Keynote Speaker

The Scottish Highland clearances continue today. There is a deep history of how the forces of capital and internal colonialism motivated the original clearances. James Hunter has superbly documented the relation between English romanticism, the Celtic twilight and the aesthetic of vacancy that underlies so much of the contemporary valuation of the Highlands. Nonetheless, it is critical to construct the philosophical genealogies that underlie this aesthetic history.

This paper begins by recounting how the romantic re-envisioning of nature constructed a system of value where the economic value of landscapes is determined by the value of the viewscapes and the playscapes contained therein. Such aesthetic value far outstrips any productive value that can be derived from the environment. This is especially so in the context of global systems of trade where all productive value is minimized by the forces of capital. The paper will then argue that this new system of value, centered around leisure and play, created a highland metaphysic of the sublime that continues to drive economic choices and public investment. The viewscapes and playscapes so created were once deer parks. Now they are national parks. Whatever we call such emptied places, what has not transformed is the displacement of multi-generational residency as land is set aside for leisure, for play and for preservation. This displacement is a process of continual clearance.

In constructing a genealogy of the metaphysic of place and value that determines the lived reality of the Highlands, the paper builds a case study around a particular place, the island of Eilean Shona, Moidart, Lochaber. This small coastal island is within the Morar, Moidart, and Ardnamurchan National Scenic Area. According to NatureScot such areas “cover 13% of the land. Their outstanding scenery makes them our finest landscapes.” Eilean Shona was likely a place of neolithic habitation and there is some evidence of dwellings dated to that era. Most of the crofting families were cleared during the middle of the nineteenth century. Shortly after this clearance the island was sold to an English seafaring captain and since then it has been privately owned. Currently it is the site of holiday cottages and the main house is rented as an event space.