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Central Washington University

Enlightened Agricultural Improvement in Eighteenth-Century Scotland

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

Eighteenth-century Scotland is marked by the impact of new ideas from the Scottish Enlightenment that influenced agricultural revolution. Practices that had been used for over hundreds of years with little change, went through a dramatic agricultural reimagining during this time period. Scottish Enlightenment “improvers,” like Henry Home, Lord Kames, demonstrate this push towards “progress.” In particular, Lord Kames represents a conundrum. He, like many other Scots, believed in the authenticity of Ossian’s translated poems by James Macpherson. This patriotic devotion to Scottish culture influenced the way that Kames went about “improving” his own lands and who he chose to work on them. There were parts of Scottish culture that were depicted in these poems regarding Gaelic culture that Kames wanted to preserve. Even though Kames, like many Scots of his time, wanted change, they also wanted to preserve traditional Scottish culture portrayed in Ossian’s poems.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Arts (MA)
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
History
Year dc:date.available
2019

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Widney, Amanda M.
Contributors dc:contributor
  • Jason Knirck
  • Roxanne Easley
  • Daniel Herman

Subjects

dc:subject × 7

Rights

Language dc:language
English

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Repository record dc:identifier
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/etd/1222
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:digitalcommons.cwu.edu:etd-2166

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Central Washington University
Base URL
digitalcommons.cwu.edu/do/oai/
Last updated
2026-07-24
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Widney, Amanda M.. Enlightened Agricultural Improvement in Eighteenth-Century Scotland. 2019. https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/etd/1222