Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people (UK)

Last updated

Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (abbreviated to GRT) is an umbrella term used in the United Kingdom to represent several diverse ethnic groups which have a shared history of nomadism. The groups include Gypsies, defined as communities of travelling people who share a Romani heritage, resident in Britain since the 16th century; Ethnic Travellers, the traditional travelling people of Ireland and Scotland; and Roma, who are defined as recent Romani migrants from Eastern Europe. Although these groups' traditional lifestyles involved travel, most GRT people now live in houses or permanent caravan berths.

Contents

The term GRT is used officially by the British Government and Travellers' Rights organisations, as well as by universities, academics and local authorities. GRT people are protected under the UK's equality of opportunity legislation, however they face frequent discrimination and racism in their dealings with state bodies and the non-GRT community.

GRT people, as a group, are at risk of social exclusion and suffer from disadvantages in education, housing and health.

GRT Groups in Britain

The groups referred to under the umbrella term "GRT" are diverse, but share certain common historical and social traits. [1] [2] [3] [4] The principal commonality is their history of nomadism; recent or still practiced in the case of Travellers and Gypsies, but more distant in the case of Roma. [1] [2] [3] The groups also all share consciousness of themselves as discrete ethnicities, both from settled or "gorja" society and, in varying degrees, from each other. [1] [5]

Various cultural factors unite GRT communities, despite their differences. [1] [2] Family bonds and kinship networks are very important to GRT groups, with a strong emphasis on rights of passage such as weddings, anniversaries, births and funerals that offer an opportunity to unite the family. [1] [2] These celebrations have a strong ritual and ceremonial component. All British GRT groups have a strong preference for early marriage and make tidiness and cleanliness a strong cultural value. [1] There is also a tendency across all groups to prefer self-employment, while adapting their specific economic activity to the changing wider societal context. [1] [2]

Non-ethnic occupational traveller communities, such as Show People and Bargees are not usually included as part of the term GRT, despite sharing many aspects of the traditional lifestyle of GRT groups. [6] [4] They are sometimes included in a broader category of Gypsy, Roma, Traveller, Show People and Bargees (GRTSB). [6] [4]

Gypsies

The term Gypsies in GRT refers [1] to established groups in Britain of Romani heritage. [7] [5] [3] They traditionally speak languages descended from Romani. [1] [7] They share a common ancestry in populations which emigrated from India during the first millennium, arriving in England, Scotland and Wales in the early 16th century. [7]

Use of "Gypsy" in the UK

The term Gypsy, which originates in the word "Egypt", mistakenly believed to be the original homeland of the Gypsies, has been controversial. [7] Some Romani activists reject the term, but it is embraced by others. [7] Most British Gypsies are happy to use the term, [8] [1] [9] [5] [10] and reject the name "Roma". [1] [5] [7] [11]

The British Government, [3] academics [4] [5] and pro-GRT advocacy groups, [8] [1] the NHS [12] and local authorities [13] all use the term to describe Romani populations which are native to the United Kingdom. The Traveller Movement, Friends, Families and Travellers and Equity's Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Network use "Gypsy" without qualification, [8] [1] [14] whereas the Women and Equalities Select Committee of the British Parliament states in its report on the GRT community:

We asked many members of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities how they preferred to describe themselves. While some find the term "Gypsy" to be offensive, many stakeholders and witnesses were proud to associate themselves with this term and so we have decided that it is right and proper to use it, where appropriate, throughout the report. [3]

Eastern European Roma living in the UK and North America reject the English term "Gypsy" as they associate it with terms in the languages of their countries of origin which are considered racial slurs. [5] [10] [11] Similarly, Irish Travellers in Britain frequently object to the use of the term to describe them. [10]

English and Welsh Romanies

English and Welsh Romanies or Romany Gypsies (also referred to as Romani, Romanichal or Welsh Kale) first arrived in Britain in the 16th century, therefore their presence predates the establishment of the United Kingdom. [7] Their traditional language was Kale Romani, a form of which survived in Wales into the 20th century. [15] This Welsh inflected form of Romani retained much more grammatical complexity than the varieties spoken in England. [15] However, all Welsh and English Romany Gypsies are now English-speaking, employing Angloromani as a cultural language. [15]

English and Welsh Romanies are traditionally nomadic, however a majority of modern Romany Gypsies in modern Britain live in houses or permanent camp sites. [5]

Scottish Border Travellers

Scottish border travellers are a subset of northern English Romany Gypsies who have settled in Scotland, or, if nomadic, who spend part of their time there. [16] [17] They are speakers of northern English Angloromani and sometimes have membership of English traveller associations. [17] Their local name is "Border Gypsies". [16]

