Here To Stay

The Gypsies and Travellers of Britain

Colin Clark and Margaret Greenfields

"this is a fantastic resource book that should be required reading for all who deal with Gypsies and Travellers. A MUST buy!"

Len Smith, Travellers' Times

 

"To say this book is a 'must' for anyone involved in service provision for Gypsies and Travellers is a simplification of statement. ...Well written and easy to read."

Toni Ainley, Local Government First

 

“Here to Stay provides a politically engaged and detailed analysis of the position of Britain’s major Travelling communities. … Clark’s opening chapter provides one of the best introductions to the contentious and much-debated issues surrounding the definition, naming, origins, and ethnicity of the various Travelling populations…. Perhaps the most interesting parts of the book are where the authors engage with the issue of citizenship and belonging and usefully compare the status of Gypsies/Travellers with asylum seekers.”

Becky Taylor, Journal of British Studies

 

There is growing public interest in who Gypsies are, where they come from and how they have survived centuries of discrimination: all questions answered by this completely new edition of the standard introduction for professionals, first published as On the Verge (1990 and 1995) and Moving On (1999).

The book looks at Gypsy and Traveller family, community and identity. It asks whether they are "moving on or here to stay" by considering government policy on sites and local authority provision, the conflict between the planning system and the establishment of privately owned sites, and by looking at the possibility that the move into bricks and mortar might not necessarily mean their extinction as a separate community. Their place within wider British society with regards to the law, health and the media is considered and the work concludes by looking at human rights and the European dimension.

Dr Colin Clark is a senior lecturer in Sociology in the Department of Geography and Sociology at the University of Strathclyde and has conducted fieldwork with New Travellers, Scottish Travellers and English Romanichals and written widely on their place in society.

Visit his University of Strathclyde profile page

Dr Margaret Greenfields undertook a first degree in social anthropology and law before qualifying as a lawyer and subsequently transferring into the field of legal policy. Her doctorate focused on Traveller family issues and engagement with legal processes. She is a Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at Buckingham Chilterns University College where she is involved in a range of research initiatives relating to Gypsy Travellers and social exclusion, and access to culturally appropriate health care for minority ethnic and marginalised communities.

 

ISBN-10 1-902806-33-6

ISBN-13 978-1-902806-33-4

May 2006, 400pp

Paperback £14.99 / US$29.95

 

"For anyone who wishes to teach undergraduate courses for teachers, lawyers, local authority workers, planners, policy-makers or journalists - or Traveller community activists themselves - this will be the first item on the reading list."

Thomas Acton, Ethnic and Racial Studies, November 2007

 

"This thought provoking book will be of interest to sociologists, social and health workers, educationalists, the police force, journalists and lawyers"

Janna Eliot, International Debate Education Association (IDEA)

  

Launch

Here to Stay was launched at 'Race Convention 2006' where the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) celebrated its 30th anniversary.