Page 32 Teaching Anthropology: SACC Notes VoL 7, No. 1 Spring-Summer 2000

The Irish TravellersMichael Delaney

Des Moines Area Community College, Iowa

In the spring of 1998 I took a sab-batical leave from teaching sociologyat my college to study the Travellers inIreland. While they share some char-acteristics with other minority and eth-nic peoples throughout the world, Trav-ellers show a resilience that suggestsgreater longevity than many suchgroups. I therefore welcomed the op-portunity to talk with and observe someof them first-hand.

They have a distinctive language thatincludes Irish, Latin and Greek, calledCant or Gammon, and they have a ac-cent when speaking English. This lan-guage, when spoken among themselves,suggests that they havebeen together as a groupfor a long time, perhapsbeyond the Celtic IronAge invaders of theFifth Century BC. Lit-erary references to themdate to the Middle Ages.One of my informantstold me that the Travel-lers were there when St. Patrick arrivedin the Fifth Century, and that theyhelped him escape his captors when hewas a slave boy.

They retain this language and areproud of it. Michael O'Riley, a Travel-ler I met along the road in Kilkenny,boasted to me that he could speak in away that I would not be able to under-stand at all. They also substitute codewords and play with consonants, as in"Pig Latin," so that an outsider cannotdecipher the meaning. They use thislanguage to carry on conversationsamong themselves when necessary tokeep outsiders in the dark. Furthermore,they clearly identify themselves as adistinctive group and call themselvesTravellers. They have a sense of theirancient origin and pass on their ownversions of Irish mythology.

Travellers do not bear any distin-guishing physical characteristics. Infact, I was struck by how similar theyare physically to other Irish. Some have

red hair, some blond, some black, justlike the mix in the larger society. Non-Traveller Irish identify them as a dis-tinct "outcast" group primarily by theirbehavior: how they make a living, theiritinerant lifestyle, whom they marry andtheir level of education. Travellers con-tribute to this distinction by referringto themselves as "Travellers" and bymaintaining a sense of in-group solidar-ity. Members of this group are com-monly referred to as "Tinkers," but theterm is often used pejoratively.

Perspectives on LifestyleAbout 22,000 Travellers live in Ire-

land. While many live inapartments or homes, themajority live in travel trail-ers along the road or inpaved "halting sites" withfacilities such as toilets,sinks and washing ma-chines provided by thecounty councils. Eventhough the government has

settled 10,000 or so in the past decade,the number on the road continues togrow because of the high birth rate.They have strict traditional Catholicviews on marriage and reproduction,and they average six children per fam-ily. Because they are often on the move,their children experience a hit-or-misseducation, and therefore, the literacylevel is low.

In earlier times, Travellers couldmake money by moving around andperforming various services. LearnKeane, a social worker in Kilkenny, toldme that in the past, they repaired potsand pans, cleaned chimneys, maintainedwells, made goods from leather andwood, sharpened saws and scissors, andso on. Patrick, a young truck driverfrom Kilkenny, said that the Travellershave always bought and sold livestock."My family bought a pony from aTinker once. The family was settled inour area. We sold it back to the sameguy some years later. He had cash in a

sock—thousands of pounds—I'll neverforget that."

Presently, the Travellers find veryfew economic niches. One day whilemy wife and I were driving in CountyRoscommon, we noticed a halting sitewith some antique junk in front. Whenwe stopped to take a look, CatherineSheridan came toward the car. It wasraining so hard at that point that I didn'twant to get out of the car. She under-stood, but she just stood there in the rainwaiting for us. When the rain let upslightly, we got out of the car and actedinterested in this pitiful pile of junk:bottomless steel pots, a ruined warpeddresser, bases of oil lamps and cobblersteel anvils. She was very aggressivein trying to get us to buy something. Isaid no but gave her a pound for hertrouble. I got my camera from the carand asked if I could take her picture.She agreed, and after I snapped it withher in front of her things, she asked ifshe could have a copy. Because she wasvery interested in obtaining a copy ofthe photo, I asked for her name and ad-dress. I also asked if she had been trav-eling all her life. She said yes, that shewas born in Limerick, but she couldnever get lucky with money. She feltshe had not done well in life. Shepressed hard to sell me an anvil becauseshe wanted to buy some cigarettes. Shelooked to be in her seventies and haddeep creases in her face, few teeth andwhite hair.

