AyeRight and Lankelly Chase are working together to shine light on the way Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people and communities are interconnected with each other, the land and all forms of life, both human and non-human. This is because we believe that there is knowledge and wisdom in the cultures and histories and that this…
White Tail was always first to the table. Checking first for watching eyes, she would descend graceful and fearless remaining only until she had eaten enough to provide the energy needed for the day. Safe in the knowledge that none had challenged her, the others followed. None were brave enough to enter alone as White…
The following gives an overview of the latter stages of the 10 year long struggle to halt the eviction of eighty families resident at Dale Farm, Essex. The eviction went ahead on 19th October 2011. The article itself has no conclusion – I would have liked to write that the eviction caused such outrage that…
I watched a programme about effective altruism last night. The main points discussed were what approaches, and by whom, were most effective. It got me thinking about the what and who by and for of community development approaches – empowerment, participation and so on. At the core of the altruism debate was funders, who…
Watching a documentary on Don Van Vliet (Captain Beefheart) reminded me that my critical thinking developed against a backdrop of psychedelia, a sub-culture associated not only with psychedelic drugs, imagery and music but also with critical consciousness – a state of mind where ‘the ability to recognise and analyse systems of inequality and…
I was invited by the Scottish Traveller Action and Resilience Collective [STARC] to present on their behalf at this meeting. As a founding member of the collective I was happy to do so. My presentation, which focused on the role of the media in driving hate speech directed towards the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities,…
In the quiet of the night she rises slowly, careful in her movements lest she wake the man. She moves to the curtainless window looking out to an ink blue sky. Fiery Mars low in the East. High above, Ursa Major’s seven stars shine bright in anticipation of the coming blue moon; a portent…
First published as part of Engender’s F-Words series (July, 2020). In considering the language used to categorise and indeed denigrate Gypsy/Traveller women, an examination of the role of the media in the ‘othering’ or cultural denigration and exclusion of the Gypsy/Traveller community en masse is crucial. Creators of ‘folk devils’ and drivers of moral panics who with “a…
The first long, warm evening of the year, we sleep with windows ajar. Drifting into sleep, we are minded that the summer Solstice will soon be upon us and so we will begin the slow descent into the darkness once more. Midnight,…
Reality TV – a genre which started out in the 1960s as a ‘fly-on-the-wall’ look into the daily life of others, a ‘stripped down’ observational or documentary account of the subject or subjects being filmed wherein the viewer is invited to reach their own conclusions on the content and context of the production –…