MRS SHEILA YOUNG

MRS SHEILA YOUNG The University of Aberdeen School of Education Research PG pref sheila.young@abdn.ac.uk www.compass-courses.co.uk  

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Biography

I graduated from Aberdeen University in 1978 with an MA (Ord), studying subjects as diverse as French, Religious Studies, Scottish History and Zoology! I then did a Post-graduate Diploma in Careers Guidance at Napier University, Edinburgh. I spent the next 16 years living and working in The Netherlands, Australia, Thailand and New Zealand, where I taught English as a Second Language. In 2000 I returned to the Aberdeen area to live and decided to return to university to do a degree in Scottish Cultural Studies. At the same time I started up my own business, Compass Educational Services Ltd., a small consultancy offering inter-cultural training. I worked and studied concurrently and graduated in 2009 with a 1st class honours degree in Scottish Cultural Studies. After having a well deserved rest for a year, I joined the Elhpinstone Institute's MLitt programme and I am now writing up my Phd.

 A considerable part of my degree was in Scottish Archaeology and when I'm not thinking about my PhD topic, Pre-wedding Rituals for Women in the North of Scotland, I am usually to be found down a trench.

 

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Research Interests

Oral History; Hen Parties; Blackenings; Place Names.; Inter-Cultural Communication       

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Current Research

I am currently researching pre-wedding rituals for women in Northern Scotland. Pre-wedding rituals are surely some of the most distinctive features of Scottish cycle of life traditions, so my PhD research will examine the form, meaning and function of these customs as they are practised today, their local and regional variations, as well as how they have evolved and how they are communicated and perpetuated. Much of my research will focus on the contemporary hen party and I will examine why it has enjoyed such a metoric rise in popularity over the past 30 years. With the recent development of commercialised, ‘package’ hen nights, there is a pressing need to document the vernacular traditions involved, aswell as to examine other pre-wedding rituals, such as the blackening/feet washing and the show of presents to see the impact the hen party has had on these older traditions.

The hen party gives women the opportunity to engage in collective activities which license otherwise taboo behaviour. What impact does this have on group and individual identity, on attitudes towards the marriage and on society’s attitudes towards women? I hope that my work will go some way towards answering these questions and help us gain a better understanding of the social function of the traditions we see around us. Through my research I hope to learn what pre-wedding rituals have to tell us about women as they approach marriage in the twenty-first century.

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Conference Papers

Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland. 15-18 April, 2011. University of Kent, Canterbury.

‘The Eternal Ascent: An exploratory treatise of mountain route names’

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Publications

‘Oil and Gas Field Names in the Central and Northern Sectors of the North Sea: their provenance, cultural influence, longevity and onshore migration’, Nomina, vol. 32 (2009), 75-112.

 

‘Lochnagar Route Names’,  Scottish Mountaineering Club Journal, No. 201 (2010), 76-85.

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Prizes

2008 Essay Prize. Society for Name Studies in Britain and Ireland.

‘Oil and Gas Field Names in the Central and Northern Sectors of the North Sea: their provenance, cultural influence, longevity and onshore migration’.

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