Student Erin from the University of Stirling writes about her experience at the crannog centre.
Hi, my name is Erin and I am a 25-year-old MSc Cultural Heritage student at the University of Stirling. I am working at the Scottish Crannog Centre for a period of 8 weeks on an equality, inclusivity, and diversity internship program through Museum Galleries Scotland! I come from the land of maple syrup and snow…Canada, and am Metis from the Algonquin and Mohawk Indigenous tribes of Ontario and Quebec. Metis means mixed blood, in this case, part Indigenous and part European. We are the only mixed Indigenous peoples in the world that are recognized as our own community.
Museums and heritage have always been a big part of my life and have been places where I feel comfortable and happy so I am very excited to be working here at the centre for my internship. I moved to Scotland 6 months before lockdown hit so haven’t had a lot of opportunities to be in this field since moving. Making this internship even more exciting…that and the fact that I get to work with some pretty darn amazing people while here. The people at the centre form an amazing community that welcomed me in with plenty of laughs and smiles. After my first day with everyone, I knew I would have a great time over the course of my internship.
I spent all last week at the Scottish Crannog Centre and had the time of my life getting to know the staff and volunteers, walking around the site, and playing with the adorable resident dogs. In the past, I have done work with Indigenous heritage and it has been super cool to see the connections and similarities that the different Indigenous cultures have in relation to Iron Age Scotland. My week was very immersive with talking about traditions and roles surrounding those that lived in the Crannogs while I toured around. I was able to share the traditions, beliefs, and general ways of life that make up my Indigenous heritage where they connected with the Iron Age. As my time here progresses, I am super excited to see where these connections take me and what I can bring to the Crannog as well as take away.
