Dr Duncan Sneddon
Lecturer in Celtic
Contact details
- Email: duncan.sneddon@ed.ac.uk
Availability
Tha uairean oifise agam air Dimàirt 16:00 - 17:00 agus Dihaoine 15:00 - 16:00.
My office drop-in hours are Tuesday 16:00 - 1700 and Friday 15:00 - 16:00.
Background
Thàinig mi a dh’Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann an tòiseach nam fho-cheumnach airson MA (Urr.) ann an Ceiltis agus Eachdraidh na h-Alba, a’ ceumnachadh ann an 2012. B’ ann air buaidh “Ossian” Mhic a’ Phearsain air bàrdachd Ghàidhlig a sgrìobh mi mo thràchdas urraim. An uair sin bha mi bliadhna ann an Sassain aig Oilthigh Oxford (Còlaisde Wolfson) airson MSc ann an Eòlas Ceiltis, le tràchdas air Lochlann agus na Lochlannaich ann an litreachas na Gàidhlig. Thill mi a Dhùn Èideann airson PhD ann an Eachdraidh na h-Alba, a’ rannsachadh Vita Sancti Columbae le Adomnán. Fhuair mi maoineachadh bho Urras Wolfson airson an rannsachaidh seo, agus cheumnaich mi ann an 2018.
Bha mi nam thidsear ann an Roinn na Gàidhlig aig Oilthigh Obair Dheathain bho 2018-19, agus ann an samhradh 2019 rinn mi pròiseact rannsachaidh as leth Bòrd na Gàidhlig agus Comhairlea Obair Dheathain, Comhairle Sgìre Obair Dheathain, Comhaile Machair Aonghais, Comhairle Baile Dhùn Dè, Comhairle Fhìobha agus Comhairle Pheairt is Cheann Rois air eachdraidh agus cleachdadh na Gàidhlig air taobh an ear na h-Albainn. Ann an 2019-20 dh’oibrich mi mar Oifigear Leasachadh na Gàidhlig airson Eaglais na h-Alba. Aig an àm sin, theagaisg mi cursaichean air astar airson an dà chuid Sabhal Mòr Ostaig agus Oilthigh Obair Dheathain. Ann an 2021-22, dh’obraich mi mar neach-rannsachaidh airson Stòr-dàta Beul-Aithris na Fèinne, pròiseact suidhichte aig Oilthigh Harvard, fo stiùreadh an Oll. Natasha Sumner.
Aig toiseach bliadhna 2022-23, fhuair mi obair mar Òraidiche ann an Ceiltis aig Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann.
I first came to the University of Edinburgh as an undergraduate for my first degree, MA (Hons) Celtic and Scottish History, from which I graduated in 2012. My honours dissertation was on the influence of James Macpherson's Ossian on Gaelic poetry. I then went down to the University of Oxford (Wolfson College) for a year, taking an MSt in Celtic Studies, and writing a thesis on Lochlann and the Lochlannaich in Gaelic literature. I returned to the University of Edinburgh for my PhD in Scottish History, which was an analysis of Adomnán of Iona's Vita Sancti Columbae. This was funded by the Wolfson Foundation, and I graduated in 2018. I was a Teaching Fellow in Gaelic at the University of Aberdeen from 2018-19, and in the summer of 2019 undertook research funded by Bòrd na Gàidhlig and commissioned by Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council, Angus Council, Dundee Council, Fife Council and Perth and Kinross Council on the past, present and possible futures of Gaelic on the east coast. In 2019-20 I worked as Gaelic Language Development Officer for the Church of Scotland, a post funded by the Church of Scotland and Bòrd na Gàidhlig.
I have taught distance courses for Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, as well as courses in Celtic & Anglo-Saxon Studies at the University of Aberdeen.
From 2021-22 I worked as a Research Assistant at the University of Edinburgh for Harvard University's project, The Fionn Folklore Database, led by Prof. Natasha Sumner.
At the start of the 2022-23 academic year I was appointed Lecturer in Celtic at the University of Edinburgh.
Qualifications
MA (Urr.) Ceiltis agus Eachdraidh na h-Alba, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann, 2012 MSt Eòlas Ceiltis, Oilthigh Oxford, 2013 PhD, Eachdraidh na h-Alba, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann, 2018 MA (Hons.) Celtic and Scottish History, University of Edinburgh, 2012
MSt Celtic Studies, University of Oxford, 2013
PhD Scottish History, University of Edinburgh, 2018
Responsibilities & affiliations
Administrative:
Cohort Lead, Celtic and Scottish Studies
Year Abroad Co-ordinator, Celtic and Scottish Studies
External:
Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland
Trustee, McCaig Trust
Member of the Gaelic Committee, Church of Scotland
Member of the Committee for the Ladies' Gaelic School and Highland Bursary Association, Church of Scotland
Undergraduate teaching
Celtic Civilisation 1A: Barbarians, Saints and Scholars
Celtic Civilisation 1B: Domination, Dislocation and Defiance
Gaelic 1A
Gaelic 2A (Cuspairean)
Heroes, Wonders, Saints and Sagas: Medieval Celtic Literature in Translation
Songs, Swords, Rebels and Revivals: Modern Celtic Literature in Translation
Early Irish Texts 1
Early Irish Texts 2
Outlaws and Monsters: The Finn Cycle in Ireland and Scotland
Scribes and their Books: Manuscript Culture in the Celtic World
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
Yes
Areas of interest for supervision
Chuirinn fàilte air iarrtasan PhD, gu sònraichte airson pròiseactan a' rannsachadh litreachas na Gàidhlig anns na meadhan aoisean, eachdradh chràbhach ann an Alba agus Èirinn anns na meadhan aoisean tràtha, litreachas agus beul-aithris na Fèinne, beul-aithris na Gàidhlig agus litreachas spioradail anns a' Ghàidhlig bho na meadhan aoisean chun an latha an-diugh.
