Black Scottish identity is the objective or subjective state of perceiving oneself as a black Scottish person and as relating to being black Scottish. The identity has been researched academically, particularly within the arts, as well as social sciences, and has been reported on and discussed in the

media of Scotland Scottish media has a long and distinct history. Scotland has a wide range of different types and quality of media. Broadcasting Television BBC Scotland runs two national television stations. Much of the output of BBC Scotland Television, such ...

Background

Black Scottish identity has been researched and reported on within a range of contexts and intersecting dimensions. The identity is usually connected with

black African Black is a Racialization, racialized classification of people, usually a Politics, political and Human skin color, skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have ...

and

African Caribbean Afro-Caribbean people or African Caribbean are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern African-Caribbeans descend from Africans taken as slaves to colonial Caribbean via the t ...

heritage or cultural association in Scotland, and academic research in social sciences has focused on perceptions of competing identities:

To some, it’s obvious that the two are not mutually exclusive. To others, Black Scottish identity is a contradiction in terms: either you’re of this place, Scottish and therefore
white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, or Other,
Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
.

In scholarly publications with a focus on literary works, the writings of

Maud Sulter Maud Sulter (19 September 1960 – 27 February 2008) was a Scottish contemporary fine artist, photographer, writer, educator, feminist, cultural historian, and curator of Ghanaian heritage. She began her career as a writer and poet, becoming a v ...

, and

Jackie Kay Jacqueline Margaret Kay, (born 9 November 1961), is a Scottish poet, playwright, and novelist, known for her works ''Other Lovers'' (1993), ''Trumpet'' (1998) and ''Red Dust Road'' (2011). Kay has won many awards, including the Guardian Fictio ...

in particular, have produced study into the subject in Scotland. Kay's work and commentary is preeminent in the portrayal of black Scottishness and identity. Academics, such as professor Alan Rice, have analyzed how the writer's 1998 novel ''

Trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

'' harnessed

African-American music African-American music is an umbrella term covering a diverse range of music and musical genres largely developed by African Americans and their culture. Their origins are in musical forms that first came to be due to the condition of slave ...

and traditions in order to explore black Scottish identity.

History

In 2013, Scottish playwright David Greig, who was brought up

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, wrote that increased awareness of black Scottish identity was a positive result of the policy and cultural debates ahead of the

2014 Scottish independence referendum A referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom was held in Scotland on 18 September 2014. The referendum question was, "Should Scotland be an independent country?", which voters answered with "Yes" or "No". The "No" side w ...

. A 2017 study into Scottish Somalis living in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

detailed how monolithic black identity in Scotland had created cultural identification issues.

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

research-fellow Emma Hill's analysis detailed the potential conflicts created by the identity and its tendency to exclude the group's religious faith as Muslims.

Queen Margaret University Queen Margaret University is a university, founded in 1875 and located in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is named after the Scottish Queen Saint Margaret. History The university was founded in 1875, as ''The Edinburgh School of Cookery and Domestic ...

's Dr Rebecca Finkel, Dr Briony Sharp and Dr Majella Sweeney explored the identity and its ethnocultural expression in Scottish society in their 2018

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...

research-series.

Academic research

The works of

have been widely examined in the emergence of a black Scottish identity in the nation. Carole Seymour-Jones's 2009 ''Disappearing Men'', which analyzes Kay's black character (Joss Moody) in ''

'', argues that black Scottish identity is a form of inclusive declaration which defies oversimplified categorisation.

University of Zadar The University of Zadar ( hr, Sveučilište u Zadru, la, Universitas Studiorum Iadertina) is a university located in Zadar, Croatia. The university in its present form was founded in 2002, but can trace its lineage to 1396, thus making it the ol ...

assistant professor, Vesna Ukić Košta, has written of black Scottish identity, examining another Kay work (''The Adoption Papers'') and its intersection with parent-child relations. Dr Minna Liinpää's 2018 ''Nationalism from Above and Below'', published by the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, examined nationalism and racialised society in Scotland. The thesis, which studied the experiences of black Scots, analyzed perceptions of contradiction between blackness and Scottishness. In

Gerry Hassan Gerry Hassan (born 1964) is a Scottish writer, commentator and academic. He is Professor of Social Change at Glasgow Caledonian University, having previously worked at the University of Dundee and the University of the West of Scotland, where ...

's 2019 ''Scotland the Brave? Twenty Years of Change and Devolution'',

professor Dr Nasar Meer explores the political challenges for ethnic minorities, and specifically black Scottish people, in expressing their Scottish national identity.

References

{{Immigration from Africa African diaspora in Scotland Black British history Black British culture