From the island of St Kilda 40 miles west of the Hebrides, to Edinburgh’s splendid Georgian New Town, Scotland is a nation rich in cultural heritage, some of which is Unesco-protected. As well as the country’s globally renowned castles and monuments, Scotland has an enormous resource of intangible cultural heritage (ICH).
Sometimes referred to as “living heritage”, intangible cultural heritage includes the vast array of traditional songs, stories, crafts and practices that provide the character and backdrop to Scotland’s cultural identity. In Scotland, as everywhere, there are two main risks to living heritage. One, that it can be lost if it is not passed down from one generation to the next and two, that it is at risk of being misused, misinterpreted or misrepresented.
Scotland’s intangible cultural heritage features in many films and TV dramas from Brigadoon (1954) to Braveheart (1995) and Outlander (2014-). These productions present a narrow version of Scottish cultural identity through music, costume and location that is recognisable to an audience who may have never visited the country.
