Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T15:21:44.288Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Introduction Themed Section Care or Control? Gypsies, Travellers and the State

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2008

Colin Clark
Colin Clark*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography and Sociology, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The history of the state, in relation to its ‘dealings’ with Gypsies and Travellers in Britain and Ireland, has not been one worthy of endorsement, praise or special prizes (Hawes and Perez, 1986; Mayall, 1995). Since the emergence of written records detailing the presence of such groups on these Islands (around the fifteenth Century, according to Fraser, 1995: 111–120) a familiar series of tensions has tended to take shape, tensions that are explored by the articles within this themed section and that we might today discuss in terms of core dichotomies, such as ‘integration and assimilation’, ‘inclusion and exclusion’ and, with a social policy focus, ‘care and control’. Indeed, where objective academic analysis has been conducted of the state's enactment of social policy measures in relation to both nomadic and sedentary communities of Gypsies and Travellers a brightly coloured picture reveals itself, illustrating, on the one hand, a desire to ‘help’ (care) for their well-being, safety and security (Parry et al., 2004; Cemlyn, 2006; Mason et al., 2006) whilst, on the other hand, there is also a strong tendency to monitor, classify and regulate (control) their movement, accommodation, work practices and cultural identity (Clark and Greenfields, 2006; Richardson, 2006; James, 2007, forthcoming). No matter what specific area of interest the researcher might have, whether it is accommodation, education or health, the states’ activities regarding the care and control of its Gypsy and Traveller citizens often appears to be confused, shifting between the punitive and restrictive as well as being ill-informed and lacking any kind of joined-up coherent strategy. As we will see, through the articles within this themed section, the tensions between the state and Gypsies and Travellers show little signs of being resolved, although in the last few years there have been (policy) signs and (practice) signals that all parties recognise the fact that current entrenched positions are damaging and unsustainable.

Type
Themed Section Care or Control? Gypsies, Travellers and the State
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , January 2008 , pp. 65 - 71
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acton, T. 1974, Gypsy Politics and Social Change: the Development of Ethnic Ideology and Pressure Politics among British Gypsies from Victorian Reformism to Romani Nationalism, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Bhopal, K. and Myers, M. (forthcoming, 2007, Insiders, Outsiders and Others: Gypsies and Identity, Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press.Google Scholar
Bruen, L. 2007, ‘Outrage over Traveller sites’, The Bourne Local, June 29.Google Scholar
Cemlyn, S. 2006, ‘Human rights and gypsies and travellers: an exploration of the application of a human rights perspective to social work with a minority community in Britain’, British Journal of Social Work, Advance Access published on November 14, 2006 (doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcl349).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, C. 1999, ‘“Race”, ethnicity and social security: the experience of Gypsies and Travellers in Britain’, Journal of Social Security Law, 6, 4, 186–202.Google Scholar
Clark, C. and Greenfields, M. 2006, Here to Stay: The Gypsies and Travellers of Britain, Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press.Google Scholar
Crawley, H. 2004a, Moving Forward: The Provision of Accommodation for Travellers and Gypsies, London: Institute for Public Policy Research.Google Scholar
Crawley, H. 2004b, ‘Britain as the Deep South’, The Guardian, 20 January.Google Scholar
Department of Education and Science (DES) 1967, Children and their Primary Schools:The Plowden Report, Central Advisory Council for Education (England), London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Fraser, A. 1995,The Gypsies, 2nd edition, Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Greenfields, M, and Home, R. 2006, ‘Assessing Gypsies’ and Travellers’ needs: partnership working and “The Cambridge Project”’, Romani Studies,16, 2, 105–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawes, D. and Perez, B. 1986, The Gypsy and the State: The Ethnic Cleansing of British Society, 2nd edition, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Howard, M. 2005, ‘Fair play on planning’, speech at Conservative Campaign Headquarters, London, 22 March.Google Scholar
James, Z. (forthcoming, 2007, ‘Policing marginal spaces: controlling Gypsies and Travellers’, Criminology and Criminal Justice, 7, 4, 367–389.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, Z. and Richardson, J. 2006, ‘Controlling accommodation: policing Gypsies and Travellers’, in Dearling, A., Newburn, T. and Somerville, P. (eds), Supporting Safer Communities: Housing, Crime and Neighbourhoods, Coventry: Chartered Institute of Housing (Policy and Practice Series).Google Scholar
Liégeois, J.-P. 1988, School Provision for Ethnic Minorities: The Gypsy Paradigm (The Interface Collection), Vol. XI, Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press.Google Scholar
McKee, M. 1997, ‘The health of Gypsies’, British Medical Journal, 315, 1172–1173 (8 November).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McVeigh, R. 1997, ‘Theorising sedentarism: the roots of anti-nomadism’, in Acton, T. (ed.), Gypsy Politics and Traveller Identity, Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press.Google Scholar
Mahadevan, J. 2007, ‘Traveller site worries voiced at meeting’, This Is Hertfordshire, 12 July.Google Scholar
Mason, P., Plumridge, G., Barnes, M., Beirens, H. and Broughton, K. 2006, Preventative Services for Gypsy/Traveller Children: A Final Report of the National Evaluation of the Children's Fund (research report no. 781), London: DfES; Birmingham: The University of Birmingham.Google Scholar
Mayall, D. 1995, English Gypsies and State Policies (The Interface Collection), Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press.Google Scholar
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (now Communities and Local Government) 2006a, Planning for Gypsy and Traveller Caravan Sites, Circular 1/06 (ODPM), London: ODPM.Google Scholar
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (now Communities and Local Government) 2006b, Guide to Effective Use of Enforcement Powers – Part 1, Unauthorised Encampments, London: ODPM.Google Scholar
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (now Communities and Local Government) (2006c), Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessments – Draft Practice Guidelines, London: ODPM.Google Scholar
Pahl, J. and Vaile, M. 1988, ‘Health and health care among Travellers’, Journal of Social Policy, 17, 2, 195–213.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parry, G., Van Cleemput, P., Peters, J., Moore, J., Walters, S., Thomas, K. and Cooper, C. 2004, ‘The health status of Gypsies and Travellers in England’, report of Department of Health, Inequalities in Health Research Initiative (project 121/7500), The University of Sheffield, Sheffield.Google Scholar
Reynolds, M., McCartan, D. and Knipe, D. 2003, ‘Traveller culture and lifestyle as factors influencing children's integration into mainstream secondary schools in West Belfast’, British Journal of Inclusive Education, 7, 4, 403–414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, J. 2006, ‘Talking about Gypsies: The Notion of Discourse as Control’, Housing Studies, 21,1, 77–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Townsend, M. 2003, ‘A burning issue in the village’, The Observer, 16 November.Google Scholar
Turner, R. 2002, ‘Gypsies and British parliamentary language’, Romani Studies, 12, 1, 1–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodward, W. 2006, ‘Cameron promises UK Bill of Rights to Replace Human Rights Act’, The Guardian, 26 June.Google Scholar