LAGNIAPPE: Dr. Karly Kehoe, Settlement and Legacies of Resilience in Northern Cape Breton

Dr. Karly Kehoe, “Settlement and Legacies of Resilience in Northern Cape Breton.” In Louisiana French, the word Lagniappe refers to a small gift that is added to an exchange as a show of appreciation. This podcast lagniappe features Dr. Karly Kehoe of Saint Mary’s University and is offered as a supplement to Acadiversité’s third episode of our first season, “Legacies of Settler Colonialism in Atlantic Canada and Beyond.”

In late August 2021, Dr. Kehoe organized a community symposium in Chéticamp, Nova Scotia, “Coastal Communities and Cape Breton Settlement: Stories of Place.” This event explored the lives and experiences of Scottish and Acadian settlers in the coastal regions of Britain and North America, underlining the ways in which the physical environments and cultural geographies shaped the history of the communities. Focusing on the now-abandoned squatter community of Pollett's Cove, Dr. Kehoe’s talk relates colonial-era displacement, namely during the Highland Clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries, to later patterns of rural exclusion, all while highlighting how Scottish migrants, themselves victims of British imperialism, contributed to settler colonial policies directed against indigenous peoples.

Holder of the Canada Research Chair in Atlantic Canada Communities and board chairperson of the Gorsebrook Research Institute since 2016, Dr. Kehoe studies the British Atlantic, with a focus on the Scottish diaspora. She is also interested in sustainable development and rural change in Nova Scotia and the Scottish Highlands. She sits on the editorial boards of both the Scottish Historical Review and the Innes Review and is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She is a member of the Global Young Academy and president of the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists. Her newest book is entitled Empire and Emancipation: Scottish and Irish Catholics at the Atlantic Fringe, 1780-1850, published by University of Toronto Press.

The documentary series Acadiversité explores the history and culture of the Acadian diaspora. Acadiversité is a production of Studio N/S, an initiative by Université Sainte-Anne’s North/South Observatory, the research lab of the Canada Research Chair in Acadian and Transnational Studies (CRÉAcT – Dr. Clint Bruce). Each yearly season is comprised of four episodes, three in French and one in English, plus bonus material.

• Theme song: “3 a.m. West End” by statusq (freepd.com)
•  “When He Got Up in the Nova Scotia Morning,” performed in 1939 by Mary A. MacDonald and recorded by Sidney Robertson Cowell, W.P.A. California Folk Music Project collection, Repository Library of Congress, Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center (https://www.loc.gov/item/2017701864/)
• Cover image: detail of "Map of Nova Scotia, or Acadia; with the islands of Cape Breton and St. John's, from actual surveys" (1768), Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division (https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3420.ar302300/)
• We wish to acknowledge the support of the Canada Research Chairs, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Nova Scotia Research and Innovation Trust (NSRIT), and Université Sainte-Anne.
• Our partners in creating this episode are the Gorsebrook Research Institute for Atlantic Canada Studies (St. Mary’s U.), the Institute of Acadian Studies (U. de Moncton), and the Royal Society of Canada.
• Gratitude is also owed to Dr. Karly Kehoe, Dr. Hilary Doda, and Karmen d’Entremont.