Dr Andrew Jennings
Dr Jennings has a particular research interest in the Early Medieval History of the Scottish Islands, with an emphasis on place-names and the Vikings. He wrote his PhD on 'Gael and Norse in Western Scotland c.795 to c.1000'. His other research interests include Island Studies, with a particular focus on the islands of the North Atlantic and the Baltic, the history of the North Atlantic between the years 500-1200, Norse Mythology, Folklore of the Northern Isles, Gaelic Culture, and the history of Shetland. Dr Jennings is an MLitt programme leader and teaches the following modules at the MLitt level:
- Scotland’s Customs: Traditional Beliefs and Folklore
- From Atlantic to Utopia: The Nature of 'Islandness'
- Governance in Small Islands
- Selling Cold Islands
- A Tour of the Highlands
- Modern History of Orkney and Shetland
- Medieval History of Orkney and Shetland
He has successfully supervised PhD students to completion, and currently is supervising two PhD projects entitled 'Information and Communication Technology’s Role in the Governance of Sub-National Island Jurisdictions (SNIJs) – Successes, Failures and Lessons for Scotland’s Island Councils' and ‘Filthy houses, bad food and wretchedness:” What factors affected wellbeing, health and care in Shetland prior to the establishment of the National Health Service?'
He is keen to supervise PhD projects on the following topics:
- Vikings in Scotland
- The history and culture of the Northern Isles
- Island Studies
- Onomastics
Dr Andrew Jennings has published extensively on the Vikings, Shetland History and Folklore and Island Studies. For example:
2021 Jennings, A. 'Shetland's Norse Identity: 'Da Norn is lang gien, but hit’s left a waageng'. In K. Burnett (Ed.), 'Scotland and Islandness: Explorations in Economy and Culture' (Studies in the History and Culture of Scotland Series). Peter Lang.
2020 Jennings, A. ‘The Potential Viking Stronghold at the Kame of Isbister’. In Proceedings of the Eighteenth Viking Congress 2017 (Copenhagen)
2020 Jennings, A. ‘Folklore between the Northern and Western Isles.’ In A.MacDonald (ed.) Between Islands (An Lanntair)
2017 Jennings, A. ‘Three Scottish Coastal Names of Note: Earra-Ghàidheal, Satíriseið, and Skotlandsfirðir’. In D.Worthington The New Coastal History: Cultural and Environmental Perspectives from Scotland and Beyond (Palgrave MacMillan), 119-130
2017 Jennings, A. ‘Our Islands Our Future - Purposeful Opportunism at its Best’. In L.Brinklow, R.Gibson (eds.) From Black Horse to White Steeds, Building Community Resilience (Island Studies Press), 62-85