Now debuting: Scots at Yale
Now debuting: Scots at Yale
Friday, December 14, 2007
A new cultural group is appearing on campus, and with it, a novel approach to handling problems of racism and ignorance. Scots at Yale, a Scottish and Scottish-American heritage organization, has a two-fold purpose: to celebrate and study Scottish culture and history, while providing a way for Scots, as a community, to join in the discussions of diversity at Yale. The group will hold its first meeting Sunday, Dec. 16, at 8:00 pm in the Saybrook College Common Room.
Many have said that white students at Yale don't need cultural heritage organizations. “Yale's history is overwhelmingly white,” they say, “and Yale is a European-style university in a majority-white country. Just look around you: being white is normal, so there's no need to organize.” This kind of thinking is precisely why our white students desperately need cultural heritage organizations like Scots at Yale. It is also the reason that no such organization has existed until today.
When a student assumes that being white is the norm, he automatically labels non-white people as “abnormal,” or more often, “ethnic.” A student who believes he is not “ethnic” separates himself from the crucial dialogue surrounding diversity at Yale and in the world at large. By connecting Scottish-American students with their heritage, Scots at Yale hopes to give them the tools to responsibly participate in this dialogue. The Scots hope to join as an ally on the front lines of the fight against racism.
Scots at Yale seeks to tell Scottish-American students, and white students in general: You are not “normal.” Nobody gets to be normal, if that makes others abnormal. Nobody gets to be special. We're all in this together, and all of us have cultural heritage to share.
Now imagine a German-American cultural organization, a Polish-American cultural organization, etc. In a few years, a Caucasian-American or European-American cultural house could be founded, just in time for America's whites to lose their numerical majority status.
As for Scottish culture, the Scots at Yale have plenty to offer. Look forward to more bagpipes and drums and kilts. Look forward to caber-tosses, shot-puts, and the throwing of heavy things in general. Scottish cuisine isn't much to brag about, but look forward to our fine, single malt whiskies.
Sincerely,
Edwin Everhart ’09
Everhart is the founder of Scots at Yale and the co-coordinator of Amnesty International at Yale.
Comments
None 4 years, 4 months ago
As Edwin says, part of the point of the group (I think), is to support the idea that "white" is not the standard from which everyone else deviates. The vast majority of white people (not just students) whom I have spoken to about race do not see themselves as having any ethnicity, which is a ridiculous idea. By starting a Scottish-American group at Yale, I think Edwin is trying to open up the possibility of a positive white racial identity divorced completely from white supremacism. I think that part of the reason it is a Scottish-American group and not a "White Cultural Group" is because the latter might seem to be founded in opposition to existing (and wonderful, necessary) cultural groups, which is not the case. Another part of the reason that it is Scottish-American is that Edwin, and other students, it seems, are genuinely interested in learning more about Scottish heritage.
It is correct to say that a Scottish-American cultural group is different from the African-American cultural center or La Casa and that it will play a different role. That said, I still think it is a great idea, because the more self-aware white students are, the better.
I want to say that these opinions are my own, and not Edwin's, in case anyone doesn't like them. I'm also willing to discuss.
-tucker
None 4 years, 4 months ago
There's one especially compelling cultural phenomenon that the Scots have and that is the game of shinty. Now, that's the way field hockey should be played!
None 4 years, 4 months ago
Anonymous- the white majority has no ties 'to speak of' to the countries from which their forebears arose, but somehow african-americans have retained very specific ties to nations on the african continent? that's very many, ethnically and culturally distinct countries. i'm sorry but that does not make sense. both african-americans and white americans have vague, but still very real ties to cultures that persist in other lands.
edwin- i commend your effort to reintegrate the oversimplified and excluded category of whiteness into discourse about diversity and ethnicity.
and i'm not white.
None 4 years, 4 months ago
African-Americans generally have not retained ties to any specific nation in Africa. So, you're right that they would have a hard time creating a culture club related to some specific country of origin in the same way a Scottish-American or a Vietnamese-American would. It doesn't seem like that was Anonymous (11:26 AM Dec 31)'s point though. S/he sounds like s/he was trying to make clear that it is generally not correct to group together white americans and black americans as having the same "culture." Irregardless of ties to old homelands, the way in which these two groups in America live today is very different from each other.
None 4 years, 4 months ago
Luis,
African-American is a culture that is distinct and separate from white American culture. Sure, there is a LOT of crossover, and there are many black people who identify more with white culture and vice versa. But on the where there are very large, obvious differences (why do you think there's still such a culture clash / racial tension in most American cities?) Attendance at any major cultural event (or even a family dinner) that is predominantly white or black will make it clear that there are culturally different. Both are Americans through and through but I wouldn't say they are the same "culture." I mean, I guess that depends on how you define culture - they are the same culture as much as Germans and Italians are the same culture...
None 4 years, 4 months ago
What about ceilidhs? If one could find a decent ceilidh band, I would bet a lot of people would really enjoy that, Scot or not.
A Beltane celebration could be pretty awesome, too. :-)
None 4 years, 5 months ago
The club is real.
Furthermore that's not what cultural clubs are about. There is no entry requirement, you don't need to feel like you've grown up in the ethnic culture. Cultural groups like the MEChA, DSA, KASY, etc. are dedicated to providing a space for for those who do have that background as well as those who do not but still feel drawn to or interested in the culture. The idea is inclusivity not exclusivity, education not insulation.
Luis Medina
PS If African-American is a culture then every American is ethnically African-American. If you're not comfortable with that, stop listening to jazz, rock and roll, and hip-hop. Stop eating peanut butter. Excise a good portion of your vocabulary from your English (and I don't mean "yo" and "bling," it runs deeper and longer than that). Erase a large chunk of American folklore, and popular dances of the last two centuries. Remove some foundational figures of modernist American poetry. Change the way you think about civil liberty, feminism, and history. Then you'll be left with American culture without African-Americans.
None 4 years, 5 months ago
Wow, at first I thought this club was real, which would have been awesome! I'd love to see some real Scottish cultural events.
That said, I think the writer kind of misses the point of those other cultural clubs and why white people don't have them. There's no "white" cultural club because white is the majority, as the writer correctly states. However, it would be fallacious to think that a white cultural club would take the form of something Scottish or German or whatever - most white families have been in the states so long that they no longer have any ties worth mentioning to those distant countries from which 1/2 or 1/19th of their genetic ancestry may have come from. Clubs on campus, such as a Mexican club or an African-American club do exist, and legitimately so, because they allow for those students who were actually raised in cultures other than the white majority to still have a place of expression for those cultural norms from which they came (Yes, I am insinuating that 'African-American' is a different culture). A Scottish club would only make sense for those students whose backgrounds actually included significant participation in Scottish culture.
None 4 years, 5 months ago
We DO have a Polish club here at Yale, and an Irish one although rather obscure and a Greek club... A lot of them are considered white, but I think your approach is very intriguing! I agree, we're not just "white", we're VERY multi-ethnic! No one would dare to say a Scandinavian is like a Spaniard or a Russian like a Scot. So why are we all clumped together? Don't get me wrong, I love going to La Casa and the cultural events are sweet, but acknowledge that white people are not just "white", it's like calling all black people black in spite of ethnicity and I DO notice differences between africans, african americans, carribeans, etc.... We are a multi-ethnic world, let's celebrate it like that instead of as race!
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