First of the online Scottish Heritage MLitt students Sue Bremner achieves PhD
Many congratulations to Sue Bremner on her recent PhD success. Sue’s dissertation - ‘Life and Work Through the Eyes of a Multi-Generational Scottish Family in Peru, 1864-1925’ – was examined on 27th January by Dr Elizabeth Ritchie (UHI) and Dr Laura Mair, who recommended that it be sustained subject to minor corrections.
This is the culmination of a long journey for Sue, which started when she embarked on the newly-minted Scottish Heritage Master’s Programme in September 2017. She was one of seven students who signed up to the inaugural course in that Programme and went on to take the full MLitt. Sue was then living in Australia but in April 2018 she made the long trip to Scotland to meet up with some of her fellow students who had travelled from Canada, Switzerland and England, as well as other parts of Scotland. Throughout the subsequent Covid-induced disruption the MLitt group maintained its cohesion, thanks in no small part to Sue’s enthusiasm, and in July 2022 many of them gathered for a much-delayed post-graduation celebration at The Burn.
By that time Sue, who had completed her MLitt with distinction, had decided to pursue doctoral studies, and since 2020 Marjory Harper and Patience Schell have had the huge pleasure of co-supervising her research into the neglected story of the Scottish diaspora in Peru. The project was particularly exciting because it was rooted in Sue’s extensive archive of her own forebears, the Bremners and Reids, including a collection of 1,444 letters written over a period of twelve years by George Bremner, a textile entrepreneur in Lima. Written in both Spanish and English, the correspondence tells a fascinating story of business dealings, industrial and technological topics, national and international politics, family and domestic issues, social affairs, and education.
Well done, Sue!
(Photo: left to right: Patience Schell (supervisor), Elizabeth Ritchie (external examiner), Sue Bremner, Laura Mair (internal examiner), Marjory Harper (supervisor) – and Scapa the dog!