We have got used to thinking about the modern clans as if they were identical with the clan societies, but these are just special-interest groups for people who like to know about clan history. The real clan is about kinship, not about shared interest. For any meaningful future, there must be a way for ordinary people to come together at the grass-roots of the clans. There’s a huge interest in the history of the clans which is just waiting for an outlet in a modern context. The key is to bring the idea of clanship back into Scottish society today, and let the people reconnect with the clans. The clans are not the clan societies; the clans are the people.
It seems to me that these issues are best addressed by setting up a foundation to meet the task on behalf of all the clans, which will promote the idea of the clans today. I have had many messages of support for this idea, and several offers of help.
Find out more by reading the discussion paper below. It’s meant as a Manifesto rather than as a detailed plan; I see the first steps as setting up a framework for benevolent work and establishing urban Clan Fairs. New ideas on how to meet the core aims are always welcome. Also, it’s worth noting that the word ‘clan’ was traditionally used of families the length and breadth of the country, and the distinction between Highland clans and Lowland ‘names’ is modern nonsense.
Just one major stumbling block remains: Money. The Clans Foundation needn’t be a massive body, but it will need the full-time commitment of at least one person. If you like these ideas and think you can help with funding The Clans Foundation, please do let us know.
The Clans of Scotland Foundation
Draft Discussion PaperThis is a slightly shortened version of the Discussion Paper. You can also download a printable rtf document of the Full Discussion Paper.
To say what you think about the issues raised in this paper, please click on the link at the bottom of the page to leave your feedback.
We note that:
- the number of people in Scotland who feel positively connected with their clan appears to be dwindling
- the idea of ‘the clan’ is only meaningful if a significant number of clan members subscribe to the idea
- in recent years, the clans have largely failed to develop new ways for individuals to engage with their own clansfolk
- the perception of the clans as socially conservative and hierarchical has caused active clan membership to become increasingly out of step with wider society
- current interest is largely focussed on the clans as a historical phenomenon, rather than as living entities with a future as well as a past
We believe that the clans are a unique element of Scotland’s heritage and should be a source of pride for generations to come.
We believe that identification with the clan can be a source of personal pride and can help individuals from all walks of life to develop their own sense of identity in a positive and fulfilling way, within the context of society at large.
However, we anticipate that without intervention, the clans are likely to become increasingly perceived only as an aspect of Scottish history rather than as a current phenomenon.
Therefore, we shall establish the Clans of Scotland Foundation as a charitable organisation to look after the interests of the clans at large. Specifically, we will seek to further these aims:
- To help people find new ways to relate to their old clans
- To rescue the idea of the clan from its purely historical context and make it a living reality
- To help improve the standard of research and debate on clan history
- To uphold the traditions of the clans as they have developed to date, insofar as they are compatible with other aims of the Foundation
Benevolent work
The clan is about more than wearing tartan. If it means anything, it should mean that we all share a responsibility for our fellow clan members. Thus, benevolent work should be seen as one of the cornerstones of the modern clan’s identity.Clan-based benevolent work has two main aspects:
1. Raising awareness of the clans in deprived individuals
2. Encouraging more people to play a part in caring for their fellow clansfolk
Initially, it is the first of these strategies which is likely to be more important, and its significance is considered below.
DEVELOPING CLAN IDENTITY IN SOCIETY
The idea of ‘the clan’ represents a small-scale social unit of group identity, smaller and more homely than the national group. It is somewhere that we belong, purely by dint of who we are; it is our extended family. For people who feel alienated or excluded from society at large, such a clan identity could potentially play an immensely positive role in their reintegration into mainstream society. Clan identity can contribute to a sense of individuality and self worth. It is only when people value themselves that they are able to value their environment. Thus, developing a sense of clan identity among deprived individuals can have a far-reaching positive impact.
The Clans Foundation will co-operate with professionals and volunteers working with disadvantaged individuals to provide resources and information on their clan heritage. These resources will be made available through existing programmes of help wherever possible. Although in the first instance we will rely on pre-existent networks of professionals and volunteers, we aim to attract new volunteers motivated to work in these areas in support of their fellow clansfolk.
The following groups have been identified as likely beneficiaries of this work:
- Prisoners
- Military veterans
- Elderly people
In each case, there are existing support schemes in place, to which the Clans Foundation scheme can be operated as an adjunct. Each group includes people who find themselves divorced from the wider community, and who have suffered a loss of pride and self-esteem. Through the Clans Foundation scheme, we aim to restore their sense of self-worth, and to help them view themselves as part of a national community.
CLAN-BASED YOUTH HOLIDAYS
The Clans Foundation will seek to support clan-based Youth Adventure Holidays. These will provide an opportunity for young people from all walks of life to meet on equal terms within the context of the clan. It is anticipated that holidays will be organised on a clan-by-clan footing, based loosely on a common format with shared expertise. The Clans Foundation will liase with Youth Groups to identify children from deprived backgrounds who might benefit from this experience. Where possible, the clan homeland is recommended as the setting for the holiday, which should include visits to sites of historical significance as well as activities through which the children can engage with the natural environment.
ADOPTION AND FOSTERING
The Clans Foundation will also contact groups involved in adoption and in finding foster-homes for children, and explore the possibilities of providing clan-based parenting for children in need. The clan is an extended family, and we believe this sense of shared identity could help some children to feel more securely rooted with their adoptive/foster family, and indeed help parents or guardians to bond with their children. We believe that care within the clan will have profound benefits for some of these children, which will last throughout their adult lives.
