“Telling the story of telling the story”: capturing intangible heritage storytelling on the origins of malt whisky in the Cabrach
| Date | 27 November 2023 |
| Pages | 508-532 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-06-2023-0106 |
| Published date | 27 November 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
| Author | Peter H. Reid,Elliot Pirie,Rachael Ironside |
“Telling the story of telling the
story”: capturing intangible
heritage storytelling on the origins
of malt whisky in the Cabrach
Peter H. Reid, Elliot Pirie and Rachael Ironside
School of Creative and Cultural Business, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK
Abstract
Purpose –This research explored the storytelling (collection, curation and use) in the Cabrach, a remote
Scottish glen. This study aims to capture the methodological process of storytelling and curation of heritage
knowledge through the lens of the Cabrach’s whisky distilling history, a central part of the area’s cultural
heritage, tangible and intangible. This research was conceptualised as “telling the story of telling the story of
the Cabrach”. It was concerned with how the history, heritage, historiography and testimony associated with
the parish could be harvested, made sense of and subsequently used.
Design/methodology/approach–The study was epistemological in nature and the research was concerned
with how heritage knowledge is gathered, curated and understood. It was built around the collection of
knowledge through expert testimony from Colin Mackenzie and Alan Winchester, who have extensively
researched aspects of life in the Cabrach. This was done using a series of theme-based but free-flowing
conversational workshop involving participants and research team. Issues of trust and authority in the
research team were crucial. Data were recorded, transcribed and coded. A conceptual model for heritage
storytelling in the Cabrach was developed together with a transferable version for other contexts.
Findings –The research was conceived around identifying the stories of the Cabrach and grouping them into
cohesive narrative themes focused on the most important aspect of the glen’s history (the development of malt
whisky distilling). The research showed how all crucial narratives associated with the Cabrach were
interconnected with that malt whisky story. It was concerned with identifying broad thematic narratives rather
than the specific detailed stories themselves, but also from a methodological perspective how stories around
those themes could be collected, curated and used. It presents the outcome of “expert testimony”oral history
conversations and presents a conceptual model for the curation of heritage knowledge.
Practical implications –This paper reports on research which focuses on the confluence of those issues of
heritage-led regeneration, intangible cultural heritage, as well as how stories of and from, about and for, a
distinctive community in North-East Scotland can be collected, curated and display ed. It presents
methodological conceptualisations as well as focused areas of results which can be used to create a strong
and inclusive narrative to encapsulate the durable sense of place and support the revival of an economically
viable and sustainable community.
Social implications –This conceptual model offers a framework with universal elements (Place, People,
Perception)alongside a strong core narrative of storytelling. That core element may vary but the outer elements
remain the same, with people and place being omnipresent and the need to build an emotional or visceral
connection with visitors being crucial, beyond “telling stories”which might be regarded as parochial or
narrowly focused. The model informs how communities and heritage organisations tell their stories in an
authentic and proportionate manner. This can help shape and explain cultures and identities and support
visitors’understanding of, and connection with, places they visit and experience.
Originality/value –The originality lies in two principal areas, the exploration of the narratives of a
singularly distinctive community–the C abrach –which plays a disproportionatelysignificant role in the
development of malt whisky distilling in Scotland; and also in terms of the methodological approach to
the collection and curation of heritage storytelling,drawing not on first-hand accounts as in conventional
oral history approaches but through the expert testimony of two historical and ethnographic
researchers. The value is demonstrating the creation of a conceptual model which can be transferred
to other contexts.
Keywords Heritage, Scotland, Storytelling, Narratives
Paper type Article
JD
80,2
508
Funding: This research was funded by the Cabrach Trust.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0022-0418.htm
Received 6 June 2023
Revised 27 October 2023
Accepted 30 October 2023
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 80 No. 2, 2024
pp. 508-532
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-06-2023-0106
Introduction
For all the dinners are cooked; the plates and cups washed; the children sent to school and gone out
into the world. Nothing remains of it all. All has vanished. No biography or history has a word to say
about it. All these infinitely obscure lives remain to be recorded.