Roma

In terms of GRT, Roma people are defined as recent migrants to Britain of Romani cultural background from Eastern Europe. [1] [3] [8] [13] The Roma of Eastern Europe originated in India, arriving in Europe around the 12th century, after passing through the Byzantine Empire. [7] While Roma migrants from Europe arrived in the UK in small numbers during the 19th and 20th centuries, [5] the level of immigration increased following the fall of the Berlin Wall, especially with the gradual accession of Eastern European countries to the EU and EU freedom of movement. [18]

Roma from different countries often have large cultural differences between them, and even groups from the same country may not identify as belonging to the same ethnicicity. [18] [5] Most Roma in Britain speak the national languages of their country of origin, with some speaking a dialect of Romani additionally. [3] [1]

Roma people suffer discrimination and social exclusion in their countries of origin, and were the victims of genocide during the Second World War. [19] They were often forcibly settled by Communist authorities and were invariably the first workers to be sacked from state industries during the transition to capitalism. [20] There has been a notable increase in anti-Roma sentiment in the post-Communist era, with the economic and social positions of Roma becoming more marginal throughout Eastern Europe. [20] These factors have spurred migration to the UK. [20]

Roma living in Britain do not practice nomadism. [1] [5]

Travellers

The term "travellers" has been used imprecisely to cover all populations with an itinerant lifestyle. [1] [9] However, when used as part of the term Gypsy, Roma and Traveller, it designates ethnic Travellers, groups which have an understanding of themselves as a separate population from mainstream society. [8] [1] [3] Despite the name, a majority of ethnic travellers are actually house or fixed caravan dwellers. [5] [1]

Irish Travellers

Irish Travellers (also known as Pavees or Mincéirs) are a traditionally nomadic ethno-cultural group originating in Ireland. [1] [21] They speak English and De Gammon, also known as Shelta, a mixed language with its origins in Irish and English. [1] They largely practice the Roman Catholic religion and have a preference for self-employment. [1] Although there are similarities between their traditional lifestyles, Irish Travellers are not of Romani descent and have no genetic relationship to Romany Gypsies. [22] The two groups only occasionally intermarry. [17] [5]

Irish Travellers have been officially recognised as an ethnic minority in Northern Ireland since 1997 and Ireland since 2017. [23] However they still suffer from discrimination and social exclusion on both sides of the border. [24]

Scottish Gypsies/Travellers

Scottish Gypsies/Travellers (or Nachins/Nawkins) are a traditionally nomadic ethnic group which emerged from intermarriage of the indigenous Scottish population with Romani nomads. [9] In this respect they are similar to para-Romani groups such as the Spanish Quinquis and the Swedish Tattere. [9] They are first recorded in the 19th century but probably originated earlier than this. [9] Their traditional language is Scottish Cant. [9] The Scottish Gypsy Traveller Association exists as an advocacy group for the community. [25] In the past the group were known as "tinkers", but in recent years that name has become pejorative. [9]

Non-ethnic Travellers

Non-ethnic Travellers are people who have a lifestyle which involves a peripatetic residence for part or all of the year. [3] [1] [8] The term covers occupational travellers who travel for work, such as show people and bargees; and "lifestyle travellers", such as New Age travellers. [1] [8] Although show people in particular are often of Romany descent, these groups do not enjoy legal protection as ethnic minorities in the UK and are only rarely considered as members of the GRT community. [1] [6] Non-ethnic Travellers suffer similar social disadvantage to ethnic Traveller groups, but are often overlooked in policy-making, due to the absence of official monitoring categories applicable to them. [6] For this reason, some scholars and organisations use the more inclusive term GRTSB (Gypsy, Roma, Traveller, Show People and Bargee). [6] [4]

Demographics

It is difficult to arrive at an accurate number of GRT people in the United Kingdom due to problems with surveying methods, reluctance of GRT people to self-report as Gypsy, Roma or Traveller, and the essential ambiguity around how and when GRT individuals might choose to identify themselves as such. [5] [1]

In the 2011 census, 57,680 people identified themselves as members of categories which the government interpreted as belonging under the umbrella of GRT. [13] [5] However, the British government website notes that much higher estimates, from 150,000 to 500,000 people exist. [13]

Brown, Scullion and Martin, writing in 2013, based on interviews with local authority officers, put the number of GRT people in the country at between 400,000 and 500,000. [26] They estimated 200,000-300,000 of these to be indigenous Gypsies and Travellers, with a further 200,000 migrant Roma, principally from the EU. [26]

Acton et al, writing in 2014, argued that definitive numbers for the GRT community were impossible to establish. [5] They showed that Roma significantly under reported their Roma ethnicity in their countries of origin, and that this was likely to also be the case in the UK. [5] They also stated that the presence of the term "gypsy" on the form was likely to reduce self-identification due to its negative connotations in their home countries. [5] They further suggested that GRT identity was not binary, and that GRT people, like other groups, would not necessarily consistently identify as belonging to the group. [5]

