Cape Breton Island is a place that has long been a hotspot for folklore research. As in Newfoundland, folklorists have collected hundreds of songs, fiddle tunes, and folktales on Cape Breton Island. Discovering Cape Breton Folklore is an anthology of nine separate articles by Richard MacKinnon, all of which have been previously published or presented. It serves as an effective survey of regional folklore, with chapters on topics ranging from folk song collection, to nicknames, to vernacular architecture. MacKinnon fills some significant holes in the folklore research on Cape Breton. Where folklorists have largely focused on Gaelic, fiddling, and other Scottish traditions of rural Cape Breton, this book explores an often untold side of Cape Breton—one of cultural diversity, industrial development, and labor disputes.
MacKinnon begins with a thoughtful introduction to the book, with a brief definition of folklore that draws on perspectives of folklorists like David Buchan and Michael Taft. The book is organized into three sections: traditional music, traditions and customs, and material culture. There is a dominant, underlying theme of occupational folklore that runs throughout these categories, which includes work on labor songs and company housing in mining communities. Each chapter focuses on an area that has been overlooked in the literature. Despite the popularity of Cape Breton fiddling research, MacKinnon’s chapter, “Victorian Parlour Instrument meets the Celtic Fiddle: The Dynamics of the Cape Breton Fiddle Style,” is one of the only works that focuses on the piano and its role in accompaniment. Although folklorists have collected traditional songs from all over Cape Breton, the labor songs of industrial Cape Breton were virtually ignored. Overall, the author’s approach to these topics tends to be fairly historical in nature, making excellent use of archival materials.
The postscript, “Public Image and Private Reality in Cape Breton Folk Traditions,” is a gem, and while it does make a strong end to the book, it could have also easily been placed as an introduction or opening chapter. It deals with many of the issues of representation and stereotypes that surround Cape Breton culture implied throughout the book. Industrial Cape Breton is home to the majority of the island’s population, but it is noticeably underrepresented in much folklore research. While the issue of romanticizing Cape Breton (and Nova Scotia as a whole) as a haven of Scottish culture has been addressed by historian Ian McKay (1992, 1994), MacKinnon applies Erving Goffman’s framework of front and back regions to discuss the differences between representations of Cape Breton for outsiders and for locals.
Another example of this “hidden” Cape Breton culture that MacKinnon explores is that of cockfighting—a tradition that has generally been inaccessible to outsiders due to its illegal nature. His ethnographic chapter, “Cockfighting in Cape Breton: Its Meaning and Function,” discusses cockfighting in industrial Cape Breton through a functionalist perspective. Vaguely reminiscent of Geertz’s analysis of Balinese cockfighting, MacKinnon’s chapter explains that cockfighting serves as a socialization tool, transmitting notions of masculinity, physical strength, and bravery. For miners who work in a dangerous and stressful environment, cockfighting is symbolic of their own precarious lives, as well as a way for them to relieve tensions among themselves in an occupation where trust and interpersonal support is of the utmost importance.
It is clear that architecture is one of MacKinnon’s passions; all three of his chapters on material culture focus on architecture, and all are well-written and carefully researched. The chapter entitled “Making a House a Home: Company Housing in Cape Breton” is particularly strong. It discusses family life in company houses in Sydney, and strategies used to personalize space. More specifically, MacKinnon addresses these things in the context of asserting personal identity in the face of depersonalization, uniformity, and capitalist development. This speaks to the issues surrounding the impersonal effects of globalization—although it is certainly responsible for homogeneity, it also spawns diversity. In addition, “Tompkinsville: Co-operativism in Vernacular Architecture,” discusses the co-operative movement in Reserve Mines as a counter-hegemonic reaction to the poor living conditions in company houses. MacKinnon frames these homes in industrial Cape Breton as structures that are indicative of local lifestyles and the negotiation of power structures.
One of MacKinnon’s inherent strengths is the fact that his writing is easily accessible; while this book is of value to academics, it would be equally appreciated by anyone interested in Cape Breton folklore and history. It is an effective regional study, and is particularly helpful for anyone interested in labor history, counter-hegemony, or vernacular architecture. As this book is a compilation of many different works on a relatively specific topic, it is tremendously convenient to have them all in one place. As a whole, it is a book that offers a refreshing perspective on an often-studied area of folklore scholarship.
WORKS CITED
McKay, Ian. The Quest of the Folk: Antimodernism and Cultural Selection in Twentieth-Century Nova Scotia. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1994.
McKay, Ian. “Tartanism Triumphant: The Construction of Scottishness in Nova Scotia, 1933–1954,” Acadiensis 21.2 (1992): 5–47.
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[Review length: 830 words • Review posted on June 1, 2010]