Gaelic Culture and Traditional Ecological Knowledge

This project, developed through Màiri Innes’s MRes thesis, investigates whether Gaelic cultural records and traditions contain forms of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) that can inform contemporary environmental understanding.

Focusing on the Glengarry area, the research explores how TEK may be identified and interpreted within Gaelic-language sources, particularly historical records and place-names. Màiri Innes examines materials spanning from the 18th century onwards to assess whether ecological indicators, patterns, or insights can be derived from these sources.

To support this work, a comprehensive dataset of collected Gaelic place-names has been compiled and is presented here via an online interactive map. This resource provides a spatial framework for further analysis of culturally embedded ecological knowledge.

Researchers: Màiri Innes, Dr Lucio Marcello, Prof. Ùisdean Cheape.