Virginia Woolf. 1929.
Storytelling has a long history in library and information science and still longer in sacred
texts, folklore and related wisdom traditions (McDowell, 2021). Stories are techniques that
enable us to organise thinking and preserve memories (Ong et al., 1986). Bassano et al. (2019,
p. 10) outline that stories and storytelling are so essential to human life that we can be
described as the “storytelling animal”(Gottschall, 2012); they help define the nature of
humanity (James and Minnis, 2004;Tobin, 2006), encompass myths, legends and folktales
(Reamy, 2002) and have passed on wisdom, knowledge and culture for thousands of years
(Soule and Wilson, 2002, p. 73).
Storytelling is quick, natural, clear, credible, compelling, contextual, intuitive and,
especially, activating (Katu
s
c
akov
a and Katu
s
c
ak, 2013;Groh, 2001) and at its best creates
relationships between teller, audience, subject, time and place. Hearne (2011) describes
(folkloric) stories as being “fast-moving, highly structured elemental plots”that enable
recipients “to glean different emotional, socio-cultural, intellectual, spiritual, and physical
connections with a tale”. Beyond traditional library and information science contexts of
storytelling, the approach has, for several decades, been recognised as a narrative technique
deployed in knowledge management, in a variety of organisational, sectoral and educational
settings, as a means of capturing both explicit and tacit knowledge, as well as information
and emotional responses. Stories are singular and varied in terms of their context, typology,
purpose, content, simplicity or complexity (Denning, 2006;Brown et al., 2005;Snowden, 2005).
Barthes et al. (1969) noted that there never existed anywhere a people without stories. And
just as there never existed a people without stories, neither did there exist a place without
stories. Bassano et al. (2019) notes:
A sense of place is essential to human life. People like to tell stories, and people enjoy listening to
storytelling. People who live in a specific place have considerable experience in that place and often
develop a deep love for that place (p. 11)
Sium and Ritskes (2013) note that stories vary radically according to social and geographical
contexts and are fraught with tensions and contradictions. Understanding context is,
therefore, key and is central to the work being reported on here. This article discusses
empirical research which examined methods for storytelling in a distinctive place-based
setting, the gathering, curation and use of knowledge, as well as how place-based storytelling
can be used to capture the essence and spirit of a community.
This research examined the Cabrach, an isolated glen in rural North-East Scotland, to
support the work of the Cabrach Trust, a social enterprise development trust established in
2011 to rejuvenate the area, which has suffered significant depopulation within the last
century. The Trust’s vision is “to regenerate the Cabrach as a thriving, sustainable
community with its history, heritage and place in Scottish history celebrated and shared by
all”(Cabrach Trust, 2023). The aim of the research was to capture the methodological process
of storytelling and curation heritage knowledge through the lens of the Cabrach’s whisky
distilling history, a central part of the glen’s tangible and intangible cultural heritage.
The story of whisky is inextricably connected with the people, landscape, culture and
geography of this part of Banffshire; it is a unique selling point both for the wider Moray-
Speyside [1] area and, because of this important historical link, for the Cabrach itself. This
research was conceptualised as “telling the story of telling the story of the Cabrach”. It was
concerned with how the history, heritage, historiography and testimony associated with the
Origins of malt
whisky in the
Cabrach
509
Get this document and AI-powered insights with a free trial of vLex and Vincent AI
Get Started for FreeStart Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting
Start Your Free Trial of vLex and Vincent AI, Your Precision-Engineered Legal Assistant
-
Access comprehensive legal content with no limitations across vLex's unparalleled global legal database
-
Build stronger arguments with verified citations and CERT citator that tracks case history and precedential strength
-
Transform your legal research from hours to minutes with Vincent AI's intelligent search and analysis capabilities
-
Elevate your practice by focusing your expertise where it matters most while Vincent handles the heavy lifting