I welcome enquiries about PhD supervision, especially for projects focused on medieval Gaelic literature, early medieval Scottish and Irish religious history, Fiannaigheachd, Gaelic folklore and Gaelic religious literature from the medieval to modern periods.
Current PhD students supervised
Lucie-Ly Mey, on the translation and reception of Macpherson's "Ossian" in France.
Research summary
Medieval Gaelic religious literature - Saints' cults in medieval Gaelic Scotland and Ireland - Gaelic folklore - Gaelic heroic ballads - Modern Gaelic literature - "Celticism" in fantasy, sci-fi and weird fiction
Conference details
2022
Finn Cycle Conference, Mary Immaculate College, Limerick
“Laoidh Chaoilte: Dà thionndadh o Uibhist a Deas”
2021
Glasgow International Fantasy Conference: Beyond the Anglocentric Fantastic, University of Glasgow
“Fantasy and science fiction in Gaelic: an emerging current in a minority language’s literature”
Aquatic Animals in the Global Middle Ages, University of Silesia in Katowice
“Aquatic Beasts in the Columban Hagiographical Tradition”
Éigse Cholm Cille, Ulster University
“Vita Sancti Columbae: Teacsa, cleachdadh agus cultus”
2019
Tales and Transmission: Storytelling in Irish and Scottish Gaelic, 700 AD to the Present, University of Cambridge
“Folkloric Hagiography”: Medieval written and modern oral traditions of the saints in Gaelic Scotland
2018
Rannsachadh na Gàidhlig, University of Edinburgh
“‘Chaidh e nas doimhne agus nas doimhne ann an seann theacsaichean’: assessing An Sgoil Dhubh by Iain F. MacLeòid”
2017
Conference of the Association of Celtic Students of Ireland and Britain”, University of Edinburgh
“A very Gàidhealach fantasy: Gaelic history and legend in An Sgoil Dhubh by Iain F. MacLeòid”
2016
Rannsachadh na Gàidhlig, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig
“Vita Sancti Columbe: cleachdadh agus cultus”
International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds
“Vita Sancti Columbae: structure and sequencing”
Association of Scottish Literary Studies Conference, University of Glasgow
“Text and practice: Adomnán's Vita Sancti Columbae and the life of the Columban familia”
2015
Irish Conference of Medievalists, University College Dublin
“Would you Adam and Eve it? Women as givers of advice in Vita Sancti Columbae”
15th International Congress of Celtic Studies, University of Glasgow
“Comhairle nam Ban: Gliocas agus Gnè ann an Vita Sancti Columae”
35th Harvard Celtic Colloquium, Harvard University
“Monsters and Beasties and Boars, oh my!: The monstrous in Vita Sancti Columbae”
2014
History of Christianity Graduate Conference, University of Edinburgh
“Adomnán’s Vita Sancti Columbae as a literary production”
North-West Gender Conference, University of Lancaster
“Sex and Gender in Adomnán’s Vita Sancti Columbae”
“Facing the Monstrous North” at the International Congress of Arctic Social Science VIII, University of Northern British Columba
“Monsters and the North in Adomnán’s Vita Sancti Columbae”
Rannsachadh na Gàidhlig, University of Edinburgh
“Cànan ann an Vita Sancti Columbae”
First Poznań Conference of Celtic Studies, Adam Mickiewicz University
“Adomnán's Vita Sancti Columbae: Textuality and Metatextuality”
IMBAS: Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Medieval Conference, National University of Ireland, Galway “Adomnán's Vita Sancti Columbae: Textuality and Metatextuality”
Oxford Celtic Seminar, University of Oxford
“Adomnán's Vita Sancti Columbae: Manuscripts and Textuality”
2013
Celtic Seminar, University of Oxford (MSt students’ presentations)
“Scandinavia and the Scandinavians in Scottish Gaelic literature”
Oxford-Cambridge Celtic Colloquium, University of Oxford
“The influence of James Macpherson’s Ossian on Scottish Gaelic poetry”
Conference of the Association of Celtic Students of Ireland and Britain”, University of Edinburgh
“Writing at the Crossroads: Interactions between Scottish Gaelic and Scandinavian and Icelandic Literature”
In the press
I am happy to be contacted for media interviews on any aspect of my expertise, and have provided information for journalists and taken part in several television documentaries in the past. I can give interviews in Gaelic and English easily, and with adequate time for preparation can do so in Irish, Spanish and Norwegian as well.