The Thistle and the Brier: Historical Links and Cultural Parallels between Scotland and Appalachia (review)

Richard Blaustein pairs the thistle with the brier to compare the history and culture of Scotland with Appalachia. The thistle is a well-enshrined emblem for the Scottish motto "None Touch Me with Impunity," whereas the brier's nascent symbolic associations with Appalachia are more subtle. Although the term "brierhopper" has a history as an even more offensive synonym for "hillbilly," the brier appears as an emblem for Appalachian identity mainly in Jim Wayne Miller's recent writing in Appalachian studies. In his scholarship, activism, and poetry, Miller transforms the brier from a badge of shame into a symbol of pride, Blaustein writes, and The Thistle and the Brier illustrates how this type of symbolic transformation plays out in Scotland and Appalachia. These apt symbols become resources for understanding the importance of folklore and literature in maintaining and reviving the cultural identity that links Scotland to Appalachia.

Blaustein develops rich comparisons by working carefully with these prickly symbols. He uses a number of comparative approaches, and much of the book focuses on historical legacies and cultural affinities common to Scottish and Appalachian people. A wealth of scholarship connects vibrant Scottish and Scotch-Irish analogues to Appalachian folk music, storytelling, material culture, and other forms of traditional culture. Blaustein summarizes the major points of connection and then makes an interesting move: after delineating parallels between writers and historians from the two regions, he demonstrates that they share common political and social values, largely shaped by a legacy of colonialism and economic duress. Referencing Rodger Cunningham's theory of metropolitan cores within world systems, Blaustein explains how the isolation and rural character of Scotland and Appalachia influence their political and economic marginalization.

Blaustein is careful not to overextend his comparisons, but he provides important and poignant examples of negative stereotyping and cultural denigration associated with ethnic and regional cultural identity. Along with comparing history, expressive culture, and psychological analogues, Blaustein looks at relationships between contemporary Scottish and Appalachian writers. This approach lends an engaging variety to the book's eleven chapters, which include interviews with writers and cultural activists, theoretical discussions about intellectual history, historical sketches, and essays. Although the book occasionally reads like a pastiche, Blaustein's comparisons and generalizations unify this compilation into a cohesive volume.

The book's major theme is a reassessment of cultural revitalization movements in Scotland and Appalachia. Recent arguments have challenged the contention that Appalachian cultural traditions are strongly rooted in Scottish folk culture. Using a wealth of recent scholarship and solid evidence, Blaustein traces direct cultural connections between Appalachian regional identity and Scottish ethnicity. He not only convincingly delineates long-standing Scottish cultural influences on Appalachia, but also critiques the concept of "invented tradition," showing how all traditional activities are invented over time. Blaustein then considers the deconstruction of concepts such as "folk culture" and "tradition" that began in the 1980s with David Whisnant, Hugh MacDiarmid, Tom Nairn, and other critical theorists. Acknowledging that their work has led to important insights into the politics of culture, Blaustein recognizes how putative invented traditions and imagined communities can bolster unreflective jingoism, colonialism, and strident militarism.

The Thistle and the Brier includes a careful critique of the negative repercussions of romantic nationalist ideology in folklore's intellectual history. The major argument that Blaustein sustains throughout the book, however, is that a highly politicized, stridently post-Marxist deconstructionist rhetoric is a suspect form of intellectual discourse. Critical theory and deconstructionism may be useful when one analyzes how hegemony is established and sustained, but the same symbolic forms and political mechanisms that support jingoistic cultural nationalism can also serve as resources for political resistance. Whether these types of resistance truly challenge the established political order is a highly debatable and thorny point in cultural critique. Blaustein's central tenet is that symbolic expression provides essential resources for community cohesion. He provides strong support for this argument by...