Wild imaginaries

in this talk I focus on a present incommensurability between the imaginaries of the crofting Highland locals and the Rewilding Scotland proponents. I’ll start with some personal context – as this deeply informs my view – and then discuss four interconnected areas which are relevant to the legitimation and delegitimation of the Rewilding programme: the aesthetics of landscape, cultural Calvinism, and the shadow of the Clearances. Interspersed in this will be excerpts from Norman MacCaig’s poem, ‘A man in Assynt’ – a poem, I think, which brings many of these elements together.