‘… Since Big fat gypsy weddings (…) now [people] … understand more ‘cos of that programme’. Irish travellers’ identity between stigmatisation and self-image

Based on a series of semi-structured interviews with women travellers in the South of England, the present chapter is an attempt to contribute to an understanding of who Irish travellers are and how they live. The interviewed travellers were found to strongly identify with their role as providers of safe and decent living standards for their families, and to follow their travellers’ lifestyle, while also being critical of some of the principles at the basis of their culture. The interpretation of their answers to the questions during the interviews recognises the limited power these speakers as a group experience, especially in terms of their very restricted ability to make decisions about where to live their lives. In line with the thrust of the volume, these interviewees show a clear awareness of the heavy social connotation attached to the term ‘traveller’ and the scarce knowledge the outside community has of them.