In view of these factors they gave estimates of 240,000 people who normally identify as GRT in the UK, 350,000 who sometimes identify as GRT and 750,000 who ever do so. They estimated the indigenous Gypsy and Traveller population at 240,000-250,000, with 60,000 of these living in caravans. [5]

In 2022, the Traveller Movement reported that the 2021 census showed an increase in the number of GRT people in the country to 168,749. [27] The association viewed this as largely a result of the inclusion of a separate "Roma" category in the survey, which 100,981 people selected. [27] They also noted a 17.5% increase in the number of people identifying as Gypsies or Travellers, but stated that they believed this was still a significant under-counting across all GRT groups. [27]

Discrimination

Gypsies and Irish Travellers are recognised as ethnic groups and legally protected against discrimination in the Equality Act 2010. [3] [28] Roma are not explicitly named in the act, but they are protected against discrimination on the basis of nationality and ethnicity. [3] Despite this, discrimination against GRT communities is commonplace in the United Kingdom. [3] [28]

Anti-GRT attitudes and hate crime

Prejudice against Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people is common in the UK, and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people report that they are victims of high levels of hate crime. [29]

A 2018 Equality and Human Rights Commission report found that 44% of British people expressed openly negative opinions about GRT people, this was the highest level of prejudice against any British ethnic group by a margin of 22%. [30] A 2022 YouGov poll found that 45% of people would be uncomfortable living next door to a Gypsy or Traveller, 38% would be uncomfortable with their child playing at GRT child's house, 33% would be uncomfortable with their child marrying a Gypsy or Traveller, and 34% would be uncomfortable with a Gypsy or Traveller visiting or working on their house. [30] A survey of GRT people by Hertfordshire Gypsy and Traveller Exchange found that they described suffering hate speech and hate crimes on an almost daily basis. [29] 81.6% of GRT respondents felt that hate crimes were "something which members of their community experience routinely and it is therefore ‘simply something GRT folk have to put up with’". [29] A 2023 report by the Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity showed that 62% of Gypsies and travellers had experienced racially-motivated violence, the highest figure of all the groups surveyed. [29] [31]

Notwithstanding its prevalence, anti-GRT hate crime is under-reported in official statistics. [29] This is in part due to reluctance on the part of GRT people to report it to the police, but failure to appropriately classify anti-GRT hate crimes within the legal system is also an issue. [29] [30] Many police forces do not record the ethnicity of victims according to 2021 census categories, making collection of statistics difficult. [29] [30] Pro-GRT advocacy group, Friends, Families and Travellers, highlights problems with the consistency and appropriateness of police and Crown Prosecution Service's efforts in identifying and prosecuting hate crime against GRT people. [30] A specific example of discrimination in the Criminal Justice system given by the group was the 2003 killing of Johnny Delaney, an Irish Traveller boy who was kicked to death by non-Travellers. [30] Despite witnesses describing the killers shouting racial slurs, and the police recording the incident as a hate crime, the judge ruled the incident not to be racially motivated, convicted the killers of manslaughter rather than murder, and sent them to prison for only 4.5 years. [30]

Portrayals of GRT Communities in the media

Negative portrayals of Gypsies, Roma and Travellers are common in the British press and on television and play a role in the creation of anti-GRT sentiment, and consequent discrimination, among the settled community. [29] [11] Racist discourse about Travellers, including incitement to violence and even explicit calls for genocide, frequently appear in user comments on the sites of British media organisations and social media. [32] Research has shown an increase in hate crimes against GRT people immediately following the publication of articles and transmission of programmes which feature negative depictions of them. [29] [33] [32]

In 2004, the Daily Express published a campaign against the immigration of Roma from Eastern Europe following the accession of several new member states to the European Union. [33] The campaign used terms such as "flood" and "invasion" and claimed that 1.6 million "gipsies" were ready to migrate to Britain. [33] Journalists from the paper reported that they were pressurised by senior staff to write "anti-Gypsy" articles and called for the Press Complaints Commission to take action to protect them from these demands. [34] The campaign led to the Labour government changing the law to make it more difficult for migrants to claim benefits. [34]

The Sun Newspaper ran a series of anti-Gypsy/Traveller articles in the run up to the 2005 General Election, in its Stamp on the Camps campaign. [33] The campaign was supported by Conservative leader Michael Howard, who suggested that Travellers were "hiding behind human rights legislation". [33] The Commission for Racial Equality found that this campaign was accompanied by an increase in hate crime against Gypsies and Travellers and numerous police complaints were made against the Sun on grounds of incitement to racial hatred. [33] However, the Crown Prosecution Service ruled that no direct link could be proven between the outbreak of hate crime and the paper's campaign, so no legal proceedings were initiated. [33] A complaint made to the Press Complaints Commission was rejected on the grounds that no specific individuals were mentioned in the Sun's articles, and so no breach of the PCC code had occurred. [33]

