Tea Break: Hebrides People's Emily McEwan

In our fortnightly feature, we join a local for a tea break and find out how they spend their time - and their time off. This issue, we welcome Emily McEwan, Gaelic Officer at Hebrides people, whose passion for the language has brought her across the Atlantic.

Please introduce yourself and your job?

I'm Emily McEwan and I'm the Gaelic Officer at Ionad-tadhail Luchd Innse Gall, the Hebrides People Visitor Centre. My 2-year position was funded by Bòrd na Gàidhlig and includes several different priorities: increasing opportunities to learn and use Gaelic in Harris, cataloguing Bill & Chris Lawson's Gaelic materials from Canada for future use, creating and implementing a Gaelic language policy for the Centre, and building a Gaelic network with Harris community groups and institutions so we can eventually create Plana Gàidhlig na Hearadh, a Gaelic Language Plan for Harris in 2028 and beyond.

I've just moved to Harris from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada where I was involved with Gaelic for the past 15 years. I've learned Gaelic siud 's a' seo, here and there, from many different teachers, and there's always more to learn! I'm really interested in finding ways to help Gaelic learners progress and integrate into the wider Gaelic-speaking community. And the more involved with Gaelic I've gotten, the more important and urgent I feel it is to support Gaelic communities.

How did you get where you are today? (a quick potted life story!)

Tha an t-slighe air a bhith fada! It's been a long road! I'm a Gaelic learner and my first introduction to Gaelic was hearing a song by Cathy Ann MacPhee on a folk music radio program in 1989. Soon after, I started learning Gaelic informally at university in a group with a professor from Barvas, Dr. Rod MacLeod.

I was able to do a year of study abroad at University of Aberdeen where I started with a proper first-year Gaelic course. After university, I taught English in Japan for a year and then did a PhD in linguistic anthropology at the University of Chicago. I was fortunate to work with Dr Nancy Dorian as an external committee member and mentor. My research was about Gaelic revitalization and development 1980-2000 and I did fieldwork in Uist and Inverness.

After finishing my degree I worked as an academic, teaching courses on topics like Language & Culture and Endangered Languages. Some of the articles I wrote are apparently still assigned in courses at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, and I'm happy that my academic work is still helping people. In 2010 I moved to Nova Scotia where I was involved with Gaelic for the past 15 years along with my husband Tim. Amazingly, life came full circle when Cathy Ann herself moved to a neighbourhood close by and we became good friends over coffee and Gaelic conversation! I ran a Gaelic book publishing company called Bradan Press for 10 years and just before moving to Harris I taught a course called Issues in Gaelic Language Revitalization for Cape Breton University at their Beinn Mhàbu programme with the Gaelic College.

What’s the best thing about your job?

The best thing about my job so far is without a doubt the people! I'm really enjoying working with my colleagues, meeting our board, talking to my fellow Gaelic officers in other areas, and meeting people in the community. I'm excited that getting to know people and building a network of folks involved with Gaelic is an important part of my job.

One of the biggest challenges I face is just like any other newcomer - although I've been a part of saoghal na Gàidhlig for decades, and I've lived elsewhere in Scotland, Harris is its own unique place and there is so much to learn for work as well as daily life. I am just trying to pay attention and take it all in. Another big challenge is that I'm actually a bit face-blind...so if I meet you in one context, and then see you somewhere else, it may be hard for me to place you at first. This causes me no end of embarrassment!! But rest assured, the details will come right back if you remind me, and I'll be delighted to get to know you better!

Who are Hebrides People's services for?

We'd like for everyone, locals and visitors alike, to feel that there is something for them at Hebrides People / Luchd Innse Gall. Last week we hosted the pupils of Sgoil an t-Òib and I spoke to them about the founding cultures of Nova Scotia including Gaelic emigrants.

This week we had a school group visiting from Edinburgh. Every week from now through October, we're giving presentations about genealogy, Gaelic, and Harris tweed, and residents are welcome too! And of course our gift shop and bookshop feature everything you might need for a special gift, even including cards & stamps. Our Cò leis thu? genealogy archive has a wealth of information for anyone with roots in the Western Isles, as our genealogy officer Aonghas recently showed with the family tree presented to Donald John MacKay.

What’s coming up for Hebrides People in the coming months?

We hope to get a weekly Gaelic conversation cafe up and running! This will be for absolutely everyone with an interest in Gaelic, from beginners to lifelong speakers. We're also hoping to plan an ambitious series of Gaelic immersion workshops which will be based on doing various activities together through Gaelic. We're planning a cèilidh series later this year depending on other funding. The Centre is also awaiting the outcome of funding applications for a much more sigificant development...watch this space for announcements!

What’s your favourite Harris place and why?

I can only say 'so far' as I haven't been around the whole of Harris yet (too busy setting up our new household and getting stuck in at my new job). But I love Tùr Chliamain, St. Clement's Chapel in Rodel - a Gaelic place of incredible history, faith, beauty, and importance. I see and learn something new each time I visit. Last time I noticed that Alasdair Crotach's tomb effigy is carved of a very sparkly stone that's definitely not gneiss...but it is nice! If you shine a light over it, the sense of movement from the sparkles is incredible, almost like an early form of animation. I'm guessing it was carved of basalt brought over specially from Dunvegan?

What do you like to do when not at work?

For the last ten years I was a bit of a workaholic and I put everything into running Bradan Press, my Gaelic publishing company in Nova Scotia. I'll still be doing that on the side, but very much scaled down as it's time to find a better work-life balance. I've started volunteering with OH!Con, the comic con at An Lanntair every October, and I really need to get caught up on Doctor Who episodes.

I'd like to spend more time learning Gaelic songs, perhaps even take some voice lessons. I also had a flower garden in Halifax, which I miss very much, so I hope to get started with container gardening this month!

I'm very proud to have published An Stàball by Tarbert-based author Anne Ramsay, the first original Gaelic baby board book (not a translation from English). It's got adorable flaps to lift on each page and artwork by Kate Philips from Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia - a real transatlantic Gaelic collaboration. I'm also proud to have published Anna Ruadh, the Gaelic translation of Anne of Green Gables by Mòrag Anna NicNèill from Horgabost. Suas leis na Hearadh, suas leis a' Ghàidhlig!

Tea break time: what’s your snack and drink of choice...

Tha mi measail air rudan milis so...Tunnock's Teacake agus cupa teatha làidir le bainne! (Is fheàrr leam an co-measgachadh 'Crofter' le Tiree Tea!) 

I like sweet things so...a Tunnock's Teacake and a cup of strong tea with milk! (I prefer Tiree Tea's Crofter blend!)