Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Graeme Morton is Professor of Modern History and Director of the Centre for Scottish Culture at the University of Dundee. He previously held the inaugural Scottish Studies Foundation Chair - the first privately endowed Chair in Scottish Studies in North America - at the University of Guelph (2004-2013). There he was Director of the Centre for Scottish Studies and remains Adjunct Professor of History.
Best known for his conceptualisation of Unionist Nationalism, Graeme Morton's research interests focus on national identity, civil society, migration, diasporic studies and historical meteorology.
His publications include William Wallace: A National Tale (Edinburgh, 2014), The Scottish Diaspora (with T. Bueltmann and A. Hinson, Edinburgh, 2013), Ourselves and Others: Scotland 1832-1914 (Edinburgh, 2012), William Wallace: Man & Myth (Stoud, 2001), and Unionist-Nationalism (East Linton, 1999) He co-edited Irish and Scottish Encounters with Indigenous Peoples (Montreal, 2013) and Ties of Bluid, Kin and Countrie: Scottish Associational Culture in the Diaspora (Guelph, 2009). Professor Morton has edited the International Review of Scottish Studies (2004-2013) and The Scottish Historical Review (2014-2018).
His current research on the Scottish diaspora is focused around migration and meteorological variation: ‘Extreme Weather and Patterns of Emigration: Scotland, 1770-1988’ (SSHRC 430220; 2013-15). This work underpinned his monograph: Weather, Migration and the Scottish Diaspora: leaving the Cold Country (Routledge, 2020). https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429329500
In this book, Morton examines why large numbers of Scots chose to leave a temperate climate to live permanently in parts of the world where greater temperature extreme was the norm? He finds that nineteenth-century meteorologists turned to the concept of environmental determinism to explain the persistence of agricultural shortage and to identify the atmospheric conditions that exacerbated the incidence of death and disease in the towns. In these cases, Morton shows, the logic of emigration and the benefits of an alternative climate were compelling. By building on the work of historical climatologists, and the availability of long-run climate data, the emigration history of Scotland is examined through the lens of the nation’s climate.
The transatlantic dimension is core to his research into the movement of people. In collaboration with Kris Inwood and John Cranfield (University of Guelph), he has received funding in excess of CAN$1m to create research infrastructue from the Scottish and Canadian Victorian censuses. 'People in Motion: Historical Data Infrastructure for Longitudinal Research', CFI/MRI 26587 (2011-15); and 'Public use microdata samples of the 1871 census of Canada and the 1871 Census of Scotland', CFI/MRI 12603 (2007-11).
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
Doctor of Philosophy, University of Edinburgh
Award Date: 1 Jan 1993
Master of Arts, University of Edinburgh
Award Date: 1 Jan 1989
External positions
Editor, Scottish Historical Review
2014 → 2018
Keywords
- JN1187 Scotland
- Unionist Nationalism
- Diaspora
- Nationalism
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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Weather, Migration and the Scottish Diaspora: Leaving the Cold Country
Morton, G., 29 Oct 2020, 1 ed. London: Routledge. 294 p. (Routledge Studies in Modern British History)Research output: Book/Report › Book
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William Wallace: A national tale
Morton, G., 6 Oct 2014, 2nd ed. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 257 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book
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Partners in empire: the Scottish diaspora since 1707
Morton, G. & Bueltmann, T., 4 Jan 2019, British and Irish Diasporas: Societies, Cultures and Ideologies. MacRaild, D. M., Bueltmann, T. & Clark, J. C. D. (eds.). Manchester: Manchester University Press, p. 209-243 35 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review
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Unionist Nationalism: Governing Urban Scotland, 1830-1860
Morton, G., 1999, East Linton: Tuckwell Press. 239 p. (Scottish Historical Review Monographs; no. 6)Research output: Book/Report › Book
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Loyalism, legitimism, and the neo-Jacobite challenge to the Anglo-Scottish Union
Morton, G., 22 Aug 2023, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Atlantic Studies: Literary, Historical and Cultural Perspectives (Atlantic Studies). 23 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile25 Downloads (Pure)
Activities
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The Weaver Incorporation of Dundee (External organisation)
Graeme Morton (Chair)
21 Apr 2023Activity: Membership types › Membership of external research organisation
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Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities and British Council:
Graeme Morton (Member of programme committee)
21 Apr 2023Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in workshop, seminar, course
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Politicising Middle-Class Associational Culture in a Stateless Nation
Graeme Morton (Speaker)
20 Jul 2023Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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Scottish North American Community Conference
Graeme Morton (Participant)
22 Oct 2022Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference
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European Society for the Study of English Conference
Graeme Morton (Participant)
30 Aug 2022Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference