The Irish Traveller community (ITC) is a long-established, close-knit affiliation of families and wider inter-connected members consisting of small groups who have historically led an itinerant existence. The origins of Irish Travellers are uncertain with much of its history being orally recorded and passed through generations, however religious and cultural events have historically and remain the catalyst for large gatherings of these families/clans to celebrate the culture that connects being a member of this community.

This report will assess the concept of community and how the ITC has evolved and continues to transform based around its interactions with wider society, for the purposes of this report when referring to the ITC, Gov.UK (2022) define it as:

“The term Gypsy, Roma and Traveller has been used to describe a range of ethnic groups or people with nomadic ways of life who are not from a specific ethnicity”.

However, this definition is too sterile and outdated by grouping all nomadic people as a homogeneous cohort and does not consider the differences between these various groups, Henry, D (2022 p71) highlights this by stating:

“Irish Travellers are quite distinct from Gypsies and Romanies – they are an endogenous as opposed to an exogenous social group and have a far narrower geographical range then their European counterparts.”

When comparing the Irish Travellers Movement (2016) own definition this gives a more balanced description:

“Travellers are an indigenous minority who have been part of society for centuries with long shared history, cultural values, language, customs and traditions which is recognisable and distinct”.

It is these areas this report explores to assess how the ITC has adapted through the centuries to evolve and sustain itself from a nomadic to a more settled community.

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As part of my commitment to life long learning I recently embarked on my Masters in Education & Applied social sciences with the University of Wolverhampton and chose to explore the educational impact “PREVENT” has had and continues to have on young children, teachers and education settings, below is my research into this topic.

Outline:

The September 11^th, 2001 terrorist attacks on America was a focusing event, which is as Dorey (2014 p17) highlights how Kingdon explains this as “a critical moment that brings a particular policy to the fore” causing high levels of public unrest so that politicians are forced into swift policy decision making, this terrorist attack mobilized Governments in such fashion. In 2003 the UK Government introduced legislation a wide-ranging key Government strategy commonly known as CONSENT and this became part of the wider Counter Terrorism and Security Act (2015) the policy has four key strands these being: “Pursue, Prevent, Protect and Prepare”.

This UK multidimensional counterterrorism policy arm known as Prevent was poorly designed, is in dire need of reform as Dorey (2014, p12-13) reflects it is at “stage four of Downs issue attention cycle” this is where decline in public interest has caused the original policy to stagnate, caused by the public’s interest being drawn on other issues such as successive Government austerity programs, this is in part as Dorey (2014, p13) quotes Downs “placing an issue on the institutional agenda policy, does not always lead to policy change”

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I again used Amtrak to travel from New York to Washington D.C. this 3 hour train journey took me through some of America’s heartlands such as Trenton, Philadelphia & Baltimore before arriving at Washington D.C. As I exited the train station into the mid afternoon sunshine I was struck by how warm and close it was in D.C. the temperature and humidity seemed to have jumped considerably from the milder and wetter Northern States I had just travelled from.

As I left the train station to make my way to my Airbnb which I had booked for my first couple of nights in Washington I felt a heightened sense of excitement seeing the Capitol’s distinctive red taxi cabs, most American cities taxi providers are the iconic yellow cabs, but in D.C. they are red and I for one think this difference suits Washington.

Continue reading ““Super Week on Capitol Hill” visiting Washington D.C. on the 4th stage of my Walter Hines Page Scholarship.” →

 

We are all familiar with New York, it is the backdrop and landscape to many of our favourite television shows, movies and music videos, this was never made clearer to me than as I rode the train from Newark, New Jersey to Central Station, New York.

The panarama of familiar buildings and landscapes as the train arched around the city to snake into Central Station had my face pressed up against the window childlike in awe, I challenge anyone not to be impressed by the city unfolding in front of you from that moving train window. The train brought me into Penn station which is in Midtown area of Manhattan and sits beneath Madison Square Garden, between Seventh Avenue and Eighth Avenue and between 31st and 34 street on New York’s street grid system.

New York:

Continue reading ““How do you like dem apples” visiting New York on the 3rd stage of my Walter Hines Page Scholarship” →