Projects per year
Personal profile
Research Expertise
Over the last few years I have developed two, interconnected, principal areas of research. One set of interests lies in the field of heritage studies and with the very recent upsurge in critical thinking around the ways the past is put to use in the present. My focus here is on the development of the concept of ‘heritage from below’ and the contested meanings of heritage as made evident in acts of memorialisation.
Linked to this is my interest in the social and cultural history of local community and landscape change with a particular emphasis on historical and cultural processes shaping the landscape of nineteenth and early twentieth-century Highland Scotland. The focus of this research is on popular protest and the sense of place, personal and local identity made manifest in the oral tradition of particular places and events.
Out of this has arisen an interest in the nature/culture dualism. Here my efforts focus on the ways in which the croft and crofters may be said to have been shaped by a set of vernacular environmental ethics.
I am always interested in enquiries and research proposals from students interested in any aspect of the above general areas.
Research links
I am a historian by training but a historical geographer by inclination. Consequently, almost everything I do has landscape(s) either at or close to its heart; with a particular focus on the twentieth-century Highlands and Islands. I joined the Centre for History in September 2015, having previously been with the University of Gloucestershire for a considerable period of time. I completed my PhD at Bristol University, where I researched the historical geography of acts of social protest in the Highlands between the two World Wars.
I have strong links with Curtin University, Western Australia, and have held two Research fellowships there, in 2008 and 2014.
My most recent book, Landscapes of Protest in the Scottish Highlands after 1914, was shortlisted for the research book of the year in the Saltire Awards 2014.
Fingerprint
- 1 Similar Profiles
Collaborations from the last five years
Projects
- 1 Finished
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Re-writing the rulebook of landownership: analysing and assessing the economics of community landownership
1/04/16 → 9/09/16
Project: Research
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Creating Heritage: Unrecognised Pasts and Rejected Futures
Carter, T., Harvey, D. C., Jones, R. & Robertson, I. J. M., 4 Dec 2019, Routledge. 244 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book
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Moral Ecologies: Histories of Conservation, Dispossession and Resistance
Griffin, C., Jones, R. & Robertson, I. J. M., 2019, Palgrave Macmillan UK. 297 p. (Palgrave Studies in World Environmental History)Research output: Book/Report › Book
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Of Necessary Work: the Longue Durée of the Moral ecology of the Hebridean Gàidhealtachd
Robertson, I. J. M. & MacLeod Rivett, M., Mar 2019, Moral Ecologies : Histories of Conservation, Dispossession and Resistance. Griffin, C., Jones, R. & Robertson, I. (eds.). Palgrave Macmillan, p. 159-187 28 p. (Palgrave Studies in World Environmental History).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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'Tracking’ working class heritage
Robertson, I. J. M., 9 Dec 2019, Creating Heritage: Unrecognised Pasts and Rejected Futures. RoutledgeResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review
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Afterword
Robertson, I. J. M., 2018, After Heritage: Critical Perspectives on Heritage from Below. Muzaini, H. & Minca, C. (eds.). Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, p. 169-180 11 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Beyond Portmeirion: The Architecture, Planning and Protests of Clough Williams-Ellis
Harrison, N. & Robertson, I. J. M., 30 Oct 2018, Rural Modernity in Britain: A Critical Intervention. Bluemel, K. & McCluskey, M. (eds.). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, p. 187-206 19 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review
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People of the croft: Visualising land, heritage and identity
Robertson, I. J. M. & Webster, D., 1 Apr 2017, In: Cultural Geographies.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile7 Citations (Scopus)136 Downloads (Pure)
Activities
- 1 Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar
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Understanding Scotland's Highlands: land, culture and identity.
Iain James McPherson Robertson (Speaker)
17 Feb 2016Activity: Other › Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar
Press/Media
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Statkraft announces first UK university partnership with University of the Highlands and Islands
Iain James McPherson Robertson
14/03/23
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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New research sets out to explore the legacy of the Iolaire tragedy
Iain James McPherson Robertson
17/12/21
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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New research into Iolaire maritime disaster
Iain James McPherson Robertson
16/12/21
2 items of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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Making sense of Iolaire's histories
Iain James McPherson Robertson
16/12/21
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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HS2 of the Highlands: the amazing story of the Scots railway that never was
Iain James McPherson Robertson
17/05/20
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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Crofting revolution…100 years on
Iain James McPherson Robertson
21/09/19
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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What was the significance of the Land Settlement Act 1919?
Iain James McPherson Robertson
21/09/19
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research