‘To See Ourselves as Others See Us’

Abstract

English attitudes towards Scotland have been conditioned over centuries by the political relationship between the two countries and how it impacted on the dominant areas for the production of English print culture (London and the south east). Before 1603, this area of England had little contact with Scotland; in that year, the arrival of a Scottish court in London heralded a much expanded Scottish presence in English publications. Highlanders and Lowlanders were not separated in English stereotyping at this stage. Political tensions in the 1640s and 1650s, and initial Scottish hostility to the Union of 1707, led to more negative stereotyping of Scots and Scotland, which in turn gave way to the benign stereotyping of the era of the British Empire, when Scottishness was an acceptable ‘local nationality’ within the wider Pax Britannica. During this period, significant distinctions can be seen between ‘Highland’ and ‘Lowland’ or military/international and civil stereotypes. Following the decline of the Empire and the reawakening of political nationalism in Scotland, the imagery of the early modern era made a reappearance, and the visual distinction between ‘Highlander’ and ‘Lowlander’ was once again eroded.

Keywords:

• Scotland
• England
• Lowland
• Highland
• phallicism
• stereotype
• Celt
• Teuton
• cinema