Summary
CV of Alastair McIntosh
Author of Soil and Soul
26 Luss Road
Drumoyne
Glasgow G51 3YD
Scotland
Tel: +44 (0)141 445 8750
mail@AlastairMcIntosh.com
Literary Agents:
Watson, Little, Ltd, London
+44 (0)207 485 5935
For a full academic CV and publications see:
www.alastairmcintosh.com/general/my_cv.htm
Background and Education
I was born in 1955 and grew up in a Hebridean crofting community on the Isle of Lewis, attending Leurbost School in the village and then the Nicolson Institute in Stornoway, acquiring Highers in Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Geography and English. Co-curated school Natural History Museum.
Graduated 1977, University of Aberdeen, with a Degree of Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Geography, submajoring (as a Designated Degree) in Psychology and Moral Philosophy. Served as Science Faculty Convenor on the Students’ Representative Council, and many other committees.
Principal Posts
1969-1977 - Seasonal work as a ghillie (rowing boats on salmon lochs) and pony boy on the hill (deer stalking) on Soval and Eisken estates, shift work in the Alginates seaweed factory, builder’s labourer and boatman to Loch Erisort scallop divers.
1977-1980 –Deputy-Head, St Peter’s Extension School, VSO, Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea
1981-1984 - Scottish Organiser, Lepra: British Leprosy Relief Association, Edinburgh
1984-1986 - Financial Advisor, South Pacific Appropriate Technology Foundation, P. Moresby, PNG
1986-1990 - Business Advisor to the Iona Community; and, simultaneously, Co-Director, Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific
1990-1996 - Teaching Director (initiating and running the MSc degree and PhD supervision) Centre for Human Ecology, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Edinburgh
1996-2001 - Joseph Rowntree funded Fellow of the Centre for Human Ecology (Open University)
2001 - Executive Director, Centre for Human Ecology (an interim troubleshooting post)
2002-now - Freelance, Fellow of the Centre for Human Ecology (now an independent institute in accreditation partnership with the University of Strathclyde) including student thesis supervision, course teaching MSc-level module on Spiritual Activism: Leadership as Service; more generally, a campaigning academic, lecturer, speaker, writer, poet and broadcaster. In 2006 given honorary appointment as Visiting Professor of Human Ecology at the University of Strathclyde - the first such post in Scotland.
Books, Papers and Articles
Over 170 articles in journals including The Ecologist, Resurgence, Interculture (French/English), Accounting, Business & Financial History, Environmental Values, Edinburgh Review, Scottish Affairs, Cencrastus, Oceania (Sydney Uni. Dept. of Anthropology), Ecos: Brit. Assoc. Nature Conservationists, Psychoenergetic Systems, Fishing News, Fishing Monthly, Journal of Law & Religion, Ecotheology, Theology in Scotland, Bres (Holland), Encyclopaedia of Nature and Religion, Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, United Nations Proceedings, The Herald, Scotsman, Guardian, Le Monde Diplomatique – see www.AlastairMcIntosh.com/publications.htm . Books are:
-
Marketing: A Handbook for Charities, Directory of Social Change, London, 1984
-
A Basic PR Guide for Charities, Directory of Social Change, London, 1986
-
Healing Nationhood: Essays on Spirituality, Place and Community, Curlew, Kelso, 2000
-
Soil and Soul: People versus Corporate Power, Aurum Press, London, 2001 (in French translation, Feb 2004, from Editions Yves Michel as Chronique d'une alliance: peuples autochtones et société civile face à la mondialisation).
“This is a
world-changing book, one of the most important I have ever read, which will
transform our perception of ourselves, our history and our surroundings … the
work of a great thinker and a great poet” - George Monbiot, Guardian columnist
and author of Captive State.
“This has to be the book of the decade. Lyrical, passionate and poetic. McIntosh’s writing is truly compelling” – Sunday Herald; “Gripping” – The Observer; “Truly mental” – Thom Yorke, Radiohead.
Broadcasting includes:
-
Fifth Estate CBC Canadian TV documentary on American-Scottish native land rights, 1994
-
To the Best of our Knowledge 30 minute Ian Flemming interview about cultural healing on US public radio, networked to some 140 stations, 1996
-
Filthy Rich, Channel 4 TV documentary about Eigg land reform, 1996
-
The Whole Shebang (3), BBC 2 TV documentary on my work with racism and cultural healing, 2002
-
In Confidence (interview by Bishop Richard Holloway), STV, 2002
-
Voices for Peace presentation of 4-part Radio Scotland series on Sri Lanka, Northern Ireland, Israel/Palestine and South Africa (with Desmond Tutu), 2003
-
Thought for the Day – regular contributions on BBC Radio Scotland, 2005
Other Achievements and Activities
-
Founding and community-elected trustee of the Isle of Eigg Trust (for land reform), a founding trustee and treasurer of the GalGael Trust (for cultural regeneration) inGovan, Glasgow, a founding Fellow of the Centre for Human Ecology, and a Fellow of the Schumacher Society.
-
Have played a leading role in the campaign that stopped the proposed Lafarge-Redland Isle of Harris superquarry, including ongoing head-office consultations with Lafarge on corporate ethics through membership of the Lafarge Sustainability Stakeholders’ Panel.
-
Since 1998 I have annually addressed 400 senior military officers from 60 countries at the Joint Services Command and Staff College, Britain’s Defence Academy, on WMDs & nonviolence.
-
Advisor to Dmitry Lvov, head of the Department of Economics, Russian Academy of Sciences, on land reform, including seminars at the Duma, and Holy Trinity Sergyev Monastery near Moscow.
-
Special advisor on “Combating Islamophobia” to leaders in Scotland’s Moslem community.
-
Produced (with wife and colleagues) major reports on identity/belonging in Scotland - People and Parliament (1999); Embracing Multicultural Scotland (2000) and The Dream Job Report (2005).
-
As a Quaker I am a theological consultant to the World Council of Churches’ Decade for Overcoming Violence.
(Last updated: October 2005)