Culture Wars: Imposing cultural white space

While we should guard against movements of civic democracy turning towards nationalism, we should also be wary of universalism stifling cultural expression. There is a danger that we mistake bland postmodern globalism with a universalist cultural ethic. If metropolitan England is consumed by cultural white space, it would do well to avoid imposing this on others. This projection may come from three specific strands: the left tradition of internationalism; the confused morass which is contemporary British/English culture; and perhaps also the modernist project which LM still signifies.

The very complexity of the work of writers like David Greig, Don Paterson or AL Kennedy makes the accusation of nationalist naivety a nonsense. Each explores his or her theme and world from an individual view, but it's one which is informed (like it or not) within a cultural context. They are historical testimony to a contemporary truth - that your own culture is often a springboard towards internationalism and the appreciation of other people's culture. Burns' 'For a' that and a' that' or Hamish Henderson's 'Freedom come all yea' are hymns to the very socialist universalism to which many of us aspire.

We have experienced what Murdo Macdonald has described as a 'mislaid history' - one in which much of our own culture has been deemed unimportant. Unsurprisingly this has often been the history and cultural artefacts that are the most radical, challenging and provocative. In fact this mislaid history is much of the material that is distinctly Scottish, such as the Democratic Intellect, the tradition of dissident writing and internationalism and visions of language - all which is expressed by so many contemporary Scottish artists and writers today.

Mike Small

['An fhirinn an aghaidh an t-Saoghail!' means 'The truth against the world', and is a Scottish saying often associated with the 1820 uprising.]