'To see oursels as ithers see us': Constructions of Scotland's place and identity within a changing Scottish curriculum and context

Here, the focus is on contested notions of place and identity in a particularly volatile educational context, with reference to the marginalization of certain groups’ identities through language, and the potential of that same language as a tool of liberation. Based on extensive recent research undertaken in recent years by Lowing into Scottish pupils’ linguistic experiences, the chapter critically explores the relationship of Scots to other minority languages, to hegemonic English (at a time of vigorous Scottish nationalistic feeling and activity), and to a sense of place in both macrocosmic and microcosmic senses.