Michael Newton, Ed. Celts in the Americas

Michael Newton, ed. Celts in the Americas. (Sydney, NS: 2013, Cape Breton University Press. Pp. 376. ISBN: 978-1-897009-75-8) Celts in the Americas, edited by Michael Newton, draws together specialists on Celtic ethnolinguistic groups in the to detail how Bretons, Welsh, Scottish Gaels, Irish, and Cornish immigrants created place, community identity, and cohesion through spoken and written language use in diasporic settings (the Manx are not represented: no scholar could be found to discuss the history of Manx immigrants). This book--a collection of papers from an eponymous conference held at St. Francis Xavier University in 2011, plus five invited chapters and an introduction--means to redress outdated tendencies in Celtic Studies scholarship, including the perpetuation of an anglocentric master narrative that elides the and historical experiences of Celtic-speaking peoples in the Americas under those of their colonial rulers. The chapters within the book address the different Celtic-speaking peoples individually, explicitly rejecting a scholastic history of crafting an essentializing narrative for all Celts in the Americas, and for each ethnolinguistic group. The authors overall recuperate the Celtic peoples as active agents rather than passive victims of internal colonialism while also redressing their elision in academic discourse. Primarily concerned with language and cultural expressions tied to language (print media and literature), the book's strong disciplinary foundation uses an established methodology within Celtic Studies--textual analysis and mapping language use and retention--while also gesturing towards interdisciplinary analysis. The book is divided into five sections. The chapters in Part One individually introduce the migration histories of the Celtic peoples (excluding the Manx) from homelands to destinations in the and their fates in the diaspora. The overviews emphasize language by charting how immigrants established their presence, centered communities, and maintained identities through CelticTanguage print media, such as newspapers and literature, and via spoken Celtic languages. This section, burdened hy the necessity of describing centuries-long migration patterns to many destinations, provides general narratives about each Celtic community's migration and each group's use of language. Deacon emphasizes how the Cornish moved smoothly between ethnic distinction and normative English identity in diasporic communities. Guillorel and Jouas highlight individuals to sketch the narrative of Breton interactions with the over five centuries; though compelling, this tends to obscure a larger narrative about Bretons' interactions in diasporic contexts. Newton attempts a macro-scale analysis of Scottish Gaelic literary output in the Americas, but the widely dispersed and heterogeneous nature of the Gaels undermines a holistic narrative. Matthew's chapter, focused on Welsh migrations in the mid to late 19th century, cautions that the plurality of experience in Wales and the makes sweeping statements about their experience, and even their Welshness, difficult. O h-Ide charts the migration of Irish-speakers to the Americas, focusing on the subsequent deterioration of language communities in the even as latter 20th century language revitalization was occurring in Ireland. Part Two focuses on spoken language. Dunbar argues that official Canadian multiculturalism produced enthusiasm and funding for folklorized Celtic displays rather than strong support for language education and retention programs. Johnson questions the effectiveness of a contemporary project to teach Welsh in the Chubut Province, Argentina, suggesting that personal interest and motives are the critical factors in language acquisition and growth. …

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