Nearly ninety percent of Travellermarriages are within their own group.Parents not only encourage their chil-dren to marry within the community, thelarger society stigmatizes anyone whomarries a Traveller. A policeman Ispoke with said, "The girls don't messaround before marriage either. Theyhave a husband if they have children."A Traveller I met at Pavee Point, a Trav-eller education and social services cen-ter, explained that there are "no boyfriends and girl friends in the Travel-ling community." She meant that whena girl reaches reproductive age, a wed-ding soon follows. The general beliefis that girls become women when theyreach puberty. Many Traveller parentsremove their daughters from secondaryschool by the age of fourteen or fifteen

leacmng Anthropology: SACC Notes Vol. 7, No. 1 Spring-Summer 2000 Page 33

in preparation to marry, thereby furtherreinforcing the pattern of in-group mar-riage.

A significant distinction betweenTravellers and others involves the con-trast between itinerancy and "settling."Non-Traveller Irish country folk aresettled people. They have homes andgenerally stay in one place. Opinionsdiffer as to whether a majority of Trav-ellers wish to settle down or prefer tostay on the road. Jean Kennedy Smithtold us that the number of people whohave changed their lifestyle to fit in withthe educational system has doubled inthe past ten years. These are people who

The more the Irish see them'selves as modern, the more theydespise the Travellers becausethey remind them of the past

have decided to stay from October toMay in one place to educate their kids.Many Travellers, particularly the moreeducated, want their kids' lives to bebetter than their own. At least, many ofthe women hope that their daughters canacademically attain something in life.

On the other hand, internal pressuresto maintain group identity can challengeefforts to assimilate. Social workerLiam Keane said that Travellers do notview themselves as a pariah group, nordo they feel that they are inferior. How-ever, the grade school children I spokewith in Ennis seemed to be more sensi-tive about whether I thought being aTraveller was stigmatizing. I suspectthat this is one of the reasons why adultTravellers have concerns about theirchildren attending school. When Iasked a group of Traveller school chil-dren if any of them planned to settle, Iwas surprised to see that the oldest boyin the class raised his hand and, withsideways glances at the other children,attested that he wanted to settle

How Others See ThemIrish attitudes toward the Travellers

vary. Some people tend to resent theirapparent freedom, itinerancy and cer-tain economic practices. Others feelthat they are victims of unequal treat-

ment by the government. I spoke withan officer at a Guarda (police) stationin County Roscommon. He was about30 years old, well-educated, profes-sional and very careful at first. Hedidn't give me his name. He said,"People won't tell you how they reallyfeel about the Travellers because wehave a new law against inciting to hate.Some of the Travellers run scams suchas scoping out people's property whileattempting to sell something or buyingantiques and then coming back later orhaving someone around the back tosteal from them. They were taking oldpeople recently by intimidating orthreatening to take away their securitymoney. Some of the elderly won't puttheir savings in the bank because theyare afraid to lose their government ben-efits, so they are easy prey for theft.Three old people were warned that aTraveller was seen scouting their place,and if they had any large sums ofmoney, to be sure to put it in the bank.They didn't do it and lost over a thou-sand pounds."

He said that some Travellers havesettled down. "There is a very nice fam-ily by the name of Ward in town. Theirhouse is very neat. If a local personcommits a crime, we have very littledifficulty figuring it out, but the Trav-ellers are too difficult to deal with. Theymay stop here for a while without anyproblem, but they may be doing crimetwenty miles away. They are currentlyselling iron gates in the countryside andbuying antiques. They have a good ideawhat will sell and what won't."

I asked if the Travellers were in-volved in selling drugs. He said, "Ifthey were, we would have to makedrugs legal. We could never stop them.They have their own language, network,and they are always on the move." Iasked why they don't sell drugs. Hesaid, "They don't believe it is right toabuse others that way. They will usealcohol and tobacco but they don't messwith drugs or sell them.

"They don't have a work ethic. Theymight travel from one place to anotherto collect dole in different areas or eventhey might go to England or to the northto do the same. The dole has gottenbetter here so English Travellers and

"The average person in theTraveller community wantsthe same kinds of things as

the settled community."

Welsh are coming over here. The En-glish have been very tolerant of ourTravellers over there."