In the period leading up to the Brexit referendum of 2016, and during the period in which the UK's withdrawal deal was being negotiated, the British press continually portrayed European Roma immigrants to the UK as potential benefit fraudsters and criminals. [11] This negative stereotyping both emerged from and fed into existing negative perceptions of Gypsies and Travellers, and was intended to create support for Britain leaving the EU. [11] Particularly notable in this process were series of anti-GRT articles which appeared in The Sun, Daily Mail and Daily Express . [11] Aidan McGarry, in his book Romaphobia, argues that these depictions not only increase anti-GRT racism, but create a cycle of marginalisation in which Roma are forced into helplessness and impoverishment, confirming prejudices against them in the minds of settled people. [11] [35]

In April 2020, the Channel 4 series Dispatches broadcast an episode entitled The Truth about Traveller Crime. [36] In the programme, Conservative MP Andrew Selous compared Travellers to the Taliban. [37] The programme was described by Families, Friends and Travellers, a GRT advocacy group, as misleading and encouraging hatred against Travellers. [36] Ofcom received over 7000 complaints about the programme, which it took 503 days to investigate, before finding no breaches of its code. [36] In May 2020, Jeanette McCormick, the national police GRT lead, stated that there was no substance to the programme's central point that there is a link between higher crime and the presence of Traveller sites. [38] In the month following the programme's broadcast, there was a spike in hate crimes towards Travellers, with the number of reports to Report Racism GRT almost trebling. [29]

A 2020 study by Naomi Thompson and David Woodger analysed the articles and comments on Gypsies and Travellers in the local press. [32] They identified a cycle of discourse beginning with a press report of a new camp or incident which frames the presence of Travelling people as a problem. [32] This is followed by the voicing of negative stereotypes about Gypsies and Travellers in the comment section, which escalate into hate speech, including proposals of violence and even genocide. [32] On-line hate speech is then transferred into concrete action in the real world, as various means of harassing the Travellers are discussed and put into practice. [32] The authors also pointed out that newspaper moderators would censor swearwords in the racist posts, but allow racial slurs such as pikey to remain. [32]

Social exclusion

Education

GRT pupils underperform considerably in education, having on average the lowest attainment of any ethnic group at every stage of compulsory schooling. [39] [28] [6] In 2018, 19% of Irish Travellers, and 16% of Gypsy and Roma students, achieved 4 GCSEs at grade C or above, compared to a national average of 64%. [40] Gypsy Roma and Traveller groups also have the highest exclusion rates and lowest attendance of any ethnic group. [2] However, this data may exaggerate under-achievement, as students in need of extra support at school are more likely to have their ethnicity recorded than those who are not. [41] [2]

Underachievement continues into Higher Education, where only 660 GRT students were registered as attending university in 2020/2021. [28] [6]

Barriers to achievement in British schools

GRT children face various barriers to educational achievement in British schools. [42] [2] It is common for school and local authority bureaucracies to lack the flexibility to accommodate pupils with itinerant lifestyles, leading to a high level of absenteeism. [2] [42] [28] This is compounded by the problem of frequent evictions, which may force students to leave or miss school. [2] [42] The mediation of Traveller Education Support Services can also be a negative factor, as it can prevent direct contact between GRT parents and schools. [42]

Roma children and parents may have had negative experiences of education due to discrimination in other countries' systems, and lack the cultural knowledge and linguistic skills to negotiate the British system. [2] [42] For example, 45% of GRT children claim free school meals, although research indicates the percentage entitled to them is much higher. [2] Some GRT children also face linguistic barriers to achievement, given the range of languages and dialects spoken in their communities. [42] [2]

Prejudice against GRT people is widespread in Britain, and so discrimination is also a barrier to achievement for GRT pupils. [2] GRT pupils may face opposition to them attending schools from non-GRT parents. [2] [42] Schools sometimes avoid accepting GRT children as they lack the funding to deal with students who have English as an Additional Language or special educational needs. [2] Bullying of GRT children occurs, [28] which parents link to negative stereotypes propagated by the media, leading to negative feelings towards school among some GRT children. [2] A 2003 study showed that 80% of GRT pupils in British schools stated they had been bullied or called names. [2] These factors can contribute to difficulties in forming friendships with classmates from the settled community. [42] [28] In universities, little effort is made to cater for GRT pupils, with a study of 100 universities showing less than 30% of universities even mentioning GRT students in their Access and Participation Plans. [28]

Cultural barriers to educational achievement also exist within the GRT community. [42] [2] Parents may prefer their children to take up traditional employment, for which formal schooling may be of marginal use. [2] However, these attitudes appear to be changing, with more GRT parents recognising the value of Higher Education and IT skills. [2]

