Abstract
ABSTRACT This historiographical article aims to do three things. First, to construct a working overview of historical and aligned scholarship focussed on the history of Britain’s Gypsy and Traveller populations, to give non-specialists an understanding of the key pieces of scholarship and debates within the field. Second, to argue that it is not sufficient for these histories to remain only a concern of ‘Romani’ scholars, and so exist largely separate from both mainstream histories and histories of Britain’s other minority populations. And third, to offer some thoughts on possible avenues for future research and the potential for more joined-up scholarship.
Highlights
This historiographical article aims to do three things
The demonisation of a particular section of British society has often been justified via references to Gypsies’ and Travellers’ failure to conform to particular, often highly romanticised, stereotypes centring on a narrow range of ethnic and cultural markers, with anti-Gypsy or Traveller comments commonly prefaced by statements ‘I don’t mind the real Gypsies, it’s the [pejorative anti-Gypsy slur] I don’t like’: When I was growing up, we used to have what they called a horse fair in the village
Her work has insisted that histories of Gypsies and Travellers, and of European Roma, must be understood as being intrinsi cally embedded in wider national histories, always being refracted through their particular experiences.[24]
Summary
This historiographical article aims to do three things. First, to con struct a working overview of historical and aligned scholarship focussed on the history of Britain’s Gypsy and Traveller populations, to give non-specialists an understanding of the key pieces of scho larship and debates within the field.
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