Completed Theses/Dissertations

PhD Theses MLitt Res Dissertations MLitt Dissertations

Most of these dissertations are available to read at the Elphinstone Institute's Buchan Library. Many of the PhD theses can be read online via the University Library.

Selected PhD Theses

Dr Kristin Jonzon (2023) - Tuning the Human Voice: A New Model of Tonality Based on the Voices of Northern Singers, Past and Present
Dr Athanasios Barmpalexis (2020) - 'People, Land, Spirit': Contemporary Shamanism, Vernacular Healing, and the Realm of the Supernatural in North-East Scotland
Dr Erika Sidorenko (2019) - An Ethnographic Enquiry into the Use of Medicinal Wild Plants by the Gaelic-Speaking Native People of the Hebridean Isles
Dr Sheila Young (2017) - The Hen Party: A Study of the Form, Meaning, and Function of a Prenuptial Ritual for Women
Dr Pat Ballantyne (2016) - Regulation and Reaction: The Development of Scottish Traditional Dance with Particular Reference to Aberdeenshire, from 1805 to the Present Day
Dr Jennifer Lynn Fagen (2013) - 'The Fowk an the Lan, the Lan an the Fowk': Community Identity and the Landscape Heritage of Bennachie
Dr Irene Watt (2012) - An Ethnological Study of the Text, Performance, and Function of Lullabies
Dr Fiona-Jane Brown (2010) - Faith, Fear, and Folk Narrative: Belief and Identity in Scottish Fishing Communities
Dr Adam Grydehøj (2009) - Historiography of Picts, Vikings, Scots, and Fairies and Its Influence on Shetland's Twenty-First Century Economic Development
Dr Frances Wilkins (2009) - Old Ship of Zion: Singing in Evangelicalism in North-East and Northern Isles Scottish Coastal Communities 1859–2009
Dr Mary Anne Alburger (2001) - Making the Fiddle Sing: Captain Simon Fraser of Knockie and His Airs and Melodies

Selected MLitt Res Dissertations

Richard Bennett (2013) - Aspects of the Culture of the Whisky Industry in the North-East of Scotland: A Study of Cultural Change in Speyside Distillery Communities in the Post-War Period, 1946 to the Present Day
Janet M. Byth (2013) - Fintry, a Rural Aberdeenshire School: 180 Years in Its Community

