Program Overview

Uncover Scotland’s past and help shape its future, while gaining skills that you can apply to any culture.

This joint honours programme gives you the opportunity to study the languages, literatures and cultures of Scotland alongside the wider Celtic world, past and present.

A highlight of the programme is the chance to work with the rich range of materials in the School of Scottish Studies Archives. These include thousands of recordings in Scots, Gaelic, English, and dialects now extinct.

As well as our fantastic teaching staff, you will benefit from the expertise of our Traditional Artist and Gaelic Writer in Residence.

Scottish Ethnology

Ethnology is the study of the culture and traditions of developed societies. It is sometimes described as being at the intersection where history and anthropology meet.

While ethnology is commonly offered in universities across Europe, this is the only full undergraduate programme of its kind in the UK.

Focusing on Scotland, but also looking at comparative material from elsewhere, you will study the varying ways in which a modern European nation expresses itself culturally.

The programme explores questions like:

• How do customs, beliefs, social organisation, language, music and song help to create and shape identity in the modern world?
• How do we use and make sense of the past from within our present?
• How can this understanding help us to shape our future?

In the School of Scottish Studies Archives, you will explore the work of former staff and students. Since 1951, they have been capturing elements of life in Scotland's farming and fishing communities, towns and cities.

Today, the Archives run to:

• 33,000 recordings of songs, music, stories, rhyme and verse in various languages and dialects
• Thousands of photographs and rarely-seen historic documents which capture exceptional and everyday aspects of Scottish culture and heritage

Celtic

Study Celtic at the University of Edinburgh and you will learn about extraordinarily rich cultures from the Middle Ages to the present day.

At all levels of study on our four-year joint honours programme, we offer courses in the languages, literatures, histories, and cultures of the Celtic world. This enables you to build your programme by developing your own interests in particular areas, periods and disciplines.

You have the option to study Scottish Gaelic and build up to advanced competency in the language. This gives you the skills to directly engage with primary sources, developing a deeper understanding of Scottish literature and culture.

It does not matter if you are a complete beginner in Scottish Gaelic; we stream our Year 1 classes to suit all levels of prior knowledge or none. At honours level, you can also learn a medieval Celtic language - Old Irish or Middle Welsh.