Gypsies’ and Travellers’ lived experience of harm: A critical hate studies perspective

Abstract

This article sets out how a critical hate studies perspective can explain and illuminate the hate harms experienced by Gypsies and Travellers in the UK. In doing so, it directly responds to the question of how criminological theory can move beyond existing debates in studies of race and ethnicity and engage more effectively with the wider social sciences. The critical hate studies perspective provides a comprehensive theoretical approach to appreciating the harms of hate in late modernity. This framework challenges existing explanations for bias-motivated violence in society and proposes an approach that acknowledges the overarching role of neoliberal capitalism on individual subjectivity and subsequently the lived experience. By utilising this perspective, it is possible here to discuss the range and depth of hate experienced by Gypsies and Travellers and thus consider its genesis and the potential for positive praxis.

The Imperative Need for Criminological Research on the European Roma: A Narrative Review

“…It also appears that members of these groups had little knowledge of any victim assistance services, a lack of information exacerbated by their poor access to IT services. In the British context, James (2020), who proposed a critical hate studies perspective , argued that the hate crimes against the Roma occur in a broader context of permission and tolerance of systemic racism, which thereby increases Roma’s institutional distrust and lack of protection when they are victims of a hate crime or of an offence in general.…”

“…Researchers have highlighted the ethnicity-related victimisation that the Roma have suffered, and continue to suffer, in Europe (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 2017, 2016; James, 2014; 2020). This phenomenon has been studied as well with local samples in Sweden (Wallengren & Mellgren, 2015), Switzerland Molnar & Aebi (2021) and the UK (Greenfields & Rogers, 2020).…”

Critical hate studies: A new perspective

“…We have only briefly been able to set out the harms of hate within the theory of recognition here (for applied examples, see McBride (2018) and James (2019). However, even this simple outline provides a greater capacity for hate studies to appreciate how hate impinges on all aspects of our lives and limits our capacity to flourish.…”

Manufacturing mandates: Property, race, and the criminalisation of trespass in England and Wales

“…Despite Romani Gypsies and Irish Travellers being recognised under the Equality Act 2010 (Gov, 2010), hate crimes and discrimination continue to be major social challenges (National Federation of Gypsy Liaison Groups et al, 2018;The Traveller Movement, 2016;James, 2020). Furthermore, since 2009, the number of Gypsy and Roma children forcibly removed from their families and taken into state care in the UK has increased by a staggering 933%, and over 400% amongst the Irish Traveller population (The Guardian, 2018).…”

“…This has been further exacerbated by the sustained impact of ‘austerity urbanism’ (Peck, 2012) and the continued erosion of welfare support for marginalised communities in general off the back of unprecedented welfare cuts since 2010. Despite Romani Gypsies and Irish Travellers being recognised under the Equality Act 2010 (Gov, 2010), hate crimes and discrimination continue to be major social challenges (National Federation of Gypsy Liaison, 2018; The Traveller Movement, 2016; James, 2020). Furthermore, since 2009, the number of Gypsy and Roma children forcibly removed from their families and taken into state care in the UK has increased by a staggering 933%, and over 400% amongst the Irish Traveller population (The Guardian, 2018).…”