Selected MLitt Dissertations

David Fayle (2023) - Metamorphic Narratives within the North-East of Scotland
Forbes Inglis (2023) - Corn Cultivation: Traditions, Rituals, and Beliefs in North-East Scotland, Then and Now
Kayleigh Mair (2023) - What Makes a Witch a Witch or a Pagan a Pagan? A Modern Day Take on Witchcraft and Paganism
Andrada Maries (2023) - 'A Stone on the Cairn': Memorialising the People Accused of Witchcraft in Scotland
Mary Stratman (2023) - 'She Was Really with Women That Day': The Importance of Relational Continuity as Women Travel through the Liminal Maternity Journey
Kate Cowe (2023) - St Combs: Stories of Continuity and Change
Simon Gall (2023) - 'The Telly that We Watch Seems to Be All-Pervasive': A Study of Media Referenced Family Folklore in the North-East of Scotland
Raonaid Mackrory (2023) - The Shifting Narratives of Leith Hall Guided Tours: Incorporating Dissonant History including National Trust for Scotland Facing Our Past Research
Sydney Hubbel (2022) - Stories on Skin: Tattoos as a Method of Storytelling
Brenna Quinton (2022) - Blended Beliefs: The Vernacular Religions of Divination Practitioners in Scotland with Backgrounds in Christianity
Michelle Soto (2022) - Seeking Claire-ity: An Ethnographic Study of Claire Brown's Connection to Her Traditional Beliefs throughout Her Life
Megan Vanderhoef (2022) - The Search for the Unknown
James Brown (2022) - The Wright Way: A Study of a Fairground Family in the North-East of Scotland
Sue Rhodes (2022) - The Red Telephone Box: Creative Communication
Elisabeth Flett (2021) - Bogha-Frois: Queer Voices in Folk – An Ethnographic Study of Scotland’s First Queer Folk Collective
Janet Tavendale (2021) - Twists and Turns of New Pitsligo Lacemaking: Yesterday and Tomorrow, Connected by Today
Iain Fraser (2020) - Fiddlers and their Fiddle Stories
Wenqiu Chen (2019) - ‘Come Aa Ye’: The Participation and Community Feel of the Aberdeen Folk Club
David Francis (2019) - The Dance Caller in Scotland: Practice, Role, and Function
Anne L. Greig (2019) - Mill of Tifty’s Annie: Gone but Not Forgotten?
Rebecca Palomino (2019) - Summitting Ben Macdui: Stories of the Big Grey Man and Other Anomalous Mountaineering Experiences
Mara Shea (2019) - The Fiddler’s Fingerprints: A Tune Book from 1850 Aberdeenshire
Eleanor Telfer (2019) - ‘Music Don’t kill’: Music in Contemporary Funerary Practices
Anna Joy Thigpen Hunt (2019) - Lily Grenall's Stories upon Stories
Emma Barclay (2018) - North Sea Quines: Personal Experience Narratives of Female Offshore Employees in the North Sea
Lauren Hossack (2018) - Over and About: Walking and Talking about Place through Aberdeen Walking Tours
Eilidh Whiteford (2018) - Young Quines and Auld Songs: A Study of Women Traditional Singers
Elizabeth Kent (2017) - Witchcraft in Contemporary Media: The North-East Perspective
Vera Nikitina (2017) - Cultural Differences in Everyday Clothing: Outsiders' View
Ryo Yamasaki (2017) - Stanley Robertson as a Writer: An Examination of his Writing Styles and Literary Works
Ali Anwar III (2016) - Scottish Folklore and the Digital Humanities: Bringing the Two Together
Maia Daniel (2016) - Storytelling in the Twenty-First Century: The Contemporary Application of Stories
Casey Rennie (2016) - Aberdeen Football Club: Standing Free in North-East Scotland
Tallen Sloane (2016) - Miriam’s Daughters: Narratives Celebrating Vernacular Jewish Religion, Culture, and Ethnicity throughout the North-East of Scotland
Ian Kinnear (2015) - The Curry Ceilidh: A Window on the Indian Community in the Highlands of Scotland
Heather Lodge (2015) - It Makes a Village: A Look into the the Place and Purpose of the Kincardine O'Neil Primary School within Its Community
Catriona Moore (2015) - Boundless Hospitality: A Study of Nigerian Foodways in Aberdeen
Athanasios Barmpalexis (2014) - Pagan Paths: Druidry and Shamanism in Modern Scotland
Jessica Doble (2014) - The Legacy of Stanley Robertson in North-East of Scotland Storytelling
Thitiphat Jaroonchaikuljaroen (2014) - Jack and His Storytellers: An Analaysis of the Jack Tales, their Defining Elements and the Thematic Sanitisation that Has Shaped Them
Christine Kydd (2014) - The Boys' Ploughing Match and Festival of the Horse: An Ethnographical Study of Form, Meaning and Function
Catherine Somerville (2014) - Donald MacDonald, Founder of the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games: His Life and Interpretation of Scottish-American Identity
Natalie Brown (2013) - Traditional Music Education Today: A Research Project in North-East Scotland
Elizabeth Campbell (2013) - The Agricultural Mart: Its Place in Rural Culture Today?
Carley Jean Tierney (2013) - Knitters' Use of Internet and Face-to-Face Resources
James Johnson (2013) - Stanley Robertson: A Case Study of a Traveller's Supernatural Abilities and Experiences
Hazel MacFarlane (2013) - A Sense of Community: Staying Connected in Retirement
Wibke Reimer (2013) - Experiencing the Extraordinary: Encounters with the Supernatural Collected in and around Aberdeen
Lorna Summers (2012) - Salmon Fishing at Porsoy: An Ethnographic Study of the Salmon Net Fishers of That Town
Nicolas Le Bigre (2011) - Polish Immigrant Narratives of the North-East of Scotland
Carley Williams (2011) - Scottish Traditional Arts and the Cultural Commission: An Examination of the Role of Traditional Arts in Scotland's Cultural Strategies from 1999–2011
Bee Kerr (2010) - Ho! Ho! Lonach: A Study of the Lonach Highland Friendly Society
Callan Anne Stout (2009) - Stories for Performance: An Inquiry into the Storytellers in the North-East of Scotland and How They Negotiate the Acquisition, Transmission, and Performance of Oral Narratives under the Pressures of Imposed Value Systems and Personal Aesthetics
Dan Melnick (2008) - Scotch Whisky: Mythos and Phenomena
J. T. Winogrond (2008) - The Disappearance of Rural Family Landscape: Reminiscence of Commonty in Northern Scotland
Norman MacKenzie (2007) - Madame Isabel Murray, 1883–1972: 'She Taught Aberdeen Generations to Dance'
George Leslie Donaldson (2007) - A Study of National Service Conscription (1947–1963) Relating to the Experiences and Reflections of Participants from Scottish Communities
Iain Stewart (2006) - 'Nae Dainty Steps': A Folklorist's Ethnological Observations on 'Strip The Willow' in Scotland
Jen-Hao Cheng (2005) - Sacred Singing: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Gaelic Psalm Singing in Lewis and the Unaccompanied Sacred Songs of the Formosan Aboriginal Bunnun Tribe
Sara Reith (2005) - Alex Green, North-East Whistle Player: His Music and Identity
Shirley Ann Watson (2005) - The Evolution of Culloden Battlefield to Heritage Icon and the Changing Attitudes Towards It
Hilary Carby-Hall (2005) - An Exploration of the State of Children's Play on the Glenlivet Estate, Banffshire, at the Beginning of the Twenty-First Century