Joni Buchanan gives this year’s Angus MacLeod Memorial Lecture in Gaelic

Her lecture will be on the subject ‘Mnathan Innse Gall: am beatha, am buaidh’ (Hebridean Women: Lives of Consequence).

Drawing on Joni’s recent research, the lecture will address a glaring gap in the vast literature about the Hebrides and their people – the limited extent to which women feature in most accounts of these islands.

Were their lives really of so little consequence?

This lecture will challenge any such perception by analysing the many crucial roles that women have occupied in Hebridean society and why their voices have been given so little expression.

It will draw on individual examples of extraordinary lives in order to confirm the more general truth that Hebridean women, and their contribution to all aspects of life in the islands and far beyond, have earned the right to wider awareness, respect and recognition.

Because of coronavirus restrictions, this year’s lecture will be pre-recorded and made available on YouTube and a local website from Thursday, October 22.

It is also planned that the lecture will feature in a special edition of Radio nan Gàidheal’s ‘Feasgar’ programme in which Joni Buchanan will be interviewed by Cathy MacDonald – details of this broadcast will be announced later.

An English and Gaelic text of the lecture will also be made available in booklet form by Comunn Eachdraidh na Pairc, who organise the annual lecture in partnership with e-Sgoil, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, the Islands Book Trust and Angus Macleod’s family.

Donnie Morrison, chairman of Comunn Eachdraidh na Pairc, said: “We are delighted that Joni has agreed to give this year’s lecture on a much-neglected subject which I am sure will be of great interest to many people.

“Despite the unusual circumstances caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, we thought it important to ensure the lecture went ahead, albeit not in front of a live audience.

“We are most grateful to Radio nan Gàidheal for facilitating this year’s special arrangements.”

For further details about the Angus Macleod Memorial Lecture in Gaelic, and how to access it, contact John Randall, of Comunn Eachdraidh na Pairc, at [email protected]