Civilising offensives and ambivalence: the case of British Gypsies

Powell, Ryan

doi:10.3351/ppp.0001.0003.0002

Cited by 20 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Spatial control through settlement onto permanent camps and spatial cleansing via expulsion from unauthorized camping grounds has created a legacy of displacement and cultural loss; dependence on welfare benefits; poor health outcomes and (for many) a nostalgic yearning for a former way of life (Smith and Greenfields 2013) The geo-physical location of many sites has reinforced both the ability to control the population through segregation and isolation and conveyed the message that those located in such areas were fit for nothing else, reinforcing racialized stereotypes associating Gypsies with dirt, crime and disorder (Belton 2005). The impacts of such racialized spaces are found in 'immediate and oppressive policing' (McVeigh 1997, 22) based on stereotypes of Gypsies and Travellers as a primitive and barbaric minority in need of 'civilizing' (Powell 2007). The relatively under-monitored and inconsistent policing practices regarding the surveillance and control of sites and site residents, suggests that public camps are indeed 'administrative states of exception' where the rule of law, if not outright suspended, is treated in an arbitrary manner and lacks the protections usually afforded to citizens.…”

Section: Urban 'Gypsy Camps': the British Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colonial refractions: the ‘Gypsy camp’ as a spatio-racial political technology

Picker¹,

Greenfields²,

Smith³

2015

City

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Camps for civilians first appeared in the colonies. Largely drawing on the literature on colonialism and race, this article conceptualizes the 'Gypsy camp' in Western European cities as a spatio-racial political technology. We first discuss the shift, starting with decolonization, from colonial to metropolitan technologies of the governance of social heterogeneity. We then relate this broad historical framing to the ideas and ideologies that since the 1960s have been underpinning the planning and governance of the 'Gypsy camp' in both the UK and Italy. We document the 1970s emergence of a new and distinctive type of camp that was predicated upon a racially connoted tension between policies criminalizing sedentarization and ideologies of cultural protection. Given that the imposition of the 'Gypsy camp' was essentially uncontested, we argue that the conditions of possibility for it to emerge and become institutionalized were both a spatio-racial similarity with typically colonial technologies of governance, and the fact that it was largely perceived as a self-evident necessity for the governance and control of one specific population. We conclude by calling for more analyses on this and other forms of urban confinement in both the Global North and South, in order to account for the increasingly disquieting mushrooming of confining and controlling governance devices, practices and ideologies.

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Section: Urban 'Gypsy Camps': the British Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Colonial refractions: the ‘Gypsy camp’ as a spatio-racial political technology

Picker¹,

Greenfields²,

Smith³

2015

City

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“…Thus, the non-rational categorisation of Gypsies and Travellers as presenting a risk to mainstream society has prepared the ground for the imputation of stereotypes which are often exaggerated by the media through the amplification of the risk associated with them (Powell 2008). The recurring stereotypical description of Gypsies and Travellers have been based on negative and imagined images and include notions of a lack of morals, self-restraint, dirt, violence, deviance, laziness and illiteracy which are constructed in opposition to the values of 'respectable' society (Powell, 2007, Morris, 2000. These attributes have been used to justify discriminatory responses to the perceived risks posed by Gypsies and Travellers to the settled community.…”

Section: Gypsies and Travellers -Categorised As 'At Risk'mentioning

confidence: 99%

Gypsies/Travellers and health: risk categorisation versus being ‘at risk’

Ruston

Smith

2013

Health, Risk & Society

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Risk categorisation provides a routine and necessary contribution to the way people make sense of and impute predictability in a complex human world of which their knowledge is limited. It is a precursor to the development of risk management strategies. Risk categorisation schemes can vary depending on the underlying perspective and knowledge used in their construction. There are estimated to be between 120,000 and 300,000 Gypsies and Travellers in the UK. They have been categorised on the one hand as a group that is 'at risk' suffering wide ranging inequalities and on the other they can be seen as the archetypical 'other' posing risks to normative stability. Public policies to manage their health risks have been limited in contrast to policies to address their 'otherness' status which have aimed to exclude, relocate and forcibly remove them from public space. Little is understood about the way in which Gypsies and Travellers categorise and manage the risks to their health within the context of adverse public policies. In-depth qualitative interviews were undertaken during 2010 and 2011 with 39 Gypsies and Travellers aged between 18 and 66 comprising 20 females and 19 males living in an area of South-East England. Respondents framed risk in terms of threats to their health, culture and traditional way of life and issues of trust were central to this. They sought to devise risk management strategies that would maintain boundaries between their community and outsiders who were perceived to be the source of risks to their health. A consequence of their risk management strategies was the potential perpetuation of threats to their health and wellbeing.

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“…The Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 empowers schools to apply for a parenting order where a child has been excluded for serious misbehaviour and provides for a fixed penalty system of 'on the spot fines' for parents in cases of truancy. There is evidence that such programmes can lead to positive changes in parenting styles (Scott et al, 2006) however the court ordered elements have been found to be coercive, stigmatising, patronising, controlling, unpopular and ultimately counter-productive (Ghate & Ramella, 2002;Field, 2007, Powell, 2007.…”

Section: Coercive Intervention: Enforcing Parental Responsibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Troubling Times for Young People and Families With Troubles – Responding to Truancy, Rioting and Families Struggling With Adversity

Arthur

2014

Social & Legal Studies

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The Big Society was one of the UK Prime Minister’s flagship policy ideas prior to his election in 2010 and has since become part of the UK coalition government’s legislative programme. A key aspect of the Big Society is to mend ‘societally Broken Britain’ by supporting families, as ‘strong families are the foundation of a bigger, stronger society’. However, in the aftermath of the riots of August 2011 in London and other parts of England, the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, has suggested that parents of children who regularly truant need to be confronted and challenged and has proposed penalizing parents of truanting children by cutting their benefits. This article considers whether withholding benefits from families is an effective means of tackling antisocial behaviour or does this plan represent an ideological view of welfare recipients as being irresponsible and a commitment to the penalization of the socially excluded? This article will consider whether the Big Society truly offers the prospect of a new approach to young people and families deemed to be ‘in trouble’ or whether the August 2011 riots created the environment for justifying cuts in public spending by shifting responsibility for crime and crime control from the criminal justice system onto vulnerable young people and low-income families.

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Civilising offensives and ambivalence: the case of British Gypsies

Cited by 20 publications

References 20 publications

Colonial refractions: the ‘Gypsy camp’ as a spatio-racial political technology

Colonial refractions: the ‘Gypsy camp’ as a spatio-racial political technology

Gypsies/Travellers and health: risk categorisation versus being ‘at risk’

Troubling Times for Young People and Families With Troubles – Responding to Truancy, Rioting and Families Struggling With Adversity

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