Playing with ‘Scottishness’: musical performance,non-representational thinking and the ‘doings’ of national identity

Abstract

From the mid-1980s the influence of identity politics and poststructuralism has sought to replace the idea of a ‘unified’ identity with the concept of dynamic, multiple and fractured identities. However, it has been suggested that there is an ontological problem with researching dynamic conceptions of identity and that all too often people treat forming and formative processes (such as the makings and doings of identity) as fixed and formed wholes. This article attempts to address this concern through an exploration of the ‘doings’ of Scottish national identities. Drawing on a nonrepresentational inspired study of (‘Scottish’) musical performances the project presented in this article seeks to explore how a study of the ephemeral, emotionally charged moments of (‘Scottish’) musical performance might shed new light on the nature and (re)production of Scottish national identities in the making or the doing. This article therefore makes a contribution to understandings of ‘Scottishness’ (as lived experiences), but, it also makes a contribution to the geographies of music literature by highlighting the need to further explore the practical and performative dimensions of ‘musicking’.