One People, Two Islands: The historic entanglement of the islands of Eigg, Scotland, and Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, 1790-1830

"One People, Two Islands: The historic entanglement of the islands of Eigg, Scotland, and Cape Breton, Nova Scotia,

1770-1830" ("One People, Two Islands") assembles an expert team of researchers, archivists, and heritage sector interpreters

from Nova Scotia and Scotland to reassess the legacies of migration from the Scottish Gaidhealtachd (Highlands and Islands)

and resettlement in Nova Scotia. We will use social, cultural, and material evidence of settlement in Coig Peighinnean (Five

Pennies) in the Hebridean island of Eigg, and displacement and resettlement in Cul Chamas an Dobhrain (Rear Beaver Cove) in Cape Breton Island to explore broader consequences of this transatlantic movement in the late-eighteenth and

early-nineteenth centuries within the context of British colonization and empire-building. Although Scottish historiography

has recently made major advances elucidating Scottish participation in the Atlantic slave trade and the enslavement of Black people, work focusing upon the broader consequences of colonial resettlement remains limited. Consequently, significant

aspects of Scotland's relationship with the colonization process continue to be misunderstood, while outdated historical

narratives fail to address persistent legacies of conflict and displacement. One critical and little acknowledged facet is the story of West Highland Catholicism, both in its institutional form and in patterns of vernacular custom and belief.

Recognizing the crucial role religious belief played in the process of displacement and resettlement, as we do here, offers novel interpretive frameworks for understanding the British colonizing process in its full breadth and variety. Lack of communication between entrenched Canadian and Scottish research silos means that respective historiographies and

historiographical perspectives remain unfamiliar to the other side. "One People, Two Islands" will purposely draw upon the often peripheralized Catholic dimension in elaborating more critical perspectives on the legacies of the process of dispossession and resettlement, with the objective of developing a more coordinated approach to making space for

uncomfortable truths in Scottish and Nova Scotian curricula. The displacement of the Mi'kmaq people through mass in-migration and aggressive land-grabbing by Scottish Catholic Highlanders (themselves a displaced population) remains misunderstood in Scotland, with deleterious effects for research on and engagement with imperial legacies. This project

consolidates both sides of this difficult, complex story to establish a robust framework for updating and sharing resources at both academic and community levels. Great care was taken in KMP design to facilitate enhanced partnerships between the

public-facing heritage sector and academic research through the co-creation of accessible resources for students and the

public alike. We envisage five knowledge synthesis and dissemination activities: 1) a series of innovative entries in Canmore, the Scottish national online database of Scotland's archaeological sites, buildings, industry, and maritime heritage (https://canmore.org.uk/); 2) listening visit to Membertou Heritage Park and Mi'kmaw Cultural Centre to enhance

understandings of the interrelationship between Scottish Highland settlement and Mi'kmaw displacement; 3) enhanced

curriculum with an educational resource pack (co-created in English and Scottish Gaelic) and a history workshop supporting learners in Nova Scotia and Scotland; 4) a series of public lectures in Nova Scotia and Scotland disseminating research

findings to the wider public; and 5) student exchange and an undergraduate field placement, providing an innovative training environment for graduate and undergraduate students