Local Heroics: Reflecting on Incomers and Local Rural Development Discourses in Scotland

Abstract

Aspects of ‘localness’ are used to both define and promote Scotland’s rural people and places. By way of illustration, the social construction and consumption of Scotland’s highlands and islands as underpinned by a negotiated relationship between what is considered ‘local’ and ‘not local,’ is provided. One particular focus is on how incomer and local identities are constructed and mediated by development agencies and academic analysis. It is suggested that the rural incomer is represented as a contradiction of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ with respect to rural development processes. This paradox of incomer identity and representation is examined. Discourses of what and who is local within the current socio‐political climate of devolution for Scotland, and increasingly confident claims for national independence, are crucial factors in the contextualization of incomer/local constructions and rural development processes. The promotion of Scotland as a nation which celebrates local articulations is explored, and some possible implications for rural communities and sustained socio‐cultural development initiatives are considered.

Prioritising rural authenticity: Community members' use of discourse in rural healthcare participation and why it matters

“…Descriptions of incomer behaviour conformed to the typology previously identified by Burnett (1998) in her work on social constructions of the incomer/local dichotomy in the Scottish Highlands and Islands as: those taking up space and not contributing; and/or those who are overbearing and bossy. Retired or wealthy incomers were portrayed as contributing little by Participant B1 (an older retiree): "There's a lot more people who have come into the community late on, come to the [area] rather than the community, to retire, they don't particularly want to get involved, they don't contribute very much …it's brought new people [into the area] but they're probably people with money, who don't want to work, don't have to work, and they don't necessarily contribute anything to the community" (B1).…”

“…Participants keenly expressed their credentials as a local or with authentic rural characteristics to distinguish themselves as attuned to determining the community's future. The emergent emphasis on rural authenticity resonates with literature describing the enduring power of the mythologised incomer versus local discourse, in rural communities (Burnett, 1998;Brown et al, 2008). It is unclear whether people specifically identified this discourse and deliberately placed themselves within it or whether its application is subconscious and constructed from their values and representations of themselves as a rural person (Winterton and Warburton, 2012).…”

“…Studies of the region suggest perceived disconnection from policymakers (Shucksmith and Chapman, 1998). Nostalgia for a romanticised past has been reported (Jedrej and Nuttall, 1996), with incomer/local duality proposed as an enduring perceived social dichotomy (Jedrej and Nuttall, 1996;Burnett, 1998;Macdonald, 1997). Conceptualisation of local-ness as "natural, yet ancestral", and innately moral has been raised by previous research (Rye, 2006).…”

Sophistication at a country pace: community sustainability and amenity-based development

“…For Relph (1976) this is the difference between 'authentic' and 'inauthentic' senses of place. As Burnett (1998) shows in her discussion of rural development in Scotland, the construction of the incomer as the 'other' of 'local' keeps these categories separate and makes it difficult for an incomer to move into the community position and social status associated with 'local.' These labels and their meanings clearly create a hierarchy of experience that has continued in both the literature (see Hay 1998;Salamon 2003) and in popular conceptions of tourists and new comers (see Buller and Hoggart 1994).…”

Reconciling moral and legal collective entitlement: Implications for community-based land reform

“…Stockdale et al, 2000). Diversity in age, income, level and location of employment, expenditure patterns, educational status, aspirations and cultural background can fuel tension between various sets of interests, values and meanings, often contested through dichotomous identities of 'local' and 'other', 'incomer' or 'white settler' 8 (Jedrej and Nutall, 1996;Burnett, 1998). Not all in-migrants to crofting areas obtain a croft tenancy, yet many do as it can be a key method of gaining access to housing.…”