Scots during the 18th and 19th centuries certainly did not live isolated from the outside world. Being situated next to the seat of the British Empire, thousands of Scots moved abroad to populate British colonies and many were employed in occupations in the military, imperial governance, the merchant trade or otherwise which would brought them abroad and exposed them to foreign peoples. These peripheral connections to other cultures and ethnicities helped form a Scottish narrative to Western European perceptions of the world's peoples. Indeed, the high literacy rate of Scots during these centuries would have been coupled with an interest in reading about fascinating peoples and places.

The exoticism of foreign romance and the objective observation of foreign religions and cultures are themes behind the poem "The Turkish Lady" and the biography "The History of Mahoment, the Great Imposter". "The Gipsy Lass" and "The Negro Boy" are stories evident of a Western tendancy to conceptualise another people or "race" as a non-threatening figure such as a child or beautiful young woman, who is dependent upon the wise and charismatic Westerner. "The Negro Boy", which is a remarkable Abolitionist piece, evokes compassion and empathy for the cessation of an entire cultural genocide by anthropromorphising human exploitation as an abused child, helpless to the cruel and careless decisions of the (adult) white man. 

The song "The Two Emigrants" is a celebration of the journey two Scots undertake as they settle along the banks of Lake Erie, featuring the difficulties and high-lights of their settlement and establishment of a new life in a foreign environment. 

Exhibit Creator: Nicholas Miniaci