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

Marie-Pier Chevrier (2024) - Books With Benefits: A Look at Fanfiction Bookbinding
Cho Yu Ching (2024) - ‘Swinging the Sword’: Practising Historical European Martial Arts with Elgin Broadsword Society
Elizabeth Cook (2024) - ‘Mill o’ Tifty’s Annie: A Scottish Ballad Opera
Kaitlyn Woodruff (2024) - Plants and People: Lore, Stories, and Relationships
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 Portsoy: 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
Fiona-Jane Brown (2005) - Continuity and Change: A Study of Supernatural and Spiritual Beliefs in Fishing Communities of North-East Scotland
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