Andrew Ryder

Eötvös Loránd University

Ethnography can be a deeply challenging form of research in which the researcher has to navigate the boundaries of acceptable observation and avoid the pitfalls of intrusion. In the last twenty years, legalistic and contractual ethical codes have gained prominence and influence in social research. Despite the welcome focus on ethical issues, ethica...

Romani communities in a New Social Europe, Mechanisms of empowerment for the Roma, Antigypsyism in a time of neoliberalism: challenging the radical right through transformative change, Romani young people’s activism and transformative, Transatlantic dialogues and the solidarity of the oppressed: critical race activism in the US and Canada

The chapter outlines and critiques various factions within the Conservative Party and the stresses, strains and opportunities that Brexit presented to them. The chapter reflects upon the demise of One Nationism a more liberal and pro-European form of Conservatism and contrasts it with the Eurosceptic ‘Brexiteers’ within the party some closely align...

The chapter explores how forms of nationalism have interacted with Brexit, focusing primarily on the Scottish Nationalists (SNP), UK Independence Party (UKIP) and the Brexit Party. The chapter outlines how the SNP opposed a hard Brexit and UKIP and the Brexit Party militantly agitated for such an outcome. Scottish nationalists believed a hard Brexi...

This chapter sets out the historical, social and cultural context to Brexit by exploring Britain’s relationship with Europe and place in the world, the impact of the financial crisis and how anxiety has come to the fore of political debate as a shaper of policy and identity. A large section of this chapter is historical, this is important to enable...

Britain and Europe at a Crossroads: The Politics of Anxiety and Transformation dissects the complex social, cultural and political factors that led the UK to take its decision to leave the EU and examines the far-reaching consequences of that decision. Developing the conceptual framework of securitization, the book uses primary sources and a focus...

This chapter provides an overview of the premiership of Boris Johnson between July and December 2019, detailing the progress of Brexit negotiations and the General Election – events that shaped the final trajectory of Brexit but also in all probability the course of Britain’s future for the coming decades. The events described are thus literally na...

A core message of the book is that authoritarian populism (Brexit nationalism) is a state of affairs where emotions are orchestrated by an increasingly demagogic subsection of the elite to polarise, mobilise and demonise, a reactive, illiberal and antagonist form of politics. It presents a threat in that although perhaps it has manifested itself in...

The chapter sets out the conceptual framework for the book describing Brexit as part of a paradigm shift in Britain’s socio-economic and cultural chemistry. Brexit is a multi-layered and multidimensional phenomenon, at the intersection of many social, political and cultural forces and processes and the book’s introduction seeks to provide the conte...

The chapter gives an overview of the strategy of Labour in response to Brexit by detailing the words and action of key Labour figues in the wake of the referendum. Labour’s response to Brexit and course of developments between 2016 and 2019 is a story, as with the Conservative Party, of paradigm change, tension and struggle between the different st...

This chapter describes the views of European policy actors, where Brexiteers’ notions of reclaiming national power and self-interest were often pitted against and contrasted with the ethical and idealistic sentiments of those who wanted to preserve the European project and or those committed to the maintenance of a technocratic status quo. These de...

The chapter follows the course of events and debate during the referendum and initial negotiations and legislative attempts in Westminster to enable Brexit. The chapter gives an overview of the speech acts and associated stratagems to facilitate or to frustrate Brexit. It includes a number of vignettes presenting some key or insightful moments in t...

This account of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller policy and practice in education, social policy and politics is enriched with reflection, theoretical analysis and biographical narratives. It draws on the author’s 25 years’ experience of working as an activist, educationalist and researcher for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller rights. Sites of Resistance is esse...

The chapter analyses the historical and contemporary condition of the Gypsy, Traveller and Roma (GTR) civil society movement, its strengths, achievements, threats and pitfalls and the motivation, dynamism and tensions within its varied manifestations. It explores the struggles against assimilatory and discriminatory policy, the interplay between co...

