The Scottish Stereotype

The romanticisation of Scotland across South America

Much of my twenties have been spent living and working across the vast continent of South America. On numerous occasions throughout this period, I have had the privilege of being the first Scottish person that many people have come across. From Barranquilla to Buenos Aires by way of São Paulo, Sucre & Santiago amongst countless other cities, some have not even heard of Scotland. Is it a person, a place or some sort of mythical creature from a faraway land?

Growing up surrounded by Scots, I suppose I had a Scotland, or even UK, centric view of the world. Just as a young person in Japan or Algeria may have of their own country. We somewhat subconsciously believe that the universe revolves around where we are from. That each and every map has our country slap bang in the centre.

The more I travelled, the more people I met and the more conversations I enjoyed. The passing of time alongside my increasing ability to converse in other languages lent more depth and quality to these conversations. As a result, specific patterns, subtle at first, became more apparent.

These patterns often involved the topic of Scotland – a nation that seems to possess an almost mythical allure amongst the peoples of faraway lands.

Scotland, on the world stage, is a tiny and, in many ways, unimportant nation. The occasional lack of awareness of my home country emphasises the relative insignificance of little, old Scotland. Population alone is one clear illustration of this – the Brazilian metropolis of São Paulo contains more than four times the number of inhabitants than the whole of Scotland. Yes, you read that right.

Through these interactions, I could begin to decipher the type of exposure nations have had to Scotland through the mediums of education or even viewing habits of its inhabitants. To illustrate what I mean by this odd statement, I will list a few examples that are easy for me to recall.

Many middle-aged men across vast swathes of Colombia and Ecuador tend to bring up William Wallace, Robert the Bruce & Braveheart after learning of my nationality. Similarly, numerous Colombians and Brazilians have stressed their desire to visit Scotland having been immersed in the television series Outlander.

The cogs in their head spinning ferociously as they desperately search for a cultural reference to demonstrate their awareness of my heritage. This small effort to find common ground may seem unimportant but is something I always appreciate.

On the other hand, Scotland is an entirely alien concept for some. I vividly recall sitting outside a bar in Córdoba, Argentina one sunny afternoon back in 2021 with a couple of Brazilian friends. After responding multiple times to a waitress that I was from Scotland, she looked at me as if I were from a different planet. I proceeded to tell her that it is a country and explained where it is located using better known, neighbouring countries as a reference. After seeing the blank expression etched across her face I accepted the futility of my efforts.

Groundskeeper Willie from The Simpsons is also a fairly common point of reference, more so amongst younger generations. Perhaps, reaffirming the romanticised image of a Scotland replete with feral, kilted gingers running from castle to castle.

In fairness, a small part of this may not be far from the truth. According to some estimates, Scotland boasts the highest concentration of people with red-haired genetics of any country in the world.

Whilst on the topic of genetics, former Scotland national football team manager Gordon Strachan caused widespread furore for stating, correctly in my opinion, that Scotland are behind other nations in terms of physical genetics.

The majority of my friends throughout South America, who know roughly where in the world Scotland is located, tend to place it alongside Scandinavia in terms of genetics and appearance. Due solely to geographical proximity, there is a lingering assumption that we are all descendants of Vikings, sharing remarkably similar physical traits.

Standing at six feet one inch (1.86 metres), my tall frame further reaffirms this latent assumption of Scots being a very tall people like the Dutch. The reality, however, is very different.

Strachan reasoned that in the qualifying campaign for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Scotland had the second shortest squad in the whole of Europe, behind only Spain. This flies in the face of the lazy, conventional wisdom that Scottish football teams possess a physical advantage over their central and southern European counterparts.

Arguably, three of the most talented footballers that Scotland has ever produced are Archie Gemmill, Billy Bremner & Kenny Dalglish who each stand at just 1.65m, 1.65m and 1.75m tall, respectively. Compare that to the towering statures of Brian Laudrup, Peter Schmeichel and Erling Haaland across the North Sea in Scandinavia. Furthermore, at just five feet nine inches tall (1.75m), my father is, by some distance, the tallest of his entire family.

Granted, these are cherry picked examples but they do serve to illustrate the stark reality of the genetic differences between Scotland and our northern neighbours. In fact, the Scots share a substantial genetic pool with the Irish due to both historical interactions such as periods of migration as well as shared Celtic heritage.

I suppose there are a plethora of reasons that may explain why Scots tend to be relatively short, frail and more predisposed to autoimmune diseases. The latter mainly due to mutations in the MC1R gene which causes red hair and fair skin as a result of higher amounts of pheomelanin production as well as lower amounts of melanin in the body.

Throughout centuries, a difficult climate as well as rough terrain have limited our ability to produce nutrient dense foods. Moreover, an extreme lack of sunlight, few daylight hours for much of the year and long winters led to diseases related to Vitamin D deficiencies. In fact, recent reports indicate occurrence of rickets to be 700% higher in Scotland compared to England.

Scotland’s poor genetic profile can also be attributed to alcohol dependency over the course of generations as people desperately seek an escape from the harshness of the climate and the resultant monotony of their lives.

Despite being an extremely developed nation and being placed on a pedestal by many intelligent friends in Argentina, drug and alcohol deaths in Scotland continue to be amongst the highest in the whole of Europe.

These assumptions held by many people in far afield countries are, in many ways, completely logical but they are slightly wide of the mark. Interestingly, the ubiquity of these beliefs transcend both borders and social classes which is also what motivated me to challenge them. Wherever I am, I strive to communicate the reality of Scotland, both the beautiful and the ugly, not just a romanticised and, at times, false image peddled by social media, streaming giants or even cartoons.