Health

GRT communities have the poorest health outcomes of any ethnic group in the United Kingdom. [2] For Gypsies and Travellers in the UK, life expectancy is approximately 11 years shorter than the national average. [19] Although no data currently exists for British Roma, it is likely that health inequalities both in the UK and their countries of origin will negatively affect life expectancy. [19] Long term sickness and disability is a significant barrier to employment for many Gypsies and Travellers, with a 2022 study by Friends, Families and Travellers showing significantly higher levels of long-term sickness, health problems and disabilities which limit daily activities than in the general population. [28] Gypsies and Travellers have much higher rates of bronchitis, asthma and angina than the general population, as well as more problems with mobility, self-care, pain, anxiety and depression. [43] GRT people also suffer from disproportionately high levels of suicide which may be linked to untreated depression. [44] Studies demonstrate that in the UK negative maternal and new-born health outcomes such as miscarriages, low birth-weight and infant mortality are more common among GRT people than the general population, and that this is also true across Europe. [45]

The reasons GRT people are prone to worse health outcomes include poorer living conditions, vulnerability to homelessness, low educational achievement, social exclusion, prejudice and discrimination and barriers to accessing healthcare. [46]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romani people</span> Ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin

The Romani, also spelled Romany or Rromani and colloquially known as the Roma, are an ethnic group of Indo-Aryan origin who traditionally lived a nomadic, itinerant lifestyle. Linguistic and genetic evidence suggests that the Romani originated in the Indian subcontinent, in particular the region of present-day Rajasthan. Their subsequent westward migration, possibly in waves, is now believed by historians to have occurred around 1000 CE. Their original name is from the Sanskrit word डोम, ḍoma and means a member of the Dom caste of travelling musicians and dancers. The Roma population moved west into the Ghaznavid Empire and later into the Byzantine Empire. The Roma are thought to have arrived in Europe around the 13th to 14th century. Although they are widely dispersed, their most concentrated populations are located in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Spain, and Turkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irish Travellers</span> Traditionally nomadic people of ethnic Irish origin

Irish Travellers, also known as Pavees or Mincéirs are a traditionally peripatetic indigenous ethno-cultural group originating in Ireland.

Pikey is an ethnic slur referring to Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people. It is used mainly in the United Kingdom and in Ireland to refer to people who belong to groups which had a traditional travelling lifestyle. Groups referred to with this term include Irish Travellers, English Gypsies, Welsh Kale, Scottish Lowland Travellers, Scottish Highland Travellers, and Funfair Travellers. These groups consider the term to be highly offensive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romanichal</span> Romani subgroup in the UK

Romanichals are a Romani subgroup within the United Kingdom and other parts of the English-speaking world. Most Romanichal speak Angloromani, a mixed language that blends Romani vocabulary with English syntax. Romanichals resident in England, Scotland, and Wales are part of the Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romani society and culture</span>

The Romani people are a distinct ethnic and cultural group of peoples living all across the globe, who share a family of languages and sometimes a traditional nomadic mode of life. Though their exact origins are unclear, central India is a notable point of origin. Their language shares a common origin with, and is similar to, modern-day Gujarati and Rajasthani, borrowing loan words from other languages as they migrated from India. In Europe, even though their culture has been victimized by other cultures, they have still found a way to maintain their heritage and society. Indian elements in Romani culture are almost non-existent, with the exception of their language. Romani culture focuses heavily on family. The Roma traditionally live according to relatively strict moral codes. The ethnic culture of the Romani people who live in central, eastern and southeastern European countries developed through a long, complex process of continuous active interaction with the culture of their surrounding European population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romani people in Bulgaria</span> Constitute Europes densest Romani minority

Romani people in Bulgaria constitute Europe's densest Roma minority. The Romani people in Bulgaria may speak Bulgarian, Turkish or Romani, depending on the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-Romani sentiment</span> Racism against Romani people

Anti-Romani sentiment is a form of bigotry which consists of hostility, prejudice, discrimination, racism and xenophobia which is specifically directed at Romani people. Non-Romani itinerant groups in Europe such as the Yenish, Irish and Highland Travellers are frequently given the name "gypsy" and as a result, they are frequently confused with the Romani people. As a result, sentiments which were originally directed at the Romani people are also directed at other traveler groups and they are frequently referred to as "antigypsy" sentiments.

The Finnish Kale are a group of the Romani people who live primarily in Finland and Sweden. Their main languages are Finnish, Swedish and Finnish Romani. Kalo/Kale is the collective name for traveler people in Finland, England and Spain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romani diaspora</span> Dispersion of the Roma people

The Romani people have several distinct populations, the largest being the Roma and the Calé, who reached Anatolia and the Balkans in the early 12th century, from a migration out of the Indian subcontinent beginning about 1st century – 2nd century AD. They settled in the areas of present-day Turkey, Greece, Serbia, Romania, Croatia, Moldova, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Hungary, Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Slovakia, by order of volume, and Spain. From the Balkans, they migrated throughout Europe and, in the nineteenth and later centuries, to the Americas. The Roma population in the United States is estimated at more than one million.

