National Identity Textbooks: Teaching Scottishness in the Wake of the Union of Parliaments

Abstract

Even though the interrelation of the emergence of modern mass school systems and
processes of nation-building in the modern era has evoked academic interest, such
research endeavours are generally exemplified by case studies of established nationstates.
Conversely, this article demonstrates the pertinence of widening the research
scope beyond the synthesis of the nation and the state, by focusing on the particular
case of Scotland as a nation without a state and the role schools played in creating
Scottish national identity in the wake of the Union of Parliaments in 1707. Thereby
focus is put on textbooks as a materialisation of curricula and an extended arm
of school governance. The article concludes with insights that can be derived from
this case study for the case of Scottish nationalism as well as its significance for the
study of nationalism, education and their interrelation in general.
Key words: loyal national citizens; nation-building; school system; Scotland.