The St. Magnus Street Tapes
A reflection of 40 years of intermittent ethnographic research on the Shetland Islands. This is an experiment in intimate ethnography. Each episode of the "A-sides" follows a single theme. The same theme is explored on the "B-sides" but through contemporary fiction based on a tale found in Lawrence Tulloch's Shetland Folk Tales.
The St. Magnus Street Tapes
Episode 2 - A-Side: Disguise
What debts are owed and to whom? This episode is a rumination on Erving Goffman's debt to James Johnson of Unst who was famous for his character, “Rasmie o Brettafield.”
The Saint Magnus Street Tapes are a Confabulated Communities Production. Produced, written, and narrated by Jonathan Church. Special thanks to the Pixabay community, for musical interludes. Comments by Mary Sutherland and Goffman’s letter to James Johnson are extracted from texts by Yves Winkins, from his introduction to Goffman’s Dissertation Thesis that is open access, entitled “Communication Conduct in an Island Community” and his article “Baltasound as the Symbolic Capital of Social Interaction. Both the comments and letters were read by voiceover from Speechelo Blaster.
Special thanks to Angus Johnson and Brian Smith of the Shetland Archives, and the family of Andrew Irvine who permitted the edited extract of his oral history interview by Robert Johnson to be reproduced.
This series has been made possible by the generous support of Arcadia University, especially FRANK AND EVELYN STEINBRUCKER
The Saint Magnus Street Tapes are a Confabulated Communities Production. Produced, written, and narrated by Jonathan Church.
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