Chapter aims This chapter aims to: • • explore the historical and contemporary condition of the Gypsy, Traveller and Roma civil society movement; • • analyse its varied, evolving and often overlapping forms, including oppositional campaigns, service-oriented organisations and, more recently, bridging or advocacy organisations; • • suggest how wide...

The article explores what impact the concept of a Social Europe might have on Europe's Roma and how economic intervention and redistribution might alleviate Roma poverty and diminish Anti-Gypsyism. The article also makes the case for new deliberative forms of democracy being developed in tandem with social justice orientated policy through a renewe...

Cemlyn and Ryder provide a cogent, multi-layered analysis of the barriers and potential of education for active and participatory citizenship and social justice for Gypsies, Travellers and Roma across Europe. In the context of widespread and entrenched structural inequalities and injustice for these minorities, they review developments in citizensh...

This article assesses government progress in addressing Gypsy Traveller and Roma (GTR) exclusion, with particular reference to poverty and social justice issues in England, drawing on the findings of a civil society monitoring report of the UK's National Roma Integration Strategy undertaken for the Decade for Roma Inclusion Secretariat. The article...

Gypsies, Travellers and Roma are amongst the most marginalised and vulnerable groups in society presenting something of a bellwether, an indicator of the fairness of society. This article charts the development of One Nation Conservatism in the post-war period and relations between the Conservative Party and Gypsies, Travellers and Roma communities...

The aim of this article is to explore the impact of localism on vulnerable minorities like Gypsies and Travellers. This paper draws on the literature on social contract, with particular reference to Hobbes, Rawls and Habermas. The key findings of this paper indicate that localism can impede equality but also that statist forms of centralism can be...

The paper gives an overview of Roma, Gypsy and Traveller (RGT) educational exclusion in the European Union and seeks to provide insights into good practice through case studies focusing on Bulgaria and the UK. The paper makes a case for the promotion of collaborative relationships, where RGT communities are active partners in developing curricula a...

In this chapter the authors examine whether the powerful who make policy can actually share that power with those within Roma communities who are seeking social advancement and justice, and what kind of changes within government, Roma civil society and communities and the academic establishment would be necessary. This requires a strong theory of h...

Charles Smith, then chair of the Gypsy Council, reflected in an interview with Sarah Cemlyn in 1997 as to how the Gypsy Council had fared while being involved in a local authority panel to deliberate on Gypsy and Traveller matters: Charles: … It took us 20 years to get onto their panel. We kept asking to be involved in the decisions that were being...

This book charts Gypsies, Romany and Travellers community activism, and the community and voluntary organisations which support them. It describes the communities' struggle for rights against a backdrop of intersectional discrimination across Europe.

Inside the ghetto How can young Roma envisage a better future and their own empowerment? We have heard from older community activists, and practitioners and researchers with long-standing community involvement, but the voice of young people has not been so apparent. A report of a visit by Andrew Ryder to a Roma settlement in a small provincial Hung...

Background In this chapter we discuss to what the extent the Gypsy and Traveller Law Reform Coalition (GTLRC) can be seen as a social movement within the framework already drawn in Chapter One from Freire, Gramsci and Habermas. The GTLRC was an umbrella group of Gypsy and Traveller organisations that came together in 2002 as the culmination of a ca...

This article was presented at the European Conference on Educational Research, September 2012 Cadiz, Spain. The article argues that community dialogue and participation is a vital dynamic in desegregation and explores the centrality of forms of empowerment which can be described as ‘inclusive community development’ (ICD). The segregation of Roma ch...

Over the past decade, interest in Gypsies, Roma and Travellers (GRT) has risen up the political and media agendas, but they remain relatively unknown. This topical book is the first to chart the history and contemporary developments in GRT community activism, and the community and voluntary organisations and coalitions which support it. Underpinned...

In 2005 a course text book was published which was written by Géza Jeszenszky and used for courses taught by Jeszenszky at the Corvinus University. In the text book there is a sentence which generated a great deal of debate and controversy. "The reason why many Roma are mentally ill is because in Roma culture it is permitted for sisters and brother...