THE CLANS IN BUSINESS
The Clans Foundation will encourage the establishment of support schemes in business and employment. Individual schemes might operate on a clan-by-clan basis, or be established around local and regional communities or businesses. Many of these schemes are expected to allow for a fair degree inter-clan support.
We aim to encourage clan-based work placements, apprenticeships and workplace mentoring (whereby an older clan member looks out for a new employee). We will also encourage clan-based ‘dragons’, whereby established businessmen and potential investors give special hearing to clan members for enterprise funding and business advice.
Other Projects
CLAN FOOTBALLThe Clans Foundation will work with the SFA and SWFA to develop a Clans’ Football League.
Areas for discussion include regulations specific to football organisations, amateur and professional clubs, and the use of stadiums belonging to other clubs.
In the first instance, we would seek to encourage teams based on common names (such as Robertson, Campbell, Stewart, MacDonald, Scott, Reid, Murray, Ross, Young, Morrison, Fraser, Henderson, Johnston, Hamilton, Graham, Kerr, Ferguson, Cameron, Bell, and Grant). There might also be some composite alliances like Chattan or Andradhan. These teams would have the opportunity to compete for a new Clans Cup.
Football is Scotland’s most popular game. It might have no special historical connection with the clans, but it does connect with Scots today, and it evokes precisely the kind of tribal loyalty which the clans themselves should.
CLAN DNA
The Clans Foundation will work towards the construction of a complete map of Scotland’s Y-DNA.
To this end, The Clans Foundation will encourage men to take a Y-DNA test to establish the haplotype of their male line, and will also seek to collate results from Y-DNA tests, correlating surname and regional origins with haplotype groups.
The results of this project will reveal the Y-DNA origins of families across Scotland, and will shed new light on the true history of the clans. It will also foster an increased awareness of how the pattern of the clans is still a part of our genetic make-up today.
Publications
PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALClan history is too often the exclusive realm of the amateur historian, who is informed more by the love of his clan than by an understanding of historical principles. However, there is nothing inherently amateur about the subject, which offers a broader vista on Scottish history through a kaleidoscope of narrower visions. In view of this, the Clans Foundation will seek to establish a peer-reviewed journal devoted to the history, archaeology and culture of the Scottish clans.
Contributors will be encouraged to write for a wide readership without losing academic credibility – this subject has a potential readership outside the academic world, which should be drawn into the debate. It is important not to simply move the forum of debate away from the clan societies into the universities, but to encourage amateur historians and others with an interest in clan history to accept the rigors of academic method.
SOURCE MATERIALS
The Clans Foundation shall originate materials to enable its work. These will include brief history sheets for each clan presented to capture the imagination for use in benevolent work; reference documents collating information on clan ceremonial; framework documents encapsulating common ideas and incorporating new approaches which could expand the scope of clans and societies.
The Clans Foundation will also investigate the potential uptake for source materials for schools, and the possibility of compiling an Encyclopaedia of the Clans, with authoritative articles by various clan historians.
Traditional aspects of the Clans
The clans connect us with our past and with our extended kindred, and we celebrate that connection through traditions and ceremonies. This sense of history and continuity embodied in these traditions and ceremonies is an important part of what makes the clans significant to many people.CHIEFS AND CHIEFTAINS
Whilst seeking to promote the clan as a modern egalitarian body, we see the position of the Clan Chief as potentially pivotal, but in the role of first among equals rather than as feudal superior. The clan chief (and not the clan society) should be the focus of the clan. As such, we aim to encourage and enable clan chiefs and chieftains to take a leading role in clan life.
The chief is traditionally the leader of the clan, and should aim to inspire and enable a sense of shared identity, and help the clan to evolve new ways of being. Given that we see the role of the clan chief as an active one, we aim to encourage chiefs without any interest in their role to appoint a Tanist from within their family – where appropriate, the tanist should be directly descended from the original line of chiefs, and may be chosen in conference with the derbhfine. The Clans Foundation shall seek clarification on the current legal status of tanistry, and press for any necessary legal changes.
It is important that the title of Clan Chief should be viewed as a social responsibility, rather than as merely a badge of rank.
GAMES AND CEREMONIES
Although the main emphasis shall be on finding new ways to celebrate our clan heritage, we shall also promote and support traditional clan activities, such as Highland Games, Clan Gatherings and Parliaments, Clan Societies, Caledonian Balls. We also recognise that this is a developing tradition, with ceremonies such as Tartan Day and Kirking the Tartan evolving recently. We aim to help the traditions of the clans to expand and develop for the future.
Beyond the Scottish Clans
The Clans Foundation will not define the clans to exclude those who are not associated with any of the historical clans. Instead we will support attempts to roll out the notion of clans to include other groups not traditionally associated with any clan (such as some Lowland families and ethnic minority groups). However, the lead in adoption of clan identity must come from the individual family or group, and not from The Clans Foundation.Although the Clans Foundation shall work primarily with the clans in Scotland, it will also engage with offshoots of the Scottish clans around the world, to promote a worldwide community of the clans.
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This is a slightly shortened version of the Discussion Paper. You can also download a printable rtf document of the Full Discussion Paper.
