Background
In 2004 the Mackay Country Community Project launched Back to the Future a project inspired and created by local communities. The Mackay Country Community Project itself having emerged from the EU Life demonstration Dùthcas Project which aimed to enable sustainable local development defined and implemented by local folk themselves. It published its findings in At Home in Mackay Country in 2005.
Overview
To celebrate 20 years since the publication of At Home in Mackay Country we want to revisit this seminal piece of work to:
- establish the state of our cultural heritage today;
- identify how / if it has changed; and
- how it continues to evolve to meet today’s challenges and opportunities.
For the purposes of this project we are focusing on placemaking and the intangible cultural heritage (ICH) relating to the ‘knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe’. We expect to explore language (particularly Gaelic and Norse place and plant names), oral traditions (stories, songs / poems, music, ceilidh culture), feelings and attachment to place (concepts of Dùthchas), memories, spirituality and world view (concepts or rurality, placemaking).
Who we are
NorthWest2045 Regional Land Use Partnership (RLUP) is one of 5 pilot RLUPs established in 2021 by the Scottish Government to support stakeholders to work together to make equitable land use decisions. NW2045 has developed a community led vision for the future of the area which reflects diverse and disparate voices within those communities.
Strathnaver Museum is a fully accredited community led local history museum operating in the geographic area of Mackay Country in north west Sutherland. Strathnaver Museum regularly runs co-curated community research projects exploring aspects of our heritage such as the Gaelic bard Rob Donn to WWI pipers.
Tradition Bearer Ronnie Lansley has been a lynchpin in the celebration, transmission and development of intangible cultural heritage across Mackay Country for decades.