: Since the sixteenth century the state has restricted the mobilities of Gypsies and Travellers in Britain. As studies have repeatedly demonstrated, nomadic Gypsies and Travellers experience high levels of exclusion. In 1994 a duty to provide caravan sites was repealed and greater restrictions on nomadism were introduced. Motivation for restrictiv...

This article explores the concept of inclusive community development and its relevance to the ethnogenesis and empowerment of Gypsy and Traveller communities. Critics have asserted that such an approach can hold the danger of encompassing an assimilationist agenda, that seeks to ‘civilize’. The paper argues that community development can be communi...

Greenfields and Ryder review the potential for inclusive research approaches, the possibilities for empowering community members through the co-production of research methodologies. The chapter refers to participatory research projects that the authors have been involved with.

Greenfields, Ryder and Smith examine the potential of the Traveller Economy but also the potential of new innovations including mutualism and social enterprise preserving the core features of Gypsy and Traveller economic practices in a modern context that can reverse economic and social exclusion. The ‘Traveller economy’ has traditionally been at t...

Introduction As a number of chapters in this volume testify, Gypsies and Travellers are some of the most marginalised minorities in the UK, with an ever-increasing weight of evidence highlighting the extreme social exclusion and inequalities experienced by these groups in access to housing, health equity and educational attainment (Crawley, 2004; C...

Introduction The aim of this book is to examine issues that affect Gypsies and Travellers, including accommodation, health, education, social policy, employment and the European Roma framework. It seeks to explore cross-cutting themes of social inclusion, discursive control, media power, representation, empowerment, justice and contested spaces. Th...

This House notes June is Gypsy Roma Traveller history month and that it is the first such celebration to be fully supported and endorsed by the Government and provides a tremendous opportunity for children in our schools to hear of the traditions of Gypsies, Roma and Travellers; and congratulates the large number of Gypsies, Roma and Travellers, li...

Introduction The origins of Roma communities and their arrival in Europe were discussed in Chapter One. It has been estimated that Europe has a Gypsy, Roma and Traveller population of between 10 and 12 million people (Fundamental Rights Agency, 2010). They are Europe's largest minority ethnic group but their predicament presents one of the greatest...

Introduction This chapter examines the notions of ‘justice’ and ‘empowerment’ as they relate to Gypsies and Travellers. It aims to provide a theoretical basis on which to understand the ideas. In a time when the Conservative-led Coalition Government aims to empower everyone to take part in a ‘Big Society’ (as discussed in Chapter One, this volume),...

This book set out to examine a range of issues affecting Gypsies and Travellers (such as accommodation, health, education, social policy and employment). Throughout the chapters we explored cross-cutting challenges, including social inclusion, discursive control, media power, representation, empowerment, justice and contested spaces. We conducted o...

Introduction This chapter engages with both the ethical and practical aspects of undertaking partnership research with members of Gypsy and Traveller communities. It is underpinned by an exposition on the philosophy and methodologies utilised in two key research projects, both of which explicitly sought to utilise participatory methods as a way of...

The eviction at Dale Farm in the UK in 2011 brought the conflicting issues relating to Gypsy and Traveller accommodation to the attention of the world's media. However, as the furore surrounding the eviction has died down, the very pressing issues of accommodation need, inequality of access to education, healthcare and employment, and exclusion fro...

The eviction at Dale Farm in the UK in 2011 brought the conflicting issues relating to Gypsy and Traveller accommodation to the attention of the world’s media. However, as the furore surrounding the eviction has died down, the very pressing issues of accommodation need, inequality of access to education, healthcare and employment, and exclusion fro...

In January 2005, the Labour Government responded to a Select Committee recommendation to re-introduce a requirement for local authorities to build sites by saying it was ‘determined to address the issues’. It did not go as far as to legislate for the building of new Gypsy and Traveller sites, but there have been a number of pieces of legislation an...

This paper explores the development of the UK Gypsy and Traveller third sector and details factors which have impeded development. This includes a lack of resources and skills but also illustrates how in recent years important progress has been made in community development. The paper concludes that the current cutbacks and reduction in resources f...