ABSTRACT
This book presents findings from a new oral history archive which the author collected between 2000 and 2002. This archive consists of 67 interviews with 76 members of the Irish Catholic community in Scotland, comprising first generation settlers through to fourth generation descendants. These interviews recount the multiple and complex journeys the Irish Catholic community took and continues to take, both to and within Scotland, and help to excavate this community’s various and contradictory encounters with social, economic, political, and cultural alterity and belonging. Each interview was fully transcribed and has now been digitally enhanced for sound quality. It is intended that in time both the oral and the written archive will be deposited in a central location and will become an important research resource for those interested in studying the social and collective memories which have been produced and disseminated by the Irish Catholic community in Scotland. This book represents the first attempt to mine the archive and digest its significance but it is hoped that it will not be the last.
