Review of Nick’s Chapbook Presentation

In Tuesday’s class, the Chapbooks group presented their project. Essentially they plan to digitize the chapbooks that have proven to be a valuable and crucial resource in the university’s Scottish studies. Within the project, Nick plans to focus, in a broad spectrum, on Scottish emigration and immigration. Nick’s goal is to examine the perception of Scots in the rest of the world and to expose how people living in Scotland view immigrants within their own country as well. This bleeds over into the portrayal of Scots in entertainment, and how their stories connect to other areas of study. Overall, Nick’s portion of the chapbooks presentation was solid.He was able to effectively outline exactly what he wants to do with his part of the groups’s project. He was able to speak clearly and deliver a great explanation of what he hopes to accomplish in his research. The idea of looking at how the Scottish are portrayed, both internally and externally, is fascinating. It will be a new perspective on Scottish culture and its place within the world community, while also noting what their impact as been on world culture outside of Scotland. Although the other topics within the chapbooks project were interesting, I definitely found Nick’s idea has the most potential. Due to the fact that he is looking at the perception of Scottish people and their portrayals in a more global context, his project addresses a wider topic of interest. It was clear that Nick knows exactly where he wants to go with his topic, but one suggestion I would make would be to address some of the cultural issues within Scotland, and how these issues have been attached to their identity over time. Regardless, I am excited to see what Nick has to present as his final product.