Scottish Travellers, or the people in Scotland loosely termed Romani persons or travellers, consist of a number of diverse, unrelated communities that speak a variety of different languages and dialects that pertain to distinct customs, histories, and traditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kale (Welsh Roma)</span> Group of Romani people in Wales

The Kale are a group of Romani people in Wales. Many claim to be descendants of Abram Wood, who was the first Rom to reside permanently and exclusively in Wales in the early 18th century, although Romanichal Travellers have appeared in Wales since the 16th century. Welsh Kale are almost exclusively found in Northwest Wales, specifically the Welsh-speaking areas. Romanichal Travellers inhabit South Wales and North East Wales.

The Romani people are known by a variety of names, mostly under the broad categories of gipsy, tsinganoi, Bohémiens, and Roma. Self-designation varies: In Central and Eastern Europe, Roma is common. The Romani of England call themselves Gypsies, Romanies, Romany Gypsies or Romanichal, those of Scandinavia Romanisæl. In German-speaking Europe, the self-designation is Sinti, in France Manush, while the groups of Spain, Wales, and Finland use Kalo/Kale. There are numerous subgroups and clans with their own self-designations, such as the Kalderash, Machvaya, Boyash, Lovari, Modyar, Xoraxai, and Lăutari.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Itinerant groups in Europe</span> Traditionally nomadic groups in Europe

There are a number of traditionally itinerant or travelling groups in Europe who are known as Travellers or Gypsies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Racism in the United Kingdom</span> Manifestation of xenophobia and racism in the United Kingdom

Racism has a long history in the United Kingdom and includes structural discrimination and hostile attitudes against various ethnic minorities. The extent and the targets of racism in the United Kingdom have varied over time. It has resulted in cases of discrimination, riots and racially motivated murders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romani people in Poland</span> Ethnic minority group in Poland of Indo-Aryan origins

The Romani people, also known as the Roma, qualify as an ethnic minority group in Poland of Indo-Aryan origins. The Council of Europe regards the endonym "Roma" more appropriate when referencing the people, and "Romani" when referencing cultural characteristics. The term Cyganie is considered an exonym in Poland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romani people in Australia</span>

The Romani people in Australia are citizens of Australia who are of Romani descent. They are sometimes referred to as Roma. Most Roma in Australia trace their roots to the United Kingdom and Greece, who in return trace their roots to northern India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Traveller Movement</span> British charity for the Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller community

The Traveller Movement (TM) is a charity based in the United Kingdom that supports the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) community and challenge discrimination against GRT people.

Leeds University Library's Gypsy, Traveller and Roma Collections are one of the five Designated collections held by the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. The collections contain an extensive range of international books, manuscripts and archives relating to Gypsy, Traveller and Roma culture. The majority of the materials do not originate from within these communities, instead they encapsulate external representations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romani people in the United Kingdom</span>

Romani people have been recorded in the United Kingdom since at least the early 16th century. Records of Romani people in Scotland date to the early 16th century. Romani number around est. 225,000 in the UK. This includes the sizable population of Eastern European Roma, who immigrated into the UK in the late 1990s/early 2000s, and also after EU expansion in 2004. Romani people in the UK are considered part of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) community. Romani people in the UK are predominantly Christian, with 71.8% of English and Welsh Romanies identifying as Christian in the 2021 census compared to 46.2% of the wider population.

Crystal's Vardo is an English theatre production written and directed by Suzanna King for children aged 7+, about the impact of being bullied at school on a young Gypsy girl's life. It uses dance, drama, humour and music, in a hybrid of theatre, storytelling, historical reconstruction and political education, to describe the culture and histories of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. The play "remains entertaining while also raising awareness about the racism and injustice faced by Gypsies and Travellers today."

