperous future. It’s not because we’re an oppressed colony that needs liberation. The people of Scotland are sovereign.
READ MORE: ‘Scotland’s biggest anti-racism step’ in North Lanarkshire given green light
“It’s really important that we pursue the campaign for independence on a solid foundation.”
Kennedy says the colony argument “isn’t new” and “no reputable historian would argue” for it.
He went on: “People will make this spurious claim and, if you ask them to expand, what they are probably meaning is Scotland is an unequal partner in the Union. That’s not the same as a colonial relationship. You can be a full and equal partner in a union and still be disadvantaged.
“This union is a voluntary one. Parliament voted through this treaty, though there have been some suggestions by historians that Scotland was subject to coercive persuasion. We vote in MPs, so Scotland has significant representation in the state. That’s not the circumstances of a colony.
“Whether Scotland was or was not a colony doesn’t mean you should or should not take a particular position in the current constitutional debate.”
READ MORE: ‘Scotland’s biggest anti-racism step’ in North Lanarkshire given green light
A BBC Scotland spokesperson said: “The BBC has a tradition of producing illuminating and informative factual programming on the subject of Scottish history.
“Programmes are regularly commissioned which cover various aspects of Scotland’s history including political, social and cultural. Recent examples include the three-part series, The Years that Changed Modern Scotland, Blood of the Clans – both of which currently feature prominently on iPlayer – and Scotland, Slavery and Statues.”
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