When I asked Mrs. Sampe, who liveson a small farm in Buckhill nearFairymount in County Roscommon,about religion among the Travellers, shesaid, "They attend local churches, havetheir children baptized, first commun-ion, confirmed, etc. When they die, theyerect huge stones." Patrick, the truckdriver in Kilkenny, told me that they arevery Catholic. He said, "They take theirbeliefs very seriously. Some parkinglocations have been on places like fam-ine grave sites, and they won't stay in aplace like that." Traveller children toldme that their families travel across Ire-land to go to healers and visit holy wellsfor cures. They commonly have reli-gious icons in their trailers. Socialworker Liam Keane said, "They seethemselves as more moral and religiousthan the rest of Ireland."

On Grafton Street in Dublin, mywife became interested in a group ofthree poorly dressed children who weresinging and dancing for the coins thatpassing pedestrians would toss onto ajacket stretched out on the brick pave-ment. She suggested that v/e offer totake the children to a nearbyMacDonalds for hamburgers. The chil-dren were skeptical at first, but whenthey learned we were teachers, theyeagerly agreed to join us. They askedif they could gather three more familymembers who were serving as policelookouts. Once they had their "happymeals," they said that they couldn't nor-mally get into this restaurant or anyother restaurant in Dublin. In fact, theysaid there were only a few stores thatwould sell them clothes or other mer-chandise. Later, when I asked the pri-vate guard at the door if it was true thathe kept Travellers out of the restaurant,he said yes. "People just don't want toassociate with them. So, we keep themout."

Page 34 Teaching Anthropology: SACC Notes Vol. 7, No. 1 Spring-Summer 2000Patrick, the Kilkenny truck driver,

was surprised when I first told him Iwas interested in the Travellers. Helaughed a bit incredulously, but whenhe saw that I was serious, he began toshare his thoughts. A law passed lastyear prohibits the publicans (pub own-ers) from excluding the Travellers. Hegestured across the narrow medievalstreet at two pubs. "Pub owners con-tend that they cause a lot of fights. Notthat they fight with the locals, they fightamong themselves. There are very oldrivalries among them."

When I asked Liam Keane about theattitudes of other Irish toward the Trav-ellers, he said that the young Irish donot feel the compulsion to care for thedisadvantage^ in the same way as in thepast. While the national government istrying to respond to pressures from theEuropean Community to do something,the general attitude of the Irish peopleis becoming less sensitive to the Trav-ellers. Increasingly, they are being seenas a nuisance. Keane said that the prob-lem will be how to get the public to seethe Travellers in a neutral way ratherthan as a threat. According to him, jour-nalist Finbar O'Toole wrote that themore the Irish see themselves as mod-ern, the more they despise the Travel-lers because they remind them of thepast.

In Roscommon, a restaurant ownerasked where we were from and whatwe were doing in Ireland. I mentionedmy research interest in the Travellersand he offered some comments. He toldus that the "earth shaker" head of theMcDonagh clan had died while in En-gland but his body was brought back toSligo to be buried. The Guarda learnedthat there was going to be a major clashat the funeral. The Guarda were pre-pared and took away offensive weap-ons, thus avoiding a conflict. He saidthat the fights they get into would surelyfrighten anyone. He couldn't under-stand why I would want to study them."They wouldn't tell you the truth aboutanything and they are very dangerous.Be careful around them," he said."They'll be wanting your money." Itold him that I had interviewed a socialworker in Kilkenny. He said, "Theystring along those sort of people for

whatever they can get. They are a to-tally different sort of people. They havetheir own language. There is no under-standing between them and settledpeople." Over and over again he toldme to be careful.

I also asked a County Roscommonhotel manager a few questions about theTravellers. He said, "They are alltrouble. I run them out of here. Some-times they are well dressed and youcan't tell until they open their mouthsthat they are Travellers. I run them outbecause they get drunk and get intofights. If a couple come in, pretty soon

The Travellers have filled aneconomic niche in Ireland for atleast a thousand years...but now,

the high tech and tourist economyhas little room for them.

\ s

you'll have twenty in here and there willbe trouble, not with the locals butamong themselves. The other custom-ers don't want them around. Theywon't come in if there are travelersaround. We call them Gypos. Theseare the ones that are very cheeky. Someof them dress well and have a lot ofmoney. They collect the dole. Theyare trying to pass legislation that wouldnot allow us to keep them out."

The police officer I interviewed ear-lier said, "Why do you suppose the halt-ing sites are placed where they are—next to the dumps? It is because wetreat them like human garbage. InBallyhadreen, Roscommon andCalstlerea the halting sights are all nextto the dumps."