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 "The Importance of accurate ethnic monitoring and data inclusion for GRT communities" (PDF). The Traveller Movement. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Mulcahy, Ellie; Baars, Sam; Kate, Bowen-Viner; Menzies, Loic. "The underrepresentation of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils in higher education" (PDF). Centre For Youth Education. Kings College London. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Tackling inequalities faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities". parliament.UK. House of Commons Women and Equalities Select Committee. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Taylor, Becky; Hinks, Jim (2021). "What field? Where? Bringing Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History into View". Cultural and Social History the Journal of the Social History Society. 18 (5): 629–650. doi:10.1080/14780038.2021.1960552 . Retrieved 8 January 2024. In policy, advocacy and official public circles, the phrase 'Gypsies and Travellers' has become the normal way to describe Britain's hereditary and traditionally nomadic populations, while GRT (Gypsy, Roma and Traveller) – or increasingly GRTSB (Gypsy Roma Traveller Showperson Boater) - now acts as the catch-all acronym to describe persons with either nomadic or Roma heritage...Consequently, while it is normal for historians to use 'Gypsies and Travellers' or GRT, when discussing the present day, most have settled for Gypsy as the most appropriate term in historical contexts unless they are very specifically discussing, or including, Scots and Irish Travellers.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Acton, Thomas; Acton, Jennifer; Cemlyn, Sara; Ryder, Andrew (2016). "Why we need to up our Numbers Game: A non-parametric approach to the methodology and politics of the demography of Roma, Gypsy, Traveller and other ethnic populations" (PDF). Radical Statistics (114). Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Brassington, Laura. "Gypsies, Roma and Travellers: The ethnic minorities most excluded from UK education" (PDF). hepi.ac.uk. Higher Education Policy Institute. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Cressy, David (2018). Gypsies: an English History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "How to tackle Health Inequalities in Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Communities" (PDF). Friends, Families and Travellers. Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Clark, Colin (2006). "Defining Ethnicity in a Cultural and Socio-Legal Context: The Case of Scottish Gypsy/Travellers". Scottish Affairs. 54 (first series) (1): 39–67. doi:10.3366/scot.2006.0004 . Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  10. 1 2 3 Matthews, Jodie. "Gypsies, Roma, and Irish Travellers: Histories, Perceptions, andRepresentations, A Review. Project Workshop Summar". Gypsies, Roma, and Irish Travellers:Histories, Perceptions, and Representations. Workshop, 3 September 2012, University of Huddersfield. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Eby, Brandon (2022). "The Role of Antiziganism in Brexit". Journal for Social Thought. 6 (1). Retrieved 21 January 2024.
  12. Wilkinson, Emma (2023). "Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller groups need more equitable mental healthcare, says report". British Medical Journal (382): 2260. doi:10.1136/bmj.p2260. PMID   37775124. S2CID   263225191 . Retrieved 7 January 2024.
  13. 1 2 3 4 "Gypsy, Roma and Irish Traveller ethnicity summary". gov.uk. His Majesty's Government. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  14. "Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Network". equity.org.uk. Equity. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  15. 1 2 3 Bakker, Peter; Kenrick, Donald (2007). "Angloromani". In Britain, David (ed.). Language in the British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 368–375.
  16. 1 2 Mayall, David (1988). Gypsy-travellers in Nineteenth-century Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-32397-0.
  17. 1 2 3 Acton, Thomas Alan; Mundy, Gary, eds. (1997). Romani culture and Gypsy identity. Hatfield: University of Hertfordshire Press. ISBN   978-0-900458-76-7.
  18. 1 2 Richardson, Joanna; Codona, Janie (2018). "Blame and fear: Roma in the UK in a changing Europe". Journal of Poverty and Social Justice. 26 (1): 95–112. doi:10.1332/175982717X15127350591914. hdl: 2086/14886 . Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  19. 1 2 3 Greenfields, Margaret (2017). "Good practice in working with Gypsy, Traveller and Roma communities" (PDF). Primary Health Care. 27 (10): 24–29. doi:10.7748/phc.2017.e1263 . Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  20. 1 2 3 Okley, Judith (2014). "Recycled (mis)representations: Gypsies, Travellers or Roma treated as objects, rarely subjects" (PDF). People, Place and Policy. 8 (1): 65-85. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  21. Joyce, Sindy (11 December 2018). "A Brief History of the Intitutionalisation [sic] of Discrimination Against Irish Travellers". Irish Council for Civil Liberties. Archived from the original on 2022-06-07. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  22. Gilbert, Edmund; Carmi, Shai; Ennis, Sean; Wilson, James F.; Cavalleri, Gianpiero L. (9 February 2017). "Genomic insights into the population structure and history of the Irish Travellers" (PDF). Scientific Reports . 7 (1). Nature Research: 42187. Bibcode:2017NatSR...742187G. doi:10.1038/srep42187. ISSN   2045-2322. PMC   5299991 . PMID   28181990. S2CID   16756740. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 May 2022. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  23. Haynes, Amanda; Joyce, Sindy; Scheppe, Jennifer (2021). "The Significance of the Declaration of Ethnic Minority Status for Irish Travellers". Nationalities Papers. 49 (2): 270–288. doi:10.1017/nps.2020.28 . Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  24. Jarman, Neil. "Prejudice and Tolerance in Northern Ireland" (PDF). ark.ac.uk. Queens University Belfast. