Willingness to take PhD students: Yes
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Edinburgh Farm, Family and Neighbourhood in Post-Improvement Perthshire: an Historical Ethnography | |
Master of Arts, University of Edinburgh |
Research expertise | Scottish traditional music; Oral history training; Heritage; Intangible Cultural Heritage; Ethnology; Piping |
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Gary West was born and brought up in Highland Perthshire, attending Pitlochry High School and Breadalbane Academy, before moving to Edinburgh at the age of 18. He was the first person to graduate from the University of Edinburgh in the newly launched degree entitled Scottish Ethnology and Scottish Historical Studies, in 1988. Following a brief and ill-judged period as a banker, he returned to the School of Scottish Studies to undertake a PhD, and was later appointed to the staff there as a lecturer in 1994.
From the age of 7 he has been highly active within the field of traditional music, learning his trade with the innovative Vale of Atholl Pipe Band with whom he won both the Scottish and European Championships. On settling in Edinburgh he moved sideways into the folk music scene, joining the band Ceolbeg in 1988, and the so-called ‘Scottish folk supergroup’, Clan Alba, in 1993. In more recent years he has played and recorded with a variety of musicians, and has toured widely in Europe and North America. Since 2002 he has presented the weekly specialist programme on BBC Radio Scotland, Pipeline.
His research interests centre around the general theme of the use of the past within the present, and include traditional music, heritage, revivalism, oral history and the conceptualisation of tradition. A good deal of his research is practice and performance based and this is reflected in a varied portfolio of output forms.
2004-06 – Undergraduate Director, School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures
2006-08 – Senior Director of Studies, School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures
2006-08 - Academic Misconduct Officer, School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures
2006-12 - Member of Planning and Resources Committee, School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures
2007-2010 - Member, University Undergraduate Studies Committee
2007-10 - Member, College of Humanities and Social Science Undergraduate Studies Committee
2006- present – Member, University Undergraduate Appeals Committee
2009- 2012 – Head of Celtic and Scottish Studies
2011 – present - Director, European Ethnological Research Centre, University of Edinburgh
Research output: Book/Report › Book
Research output: Book/Report › Book
Research output: Book/Report › Book
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed)
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Non-textual form › Exhibition
Research output: Non-textual form › Digital or Visual Products
Research output: Non-textual form › Digital or Visual Products
Research output: Non-textual form › Digital or Visual Products
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed)
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Research output: Non-textual form › Composition
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed)
Activity: Academic talk or presentation types › Invited talk
Activity: Other activity types › Other
Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Project: Research
Project: Research
Project: Research
Press/Media: Expert Comment
Press/Media: Public Engagement Activities
Press/Media: Expert Comment
ID: 11924