Institute of Island Studies | Research Associates

Dr. Tiber F. M. Falzett

Lecturer/Assistant Professor in Folklore and Ethnology
School of Irish, Celtic Studies, and Folklore
University College Dublin

UCD Profile
Academia Profile

Dr. Tiber Falzett has conducted over fifteen years of fieldwork among Scottish Gaelic speakers in Cape Breton Island (Nova Scotia), Prince Edward Island, and the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. His research explores the relationship between language, music, and the construction of community through socially-rooted forms of local knowledge as expressed, transmitted, and maintained by Gaels on both sides of the Atlantic.

Dr. Falzett’s research program includes establishing fruitful cooperative relationships with individuals and organizations interested in the legacy and renewal of the Scottish Gaelic language alongside its associated intangible cultural heritage.

In 2017, Dr. Falzett was awarded the PEI Museum Heritage Award for his contributions to Gaelic culture and heritage on Prince Edward Island.

• P.E.I. Museum Heritage Awards honours Islanders from across the province (The Guardian, February 24 2017)

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

“‘Rachainn fhathast air m’eòlas” (I’d go yet by my experience): (Re)collecting Nineteenth-century Scottish Gaelic Songs and Singing from Prince Edward Island
In North American Gaels: Speech, Story, and Song in the Diaspora (pp. 339–370).
Edited by Natasha Sumner and Aidan Doyle
McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2020.
Click here for more details and to purchase

RECENT PRESENTATIONS

“Dhomh na chaithinn mo léine” (‘I would cast my shirt’): feminine power, subversion and the subaltern in Scottish Gaelic vernacular verse by women in Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island
North American Gaels: Language, Literature, Lore 2021

“’S coigrich sinn us luchd cuairt” (“We are strangers and travelers”): Scottish Gaelic Folk Hymnody and Nineteenth-Century Soundscapes in the North Carolina Gàidhealtachd
Celtic Studies Association of North America Conference 2021

“’S coigrich sinn us luchd cuairt” (“We are strangers and travelers”): Scottish Gaelic Folk Hymnody and Nineteenth-Century Soundscapes in the North Carolina Gàidhealtachd
31st Annual Charles Bascombe Shaw Memorial Scottish Heritage Symposium, 2020
Hosted by the Scottish Heritage Center, North Carolina, US

IIS ISLAND LECTURE SERIES PRESENTATIONS

2016
“Mar bhlàth an fheòir” (“like the flowering grass”): Gaelic Language and Song Composition on Prince Edward Island
This presentation focused on the oral and written interfaces in local Scottish Gaelic song composition on Prince Edward Island.

2015
Guthan an Eilein: Island Gaelic Voices
This presentation discussed how Scottish Gaelic language and culture has passed down through generations on Prince Edward Island.

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