During his appointment as Glasgow University Extra Mural Department's first Resident Tutor in Argyll (195466), Eric Cregeen pioneered groundbreaking research into the Papers of Argyll Estate and into the oral tradition of the West Highlands. When international scholar and philosopher Prof. Earnest Gellner read Cregeen's work, and claimed it exemplified 'all the best features of both social history and anthropology'. Gellner furthermore recommended this bright Cambridge graduate to be 'uniquely qualified to write the book that is needed'. Publishers from both sides of the Atlantic vied for exclusive rights, and though Eric Cregeen wrote many important papers during these years, and later, as lecturer at the School of Scottish Studies, his death in 1983 robbed Scotland of a great scholar and of his proposed books. This collection of papers has been brought together by his wife Lily and nephew, sculptor and artist David Cregeen, and edited by Dr Margaret Bennett.
Born in Yorkshire and educated at Cambridge, Eric Cregeen moved to Scotland and taught at the School of Scottish Studies at Edinburgh University from 1966 until his untimely death in 1983. Whilst at Edinburgh he established a reputation as one of the most eminent ethnographers of his generation.
Originally from the Isle of Skye, Margaret Bennett comes from a long line of traditional singers, pipers and story tellers Gaelic on her mother's side, Lowland Scots on her father's. She has sung at folk festivals and concerts world wide and has featured in films, documentaries and on radio. She has an MA in folklore and a PhD in ethnology. She specialises in traditional song, customs, folk medicine, and emigrant traditions and has taught in both Glasgow and Edinburgh. She has published several books and many articles, including the award-winning Oatmeal and the Catechism.
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