ABSTRACT
Scotland is a nation divided on the question of its future; should it become independent or remain part of the United Kingdom? The political arguments of the protagonists on both sides of the debate have been based on the economic and social benefits of the case for the Union or for independence. But a rational appraisal of material interests runs only so deep. Those making the case for and against independence in the 2014 referendum campaign could not ignore the tug of deeper loyalties, to a Union that had persisted for over 300 years or to a sense of Scottish nationhood with deeper roots. The ghosts of the past flitted in and out of view throughout the campaign and helped us to determine the ultimate outcome. This chapter examines how narratives from the past informed and shaped the debate during the campaign and how the different expressions of identity were rooted in different stories of Scotland’s and Britain’s pasts. It seeks to show how the emotional resonance of those pasts buttressed the choices people made as they cast their vote.
