This talk will address the life and work of the poet, folklorist, radical Hamish Henderson (1919-2002). In particular, it will consider the twin pillars of Henderson's cultural-political project: the 'anonymous song poetry of Scotland’ and the ‘comradely solidarity of the anti-Fascist struggle'. In the spirit of the 'On Freedom: Then and Now' project marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, Henderson's vision of freedom will be set against other, more insidious visions of freedom - croaks for doom - that emerged from the same ideological conflicts of the middle of the last century. Henderson's most celebrated song, the anthemic 'Freedom Come-All-Ye', will be placed in both this historical context, and in ours, in 2025.
Corey Gibson is lecturer in 20th-century Scottish Literature at the University of Glasgow. He was Assistant Professor of Modern English Literature at the University of Groningen between 2014 and 2018, and he has held fellowships at Buffalo, Virginia, and Berkeley. Corey has published on balladry and critical theory, folk revivalism, working-class literature, Marxist thought and Scottish culture, flyting, war poetry, anonyms, and curricula and the canon. He is currently working on representations of labour in modern Scottish fiction, 'Weird Scotland', psychoanalysis, and fairy lore.
This event is part of Our Freedom: Then and Now, which is a new programme of community-based events in arts centres and libraries across the UK to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. This special programme gives communities a unique opportunity to reflect on the end of the Second World War and to explore what freedom means for them, then and now.
