INTRODUCTION

THROUGHOUT THE IMPERIAL AND non-imperial destinations to which Scots gravitated, they expressed their ethnic identities in various ways, including the founding of Caledonian societies, the building of memorials and statues, and the organisation of festivals such as Highland Games and pipe band competitions. Angela McCarthy explains that although scholars are alert to these components, they have generally focused either on one particular aspect, such as ethnic societies, or fleetingly mentioned such elements without sustained analysis. For many ladies’ pipe band members, and indeed other members of Scottish groups, their association was linked – to varying degrees – to a sense of Scottish ethnicity. This chapter will extend this scholarship by surveying Scottish ethnic identities through two approaches: public group expressions of Scottishness, as revealed by ladies’ pipe bands and their various connections to other forms of Scottish associational culture; and personal expressions of individual band members. It therefore engages with established research on associational culture, but also emphasises personal articulations of Scottishness. This central objective is important, for, while

As sociologist David McCrone puts it, ‘Perhaps too much attention is paid to the identity labels that people are “forced” to wear, and not enough on how they select and actively present themselves to others.’

This chapter draws on a larger study which examined ten ladies’ pipe bands across Scotland and its diaspora (Australia, Canada, England and New Zealand) between 1918 and 2012. It uses as evidence interviews conducted both in person, and where necessary, by email. The ages of the interview subjects vary, with most of these women beginning their piping hobbies as teenagers (mostly around twelve to eighteen years old) in the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Their current ages therefore range between fifty-six and ninety-two, reflecting a sampling of musicians in age and association to a Scottish descent group. All these interviewees were recruited through social networking. In Australia, no former members could be located, and in England, no interest could be summoned.