Rona Wilkie

Teaching Fellow for Gaelic, Co-Cordinator for Gaelic at the Centre of Open Learning

Contact details

Address

Street

Paterson's Land, The University of Edinburgh, Holyrood Road, Edinburgh

City
Post code
EH8 8AQ

Biography

Background

I am the Teaching Fellow and Short Courses Co-ordinator for Gaelic at the Centre for Open Learning. I have overseen the expansion of Gaelic in COL since 2016, when we offered only Beginners courses for the community, to now, where we offer a pathway for students from Beginners to an Upper Intermediate level, a return to Gaelic programme for lapsed-speakers, and communicative teaching for matriculated students for credit.

 

I am also a researcher (PhD due to be completed 2025) in the School of Scottish Studies, with a particular interest on the impact of musicking on the cultural and political life of Scottish Gaels in the nineteenth century.

 

I also work as a musician and composer, mainly with traditional Gaelic music. I perform and work internationally with musicians from many genres including classical music, jazz and popular music.

My awards include:

  • Best Band, Basque Music Awards (2018)
  • Best Song, Moisekatsi Elohelü, Estonia (2017)
  • Wrote Soundtrack for 16 Years Till Summer, Nominated for Best Film BAFTA Scotland (2015)
  • BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year (2012)
  • Danny Kyle Award with Marit Fält, Celtic Connections (2012)
  • Nominated for Best Up-and-Coming Act at the Scots Trad Awards (2012)

Qualifications

MMus (Dist.), Newcastle University

MA (First Hons.). University of Edinburgh

Responsibilities & affiliations

I develop, design and teach of all levels of Gaelic at the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Open Learning. I also lead the strategy for Gaelic at the Centre for Open Learning, and push for the inclusion of all in Gaelic at the Universit of Edinburgh, whether they be learner, lapsed speaker or fluent speaker.

Undergraduate teaching

Centre for Open Learning, University of Edinburgh

  • Beginners Gaelic Stages 1­­–3
  • Elementary Gaelic Stages 1­–6
  • Intermediate Gaelic 1­­–6
  • Upper Intermediate Gaelic 1–6
  • Cleachd i: Return to Gaelic 1­–3
  • Staff and Student Gaelic Language Tasters
  • Gaelic Language Stage 1 (20 credits)
  • Gaelic Language Stage 2 (20 credits)
  • Gaelic Language Stage 3 (20 credits)

School of Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh

  • Gaelic 1A
  • Introduction for Gaelic Language and Culture

School of Music, University of Edinburgh

  • Traditional Scottish Music
  • Introduction to Traditional Music in Scotland (one-off lecture/ concert)

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, University of the Highlands and Islands

  • Gaelic 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 (Summer courses)

Royal Conservertoire of Scotland

  • Concepts in Traditional Music

  • Traditional Music Portfolio

  • Traditional Music Research Project

National Museum of Scotland

  • Post-beginner Gaelic

National Library of Scotland

  • Beatagan agus Binneagan

 

Postgraduate teaching

Centre for Open Learning, University of Edinburgh

  • Gaelic Language Stage 1 (20 credits)
  • Gaelic Language Stage 2 (20 credits)
  • Gaelic Language Stage 3 (20 credits)

Research summary

Gaelic pedagogy

  • Communicative Language Technique
    • Central to my research-led practice has been the development of the CLT approach for Gaelic. This has included researching and engaging with the pedagogical approaches used in multiple languages, and applying it to Gaelic.

  • Lapsed-Speaker Pedagogy

    • Having secured funding from Bòrd na Gàidhlig to develop a course for lapsed-speakers of Gaelic,  I have engaged heavily in the literature on the decline in minority-languages, indigenous studies and the impact of colonialism in minority culture. I also engage with linguistic research on adult-language acquisition and examples of language re-acquisition globally. It is my intention to use my work with Gaelic-lapsed speakers to add to this corpus. This is a long-term project, and has begun with self-reflective diaries and presentations at conferences. These include Gaelic-language conference An Cruinneachadh, and pan-European language-teaching Conference Cercles, where I was awarded a prize for Best Multilingual Paper.

Musicology in the Gaelic sphere

  • Nineteenth-century Musicking in Gaelic Scotland

    • My PhD research is concerned with the impact of musicking on community cohesion and identity in the forty years after the 1847 famine. It considers the therapeutic impact of musicking on society, the social networking opportunities created by musicking and the use of musicking to push the political agenda. I have presented on this research at numerous conferences, including at the primary Gaelic conference Rannsachadh na Gàidhlig in 2016, the Social History Society Conference in 2021 and in various university research seminars including in the University of Edinburgh and the University of Helsinki.

  • Waulking songs as a therapeutic practice

    • This research is concerned with the impact of musicking during waulking on the topics which emerge in songs. It argues that collective singing and simultaneous movement enabled women to explore their darkest fears. I also argue that women recognised that waulkings provided an important opportunity to support each other, and this led to women ensuring that the practice remained female-only. This article was published in Ordinary Oralities: Everyday Voices in History in 2023.

Conference details

 

  • “Return to Gaelic: The challenges of re-introducing lapsed-speakers to a minority language”, CercleS International Conference, University of Durham 2024 (awarded Best Multilingual Paper)
  • “‘Gur Muladach Tha Mi’: Singing as a Coping Mechanism in Nineteenth-Century Gaelic Scotland, School of Music Research Seminar, University of Edinburgh, 2024
  • “‘Gur Muladach Tha Mi’: Singing as a Coping Mechanism in Nineteenth-Century Gaelic Scotland”, School of Scottish Studies Research Seminar, University of Edinburgh, 2023
  • “The impact of musicking on nineteenth-century Gaelic society”, Cultural History Research Seminar, University of Helsinki, 2022
  • “Singing as social resistance in nineteenth-century Gaelic society”,  Social History Society Conference, University of Lincoln 2021
  • “Political movements in mid-nineteenth-century Gaelic society”, Celtic Students’ Conference, and University of Glasgow, 2017 (Award winner for Best Gaelic Paper).
  • “Òrain Strì an Fhearainn: Ceòl mar fhianais eachdraidheal”, Rannsachadh na Gàidhlig, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, University of the Highlands and Islands, 2016
  • “Òrain Strì an Fhearainn: Ceòl mar fhianais eachdraidheal”, Celtic Students’ Conference, National University of Ireland Galway, 2016 and University of Glasgow, 2017 (Award winner for best Gaelic paper).

Invited speaker

  • “Cleachd i: Tilleadh chun na Gàidhlig”, An Cruinneachadh, Comann na Gàidhlig, Oban, Argyll (Plenary speaker), 2024
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