- Title
- The Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge: establishing identity under the Union, 1709-1715
- Creator
- Atkinson, Justine
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2011
- Description
- Masters Research - Master of Arts (MA)
- Description
- Established only two years after the Union between England and Scotland of 1707, the Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge (SSPCK) sought to establish charity schools throughout the Highlands of Scotland, and eventually the New World. In recent years its efforts have been criticised as an assault on Highland culture, specifically with regard to the “language problem” that arose from its policy of teaching English to Gaelic-speaking children. However, the early SSPCK was full of contradictions. It taught with English texts while insisting on Gaelic speaking schoolmasters; warned against Catholicism while settling of schools in mainly Protestant parishes; and complained about the Highlands’ difficult terrain while sending schoolmasters to some of its most inaccessible places. This thesis examines the early years of the SSPCK in terms of its place in the newly established Union, and its contradictions in ideas of space, religion and language. In doing so we begin to understand the SSPCK as an organisation confronted by conflicting perceptions of identity, both of itself and of the new nation it aimed to serve. As a product of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, national identity for the SSPCK was inextricably linked to Calvinism. Hence, although the SSPCK was pro-Union, there were elements of the new Establishment which challenged the Society’s pro-Presbyterianism, especially with regard to perceived encroachments of Episcopalians in Scotland. The SSPCK’s reaction was to negotiate various representations of identity so as to promote a homogenous Scotland in keeping with the Society’s notions of loyalty to the Union, while at the same time ensuring the continued supremacy of the Presbyterian religion within Scotland.
- Subject
- SSPCK; Union; education; 18th century; Scotland; Highlands; religion
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/807539
- Identifier
- uon:7432
- Rights
- Copyright 2011 Justine Atkinson
- Language
- eng
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
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| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Thesis | 10 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |