"Leave Our Queen Alone You Haggis Sucker": Evaluation, Affect, and the Politics of Agency in the Scottish Independence Referendum Debate

This paper examines online discourses and discussions related to the Scottish independence referendum debate as presented in comment sections of news articles on the website for The Daily Mail. While the independence referendum inspired the highest level of voter turnout in the history of the UK, it also prompted an unprecedented level of discursive engagement throughout the kingdom. The peaceful and democratic campaign for independence in Scotland, though narrowly unsuccessful in 2014, is indicative of a new type of social movement in Europe that remains hotly contested by both state actors and ordinary citizens. These movements challenge the existing borders of nation-states and the legitimacy of established governments. Independence debates –not only in Scotland, but also in Catalonia, Bavaria, and beyond– have understandably sparked heated debate in all corners of European society. Using a random sampling of comments from referendum-related Daily Mail articles published between October 2013 and July 2014 this paper discusses site commenters’ use of affective, evaluative, and metaphoric references to both convey political opinions and erase or diminish inconvenient realities. While acknowledging the importance of the media and official political voices in shaping social movements concerned with Scottish independence, this paper gives particular attention to audience reception and the variety of ways dominant narratives are decoded and used to reshape or reinforce existing frameworks of perception among ordinary people.