Gypsies, travellers and place: a co-ethnography

First recorded in Scotland in 1505 and in England in 1514 as ‘Egyptians’ (Bancroft 2005), Gypsies and Travellers have lived in Britain for at least 500 years, yet are the most socially excluded community in the UK, suffering from among the worst health, lowest life expectancy and lowest educational achievement of any ethnic community (Van Cleemput et al 2007; Lloyd and McCluskey 2008; Parry et al 2007; Powell 2008; Goward et al 2006; James 2007; see also Clark and Greenfields 2006; Cemlyn et al 2009). In particular, the pervasive notion that settled lifestyles are the norm and that nomadic1 lifestyles are a threat to the norm informs much of the structural and institutional forms of discrimination experienced by Gypsy-Travellers (Kabachnik 2009; James 2007; Massey 1993). As James (2007) notes, the 20th century saw a range of policies and legislation aimed at curbing Gypsy-Traveller nomadic lifestyles and promoting settlement. There is also a relative paucity of research linked to Gypsy and Traveller communities in the UK. As Parry et al (2007) indicate, even though Gypsies and Travellers in the UK experience disproportionately high levels of discrimination, deprivation and morbidity, they appear to be invisible within mainstream studies (see also Holloway 2004). This chapter, based on co-ethnographic research carried out with Gypsy and Traveller communities in Cumbria during 2009–2010, considers issues of identity, culture and connections to place and materials. We explore self-constructed Gypsy-Traveller identities, and in particular how ‘kinship place’ – geographical places as loci for kinship activities – is important for Gypsy- Traveller identity and sense of place