I am a PhD student at the 我要吃瓜, looking at Nacken chaetrie (the material culture of Gypsy/Travellers) in Scottish museums. My background is in museums, where I worked mainly in community engagement and learning. While working the Highland Folk Museum (2004-2008), I was involved in the development and delivery of a series of projects which brought young Travellers together with museum collections related to their cultural heritage. These projects sparked an interest, as well as an awareness of current gaps in museum practice and policy, which has led to this research. My research focuses on what Nacken chaetrie there is in museums, how it is used and valued and what museums can do to make this material more visible in the future.
Cian Bin: Gypsy/Traveller Accommodation
Delivered as part of the Highland Folk Museum's conference - From Crucks to Crinkly Tin: Traditional Structures and Settlements in the Central Highlands.
This talk included the launch of Shona Main's film, 'The Tent that Essie built: The tent shall stand when the palace shall fall'.
Sutherland Traveller Essie Stewart builds a bough tent from scratch, for the last time.
“The tent shall stand when the palace shall fall” is from a Hungarian folk song quoted by Hamish Henderson in Timothy Neat’s film, The Summer Walkers [1976].
The song throughout is Crodh Chailen sung by Essie Stewart and her grandfather Alec Stewart [Allidh Dall or Blind Alexander]. It was recorded in Armadale in July 1957 by Hamish Henderson. We use it with the kind permission of the School of Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh.
This film was commissioned by Historic Environment Scotland, The Engine Shed, The Highland Folk Museum and High Life Highland.
A film by Shona Main
made with
Essie Stewart
Rhona Ramsay
Fred Conacher
Hannes Schnell
Liz English
Sarah Lawther
and all at the Highland Folk Museum.
With editing, sound and thoughts by Angelica Kroeger.
Thank you Angus Council for helping us source coppiced hazel.
? 2018 Shona Main and Essie Stewart
Nawken chaetrie online exhibition
https://grthm.scot/nawken_chaetrie/
In 2020, all Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month events took place online. This online exhibition featured examples from among the wide range of Nawken chaetrie (Gypsy/Traveller objects) identified during my research. Photographs of objects were featured alongside interpretive text.
Nawken Chaetrie [the material culture of Scottish Gypsy/Travellers, or Gypsy Traveller objects]
Nawken is a term used by Scottish Gypsy/Travellers to refer to themselves. There is no fixed or settled spelling of Nawken, which reflects its origin in an oral tradition, the Cant, one of the languages of Nawken. Other forms of this word include: Naken, Nacken, Naggen, Naggin, Nagin, Nakkin, Nargen, Noggen and Norken. Translations of these terms from the Cant have been given as ‘myself’ and ‘no home’.
This exhibit shows images of various artefacts from museum collections in Scotland, which have connections to Nawken. Nawken lives are rarely made visible in museums, although Nawken chaetrie is often present.
Nacken chaetrie in Scottish Museums (the material culture of Gypsy/Travellers in Scottish museums)
Paper delivered alongside Eric Grant's 'Tinkers and Tinsmiths in Highland' for North of Scotland Archaeology Society (NOSAS).
How Gypsy/Traveller material culture is preserved, interpreted and presented in museums.
heritage; material culture; museums
Article
Who Made the Turreted Brooches of Argyll? Nacken and Elite Silver Craftwork
Ramsay R (2021) Who Made the Turreted Brooches of Argyll? Nacken and Elite Silver Craftwork. Scottish Historical Review, 100 (3), pp. 455-468. https://doi.org/10.3366/shr.2021.0540
Exhibition
Ramsay R Nawken Chaetrie.
Conference Paper (unpublished)
Cian bin: Gypsy and Traveller accommodation
Ramsay R (2019) Cian bin: Gypsy and Traveller accommodation [Travellers' structures and settements]. From Crucks to Crinkly Tin: traditional structures and settlements in the Central Highlands, Highland Folk Museum, Newtonmore, 09.10.2019-09.10.2019.
Conference Paper (unpublished)
Cian bin: Gypsy and Traveller accommodation
Ramsay R (2019) Cian bin: Gypsy and Traveller accommodation [Travellers' structures and settlements]. From Crucks to Crinkly Tin, Highland Folk Museum, Newtonmore, 09.10.2019-09.10.2019.
Conference Paper (unpublished)
Representation and identity: Gypsy/Travellers and Museums
Ramsay R (2019) Representation and identity: Gypsy/Travellers and Museums. The Future of Social History: Who are we curating for? (Social History Curators Group), City Art Centre and Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh, 18.07.2019-19.07.2019.
Other
Ramsay R (2019) A Nawken Trail of Aberdeen.
Conference Paper (published)
Unsettling Naken chaetrie in Scottish museums
Ramsay R (2019) Unsettling Naken chaetrie in Scottish museums. In: Decolonizing the Museum in Practice, Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford. Museum Ethnographers Group, pp. 63-83.
Conference Paper (unpublished)
War and its cultural impact on Gypsy/Travellers in Scotland
Ramsay R (2018) War and its cultural impact on Gypsy/Travellers in Scotland. War Through Other Stuff, Twitter, 28.09.2018-28.09.2018.
Conference Paper (unpublished)
Who made the turreted brooches of Argyll?
Ramsay R (2018) Who made the turreted brooches of Argyll?. Dress and Decor: domestic textiles and personal adornment in Scotland up to 1700, St Andrews, 23.09.2018-24.09.2018.
Conference Paper (unpublished)
Absent presence in the authorised heritage discourse
Ramsay R (2018) Absent presence in the authorised heritage discourse. Alienation, communication, coexistence (SGSAH 2nd Year Symposium), Teacher Building, Glasgow, 18.06.2018-18.06.2018.
Conference Paper (unpublished)
Ramsay R (2018) Traveller bough tents. Earth and vernacular buildings, The Engine Shed, Stirling, 24.05.2018-24.05.2018.
Other
Ramsay R Traveller Tales.
Conference Paper (unpublished)
From Potscrubbers to Pearls: the material culture of Gypsy/Travellers in Scottish museums
Ramsay R (2018) From Potscrubbers to Pearls: the material culture of Gypsy/Travellers in Scottish museums. Thinking Outside the Box: Innovative Approaches to Museum Work (Scottish Museums Federation), Engine Shed, Stirling, 25.04.2018-25.04.2018.
Conference Paper (unpublished)
Ramsay R (2018) Traces in the museum store. Scottish Student Archaeology Society Conference, Glasgow University Union, 27.01.2018-28.01.2018.
Conference Paper (unpublished)
Ramsay R (2017) Lost and found at Auchindrain: finding evidence of Gypsy/Traveller objects and agency in a place without stuff. The Stuff of Research, Kelvin Hall, Glasgow, 12.06.2017-12.06.2017.
Conference Paper (unpublished)
Hidden Treasure: bings o chatterie in Scottish museums
Ramsay R (2017) Hidden Treasure: bings o chatterie in Scottish museums [Loads of stuff: the material culture of Gypsy/Travellers (hidden) in Scottish museums]. Hidden Treasures: a celebration of Gypsy art - traditional and contemporary - in its many forms, Pitlochry Festival Theatre, 11.06.2017-11.06.2017.
Conference Paper (unpublished)
Ramsay R (2017) Bings o chatterie [Loads of stuff: the material culture of Gypsy/Travellers (hidden) in Scottish museums]. Hidden Treasures, Pitlochry Festival Theatre, 11.06.2017-11.06.2017.