Gypsy and Traveller Ethnicity: The Social Generation of an Ethnic Phenomenon

The book explores the notion of Gypsy and Traveler ethnicity and provides a critique of the conceptual basis of racial and ethnic categorization. An analysis of the post-war housing situation is given in order to illustrate a connection between social and economic conditions, legislation affecting gypsies and travelers and the visibility and general consciousness of the gypsy and traveler population. The originality of the book lies in its argument that the position of gypsies and travelers largely arises out of social conditions and interaction rather than political, biological or ideological determinants. It puts forward the notion of an ethnic narrative of traveler identity and illustrates how variations of this have been defensively deployed by some travelers and elaborated on by theorists. Belton focuses on the social generation of travelers as a cultural, ethnic and racial categorization, offering a rational explanation of the development of an itinerant population that is lessambiguous and more informative in terms of the social nature of the gypsy and traveler position than interpretations based on 'blood', 'breed', 'stock', ethnicity or race that dominate the literature.

Brian A. Belton is Senior Lecturer at the YMCA George Williams College, London.