Cape Breton is often branded as being “more Scottish than Scotland” through its language, music, and dance. Academic discussions of music and dance (Thompson 2003, Dembling 2005, Ivakhiv 2005, Hayes 2015) and Gaelic (MacDonald 1986; Sparling 2005) have examined the multiple contexts in which these cultural expressions develop, negotiate, and maintain various identities (Scottish, Gaelic, Celtic, etc.). Heather Sparling’s examination of cultural capital within the Gaelic revivalist
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community explores the power-negotiations surrounding Gaelic politics. As such, Gaelic serves as a means for communities and individuals to negotiate their Cape Breton
identity. The loss of Gaelic as part of everyday life has moved it toward a symbolic usage (at milling frolics, on stage, in tourist marketing) where, ironically, it has been endowed with much more cultural capital than it had when it was a living and thriving everyday language.
Ethnomusicologist Liz Doherty (1996) also delves into the issue of Cape Breton fiddle music and its relationship to Scotland. As part of the Scottish diaspora, Cape Breton fiddlers view themselves as musically connected to Scotland. Doherty emphasizes the dynamic, contextualized, and ever-evolving nature of tradition that is constantly being negotiated, and changed by its practitioners. This is a notion that is seen not only in intangible aspects of culture such as fiddling and song, but also in material traditions such as rug hooking where hookers are constantly re-negotiating the changing context of their tradition.
In contrast to the substantial number of academic works on Scottish identity markers in Cape Breton, such as fiddle music, Gaelic revivalism, and step dance, published works on minority groups in Cape Breton have generally been community based popular books, for example Italian Lives: Cape Breton Memories by Sam Migliore and Evo Di Pierro. As the introduction notes, this is a “community-oriented project that attempts to cross certain boundaries, and to dissolve a number of
stereotypes” (1999, 11). With a focus on bringing to light the various experiences Italian families have had in Cape Breton, Italian Lives is an important book for those studying minority groups in Cape Breton as it explicitly tries to show a side of the island that is
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rarely shown to outsiders. Migliore offers that the tartanization of Cape Breton’s heritage is a cultural and political construction and that “the image of Cape Breton this representation creates tends to mask and devalue the contributions of the Mi’kmaq and that of later arrivals (such as the Acadian, Afro-Carribean, Irish, Italian, Lebanese, South Asian, Ukrainians and many others) to the social and cultural fabric of the island”
(Migliore 1999, 11). The book tries to provide a snapshot of Italians living in Cape Breton both historically and contemporarily. To that end, the book not only celebrates, but also includes the difficult aspects of the Italian experience by including examples of racism, and highlights that Italians often worked in the most horrible and dangerous positions along with the African Nova Scotians (in some instances being called the same derogatory names as well).
Other community-based books on minority ethnic groups such as the African Nova Scotian community and the Acadians, by authors such as Joan Weeks (2007) and the previously discussed book by Anselme Chiasson (1986) provide a valuable service to both the general public and the academic community. With such a void in
contemporary folklore works on minority groups such as the Italians, Acadians, and Mi’kmaq, community groups satisfy the need by publishing these books on their cultural practices and history. Often these books are made up entirely of transcribed interviews with tradition bearers, which are very valuable for the scholarly community; however, they lack the in-depth analysis that comes from academic study.
Ethnomusicologist, Gordon Smith’s examination of Cape Breton Mi’kmaq fiddler Lee Cremo argues that he is seen by some as the personification of the struggle for contested identities in the Maritimes. In this context, Lee’s indigeneity is not simply
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an aspect of Mi’kmaq identity but is also representative of the struggles for cultural survival by other Cape Breton minority groups (Smith 1994, 551). Cremo himself often felt looked down upon by the Scottish majority for playing what they considered to be “their” music. He explained during an interview that,
I’ve always been a bit nervous playing in competitions with the others [non-Natives]. They don’t say or do anything exactly – sometimes they just look at me and I guess they are wondering what this little Indian guy is doing playing ‘their’ music. If that is what they are thinking then I would just like to say that it’s my music too. I grew up with it like they did, and besides, I play it my own way. People don’t own this music. (Smith 1994, 546)
Folklorist Ian Brodie has been working on the folklife of post-industrial Cape Breton and his work offers new perspectives on Cape Breton identity. His projects have touched on local foodways, humour, song, and graffiti, all topics rich and ripe for folklorists to study. To date, only his research on humour and foodways have been published but I have seen him present on all these topics at FSAC (Folklore Studies Association of Canada) and AFS (American Folklore Society) meetings due to the fact that we often find ourselves on the same Cape Breton-themed panels at conferences.
Brodie’s most recent work focuses on the Dishpan Parade, a radio program broadcast throughout Cape Breton (and some parts of Newfoundland) from 1948 to 1952. The program was hosted by Lloyd MacInnis and Bill Loeb (or “Teo and “Jarge”) and was largely built by listener correspondence (Brodie 2017). Due to the program’s broadcast time in the mornings, the show was regarded as women’s radio to offer entertainment to housewives while they perform their daily chores (hence the name dishpan). Their Cape Breton Song Contests form the basis of Brodie’s research. These
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songs were written by listeners about current issues and set to popular melodies. They were recoded and played by local musicians for the program. As Brodie notes, the song texts often discuss issues surrounding Cape Breton’s urban settings, discomfort with modernisation, and Cape Breton’s relatively marginalized place in Canada. He further concludes that the song entries were often safe opportunities for women to express cultural critiques in coded and acceptable ways that they would have been unable to express outside of the songwriting context (Brodie 2017).