Author ORCID Identifier
Date Available
8-1-2025
Year of Publication
2023
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
College
Arts and Sciences
Department/School/Program
History
Advisor
Dr. Tammy Whitlock
Co-Director of Graduate Studies
Dr. Kathyrn Newfont
Abstract
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the enclosure of common systems shaped the displacement of people on a global scale whilst bringing the people---Scottish Highland crofters and Mi’kmaq First Nation Canadians from the margins where they have dwelled for centuries in historical scholarship to of the centre of not just their history, but our collective history. Both populations experienced attacks on their ties to their lands, resources, and culture through enclosure. The enclosure process lasted over two centuries and was interspersed with violent protest, proactive resistance, interspersed with periods of acceptance and determination against their forced removals. Investigating these two historical case studies has shown the devastating effects of enclosure of commons systems on both sides of the Atlantic, which led to land dispossession, loss of Indigenous languages, cultural eradication, and denial of place so crucial to marginalised and First Nation peoples. The Scottish crofters were displaced in their native homeland and forced to leave their agricultural knowledge of land and place along with their native Gaelic language and Bardic oral traditions. The Eastern Maritime Canadian First Nations people, the Mi’kmaq, were displaced in their homelands, Mi’kmaki, where they had lived, survived, and thrived for thousands of years. In these Transatlantic enclosure events, the displaced became the displacers.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2023.365
Funding Information
Committee on Social Theory, Summer of 2023 Graduate Travel Grant
KY Scholars Strategy Network Chapter Fellow, 2022-2023 Academic Year
Cooperative for the Humanities and Social Sciences Grant for Environmental Humanities Initiative Workshop, Fall 2021
Kirwan-Elliott Award for Excellence in History, Spring 2021
Albisetti Dissertation Research Fellowship, Spring 2021
Dorothy Leathers Graduate Fellowship, Spring 2021
Southern Conference of British Studies Travel Grant, Spring 2021
Recommended Citation
Herrington, Anna, "From Displaced to Displacers: Scottish Crofters, First Nation Peoples and Commons Enclosure from the 1700s to the 1800s" (2023). Theses and Dissertations--History. 79.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/history_etds/79
Included in
Agricultural and Resource Economics Commons, Canadian History Commons, Cultural History Commons, Environmental Studies Commons, European History Commons, Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons, Social Justice Commons
