![Dr Thomas McKean Dr Thomas McKean](/img/200x200/staffpages/uploads/enl111/mckean.jpg)
PhD, University of Edinburgh (1993); AB, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH (1983)
Lecturer
- About
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- Email Address
- t.a.mckean@abdn.ac.uk
- Telephone Number
- +44 (0)1224 273882
- Telephone Number
- +44 (0)1224 272996
- Office Address
The Elphinstone Institute MacRobert Building King's College Aberdeen AB24 5UA
- School/Department
- School of Language, Literature, Music and Visual Culture
Biography
I am a folklorist specializing in Scots and Gaelic song, along with custom and belief, community craft traditions and their relevance in today's world, and fieldwork methodology. Of particular interest is the relationship of traditional practices to the individual, the role of creativity in tradition, and how traditional skills can help build individual and community resilience in challenging times.
As part of the James Madison Carpenter Project team, I have been working with cylinder and disc recordings of North-East singers made between 1929 and 1935, leading towards publication of a critical edition of the collection. The project has been funded by the British Academy and the National Endowment for the Humanities under the auspices of the American Folklore Society, and in association with the Library of Congress, Washington, DC (www.abdn.ac.uk/elphinstone/carpenter).
Ongoing research with boatbuilding traditions looks at the idea of 'knowing by doing': how people young and old learn embodied craft skills by imitation, proximity, and osmosis, and how these skills enhance people's cultural confidence and self esteem.
My postgraduate teaching includes Custom and Belief, Scots and Gaelic Song, along with Fieldwork and Archiving methodology. I have organized a number of conferences, including the 1999 and 2007 Kommission für Volksdichtung ballad conference.
In 1993, I established the North East Folklore Archive at Mintlaw, Aberdeenshire as part of my work as Traditional Music Resident for Banff and Buchan District Council (now Aberdeeenshire), 1993-1996. The archive has continued to develop under the direction of Gavin Sutherland and much of my fieldwork material is now available on the web at the Banff and Buchan Collection.
- Research
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Current Research
Current research includes:
- Scotland's fire festivals, particularly the burning of the Clavie in Burghead, Moray;
- Creativity within traditional forms
- Craft traditions and knowing by doing
- New England vernacular architecture;
- The effects of field collection in the North-East;
- Macaronic song traditions;
- The relationship of memory and song in west coast Gaelic communities.
- Publications
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Page 4 of 7 Results 31 to 40 of 70
My Big Fat Gypsy Memoir: Publishing Folklore from Within
Contributions to Conferences: Oral PresentationsSongs of People on the Move
WVT, Trier. 232 pagesBooks and Reports: BooksStewardship and Evolving Fidelity in a Scottish Fire Festival
Traditiones, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 23-36Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.3986/Traditio2012410103
Review of Tales from Highland Perthshire Collected by Lady Evelyn Stewart Murray.
Other Contributions: Other ContributionsThe Dialect Conundrum in Transcribing Early Sound Recordings
Vom Wunderhorn zum Internet: Perspektiven des "Volkslied"-Begriffes und der Edition populärer Lieder. John, E., Widmaier, T. (eds.). WVT, pp. 209-224, 16 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters (Peer-Reviewed)Beyond Orality
Contributions to Conferences: Oral PresentationsLe souvenir des cultures disparues dans l’Écosse gaélique: tradition orale, James Macpherson et la nature de la mémoire
Mémoire, oralité, culture dans les pays celtiques: La légende arthurienne, Le celtisme. Rio, J., Chappe, F., Postic, F. (eds.). Presses Universitaires de Rennes, pp. 147-165, 19 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters (Peer-Reviewed)David Atkinson, The English Traditional Ballad: Theory, Method, and Practice
Estudos de Literatura Oral, vol. 13-14, pp. 349-351Contributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and ArticlesGettin the Wey o a Sang: Creativity in Ballad Singing
Emily Lyle: The Persistent Scholar. Fischer, F., Rieuwerts, S. (eds.). WVT, pp. 154-168, 15 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersReview of Fragments and Meaning in Traditional Song: From the Blues to the Baltic
Journal of American Folklore, vol. 120, no. 475, pp. 119-121Contributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and Articles- [ONLINE] https://www.jstor.org/stable/4137891