Anti-Nomadism, Institutions, and the Geographies of Childhood

Despite an increasing interest in the geographies of childhood, geographical research has given little attention to issues concerning young people from traditionally semi-nomadic groups, such as Gypsies and other Travellers. In this paper I explore the discursive construction of Traveller childhood within contemporary Britain, with an emphasis on the ways in which state educational discourse constructs young Travellers as needing greater involvement with the ‘mainstream’ education system. I draw on a range of sources, including documents, participant observation, and interviews with practitioners in Traveller education conducted between 1998 and 2001. I argue that contemporary discourse often continues to reflect long-standing notions of cultural disadvantage and deficit which have often been applied to Travellers, although more subtly expressed than in the past. I also argue that children's rights discourses are often employed to construct Traveller parents as obstacles to their children's development and well-being, and that these discourses can be used to legitimise various exertions of power (such as legal measures to prosecute parents). The evidence of the research highlights the need for more nuanced, empirically informed theorisations of the interface between Traveller children and state institutions than has generally been the case to date.