Publisher's Synopsis
'I have run the gauntlet of many borders in my time, but the border I grew up with at home was far and away the most trying,' writes Seamas OCathain, Professor Emeritus at University College Dublin, & former Director of the National Folklore Collection. 'The verbal challenge "Any goods to declare?" always drew a negative response - regardless of the circumstances.' As a student and researcher, Seamas immersed himself first in the culture, language, and music of the then unchanged Donegal Gaeltacht of Na Cruacha. Later he did the same north of the Arctic Circle in Sapmi (known as Lapland), where he lived among the Sami people - a tiny population spread among four different States. A book which brings alive the huge power of language, culture, and tradition, and the artificiality of borders.
