Chapter 7 Accommodating gypsy/travellers: inclusive approaches for collaborative and peer-led research with gypsy travellers

Abstract

The historical relationship between the state and Gypsy/Travellers in the UK and Europe has been a difficult one. Cultural differences, particularly in relation to nomadism and sedentarism lie at the centre of this fraught relationship (Acton, 1997; Liégeois, 2005; McVeigh, 1997; Molloy, 1998). Some commentators have gone as far as to suggest that policies directed at Gypsy/Travellers amount to a form of ‘ethnic cleansing’ (Hawes & Perez, 1996). This is not only a matter of history but refers to current legislation, policy and the experience of hostile responses from the settled community and the media (Clark & Greenfields, 2006; Richardson, 2006). Clark (2008) argues that in Britain and Ireland these tensions are shaped by ‘core dichotomies’ and in the context of social policy one such dichotomy is that between ‘care’ and ‘control’. While the current housing and planning policy agenda seeks to improve safety and security in the provision of appropriate accommodation, addressing the needs of Gypsy/Travellers, the tendency to control through monitoring and regulation is also evident (Clark & Greenfields, 2006; Richardson, 2006). It is, therefore, unsurprising that, in the midst of such enduring hostility from the state, authorities and the settled community and tensions and confusion in policy, there may be some reluctance to engage with researchers, especially but not just when they are commissioned to undertake the research on behalf of national and local government.

Citation

Lomax, D. (2008), "Chapter 7 Accommodating gypsy/travellers: inclusive approaches for collaborative and peer-led research with gypsy travellers", Maginn, P.J., Thompson, S. and Tonts, M. (Ed.) Qualitative Housing Analysis: An International Perspective (Studies in Qualitative Methodology, Vol. 10), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 161-181. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1042-3192(08)10007-6