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  25. McKinney, Rebecca (2003). "Views From the Margins: Gypsy/Travellers and the Ethnicity Debate in the New Scotland". Scottish Affairs. 42 (first series) (1): 13–31. doi:10.3366/scot.2003.0003 . Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  26. 1 2 Brown, Philip; Scullion, Lisa; Martin, Philip. "Migrant Roma in the United Kingdom: population size and experiences of local authorities and partners" (PDF). University of Salford. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  27. 1 2 3 "Number of Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller people disclosing ethnicity in census increases by 110,000". Traveller Movement. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  28. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Crew, Teresa (2024). "Disadvantaged, discriminated against and ignored: the experience of Romany and Gypsy Travellers". In Gregory, Lee; Iafrati, Steve (eds.). Diversity and Welfare Provision: Tension and Discrimination in 21st century Britain. Bristol: Bristol University Press. pp. 117–135. ISBN   978-1-4473-6515-0 . Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  29. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Greenfields, Margaret; Rogers, Carol. "Hate: "As regular as rain" - A pilot research project into the psychological effects of hate crime on Gypsy, Traveller and Roma (GTR) communities" (PDF). Gyspsy and Traveller Exchange Hertfordshire. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  30. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kirkby, Abbie; Manning, Ivy; Nuttall, Emma; Popenko, Elvira. "Race hate and prejudice faced by Gypsies and Travellers in England" (PDF). Friends, Families and Travellers. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  31. Finney, Nissa; Nazroo, James; Bécares, Laia; Kapadia, Dharmi; Shlomo, Natalie (2023). Racism and Ethnic Inequality in a Time of Crisis: Findings from the Evidence for Equality National Survey. Bristol: Bristol University Press. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
  32. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Thompson, Naomi; Woodger, David (2020). ""I HOPE THE RIVER FLOODS": ONLINE HATE SPEECH TOWARDS GYPSY, ROMA AND TRAVELLER COMMUNITIES" (PDF). British Journal of Community Justice. 16 (1): 41-63. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
  33. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Richardson, Joanna; O'Neill, Richard (2012). "'Stamp on the camps':the social construction of Gypsies and Travellersin media and political debate". In Richardson, Joanna; Ryder, Andrew (eds.). Gypsies and Travellers: Empowerment and inclusion in British society. Bristol: The Policy Press. p. 169-187.
  34. 1 2 Kundnani, Arun. "Express newspaper faces criticism from its own journalists for anti-Roma stance". Institute of Race Relations. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  35. McGarry, Aiden (2017). Romaphobia: The Last AcceptableForm of Racism. Zed Books.
  36. 1 2 3 "Shadow Report to the Universal Periodic Review Working Group and UN Member States: Focus Report on Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Communities" (PDF). Families, Friends and Travellers. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  37. "'Racist and traumatic' - Traveller reactions to CH4's The Truth About Traveller Crime". Travellers Times. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  38. Murray, Jessica (2 May 2020). "Channel 4 Dispatches report accused of 'dehumanising' Travellers". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
  39. Li, Carmen (2021). "Educational Experiences of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Communities and How Educational Psychologists Engage With the Communities" (PDF). Educational Psychology Research and Practice. 7 (2). Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  40. Cromarty, Hannah. "Gypsies and Travellers: Briefing Paper" (PDF). parliament.uk. House of Commons Library. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  41. Forster, Nathalie; Gallagher, Martin. "Exploring how Gypsy, Roma and Traveller students can best be supported to participate and thrive in higher education". Northumbria University. Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  42. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Gould, Siobhan (2017). "Promoting the social inclusion and academic progress of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children: a secondary school case study". Educational Psychology in Practice. 33 (2): 126–148. doi:10.1080/02667363.2016.1259996. S2CID   151633190 . Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  43. Francis, Gill (2013). "Developing the Cultural Competence of Health Professionals Working with Gypsy Travellers" (PDF). Journal of Psychological Issues in Organizational Culture. 3 (51): 64–77. doi:10.1002/jpoc.21074 . Retrieved 13 January 2024.
  44. Yin-Har Lau, Annie; Ridge, Michael (2016). "Addressing the impact of social exclusion on mental health in Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities". Mental Health and Social Inclusion. 15 (3): 129–137. doi:10.1108/20428301111165717 . Retrieved 14 January 2024.
  45. Ekezie, Winifred; Hopwood, Ellen; Czyznikowska, Barbara; Weidman, Sarah; Mackintosh, Nicola; Curtis, Ffion (2024). "Perinatal health outcomes of women from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities: A systematic review" (PDF). Midwifery. 129 (129). doi:10.1016/j.midw.2023.103910. PMID   38113569 . Retrieved 15 January 2024.
  46. McFadden, Alison; Siebelt, Lindsay; Jackson, Cath; Jones, Helen; Innes, Nicola; MacGillivray, Stephen; Bell, Kerry; Corbacho, Belen; Gavine, Anna; Haggi, Michael; Atkin, Karl (2018). "Enhancing Gypsy, Roma and Traveller peoples' trust: using maternity and early years' health services and dental health services as exemplars of mainstream service provision". University of Dundee, University of York, Leeds Gypsy and Traveller Exchange. doi:10.20933/100001117 . Retrieved 14 January 2024.