A Leader SpeaksAt a Traveller's Education and De-

velopment Center, I called to arrangean interview with Ellen Maghan, ayoung woman who was the first Trav-eller elected to public office. She said,"Money that is directed toward Travel-lers is always controlled by the settledcommunity. There are 27 or 28 centersfor Travellers in the country staffed bysettled folks. Settled folks control theaims and objectives. How come wedon't have more professionals? Whereare they? Where are the social work-

ers, teachers, doctors, etc.?"How come Irish society has failed

to instill in the minds of Travellers adesire to be free of the restraints thatare around them? To be in tune withtheir own heritage and their destiny, beable to actually identify where they aregoing, be part and parcel of everythingthat has been designed around them?Why has Irish society actually failed todo that? If you look at the immigrantswho came in the fifties and sixties, theirchildren have education. They havetheir professionals. Their children aredoctors and lawyers...

"We are left with people who arediscouraged after the past twenty yearsof policy. Don't you think that the av-erage person in the Traveller commu-nity wants the same kinds of things asthe settled community? This is whatthey want. They want work. They wantto live in peace with their neighbors.They want to have enough food on thetable. They want to be able to be incontrol of their children's lives. Theywant to be able to send their children toschool. They want to be able to protectthem from certain values in the settledcommunity. They basically want whatevery other human wants. They verymuch want to live so that it is their val-ues that are heard. If you look at theprimary educational system in thiscountry, we don't have inter-culturaleducation.

"I don't know if you have seen thismorning's paper. The governmentthrew out an immigration bill. The truecolor of the country came out on thatbill. We are actually hearing people saynow that we are a racist nation. Wedon't have an inter-cultural system. Wedon't actually have anything in our sys-tem to celebrate the African or the EastAsian. The Travelling community ismentioned there [in school]. To be fair,there have been things encoded into theeducational system. Culture weeks areheld, and Travellers would have beenup for discussion... Travelling kids feltbetter about themselves after it. Every-thing that was there in my time wasderogatory.

"This is another thing. The Unionof Journalists have been forewarnedover the years regarding the language

leacning Anthropology: SACC Notes Vol. 7, No. 1 Spring-Summer 2000 Page 35

they use. Terms like "knacker" and"Minx" are highly derogatory. Can youtell me the origin of the terms? Aknacker is someone who would tear anold dead horse apart and sell it for dogmeat. He would not be known as abutcher. He wouldn't have the qualifi-cations or respectability. A mink, then,is a shortened version of Minkier whichis a term in the Traveller language.Now, Tinker has become demonized. Iam the daughter of a Tinker. He was atinsmith. My mother was a hawker. Shewould go from door to door sellingthings from a basket. A very low leveltrader." [Ms. Maghan does not see aneed to replace the term Tinker]

"Up until the 1920's they didn't havetents. The farmers used to put them upin the shed or the barn or whatever. Thetents came in the twenties and the wag-ons came in the forties. The majorityof Travellers are in the east of Ireland.Their background is in the west. Therewas a big migratory push to the east,thinking it was the land of milk andhoney. The majority of them ended upaddicted to alcohol. The Travellers inDublin, according to a relative whoworks in care facility for children, arenot like us in the west. They are differ-ent. The level of prostitution, drugs andalcoholism is high in the city and in theoutskirts. They moved into Dublin inthe 60's. It was booming then. The lastthing they needed up there were these

people in their tents and trailers or what-ever. They were an eye sore. They gota mighty shock when they got there. Alot of the work was above them, beyondthem.

"There would be no sympathy.These Travellers were in a cess pool;that's not the right word. There was thisshocking growth in this county, big fac-tories and so forth, but you have theseTravellers who were uneducated, didn'tstrive for that type of success. As Isaid, they lived from day to day. To-morrow will take care of itself. Theywere lost in it."

A Traveller named Johnny joined theconversation. "What they didn't havewas the will to wake up at 8:00 in themorning and go to work."

Ellen said, "Out of fairness, Johnny,it is not true, because if you look at howthey worked in the west, men wouldhave worked for farmers, Johnny. Itwas purely seasonal. It would havebeen a short stint, one month, twomonths, and then they would havemoved on."

The FutureThe Travellers are an ethnic group

that has filled an economic niche in Ire-land for at least a thousand years. Theiritinerancy is reminiscent of the Celticpastoral period. Unfortunately, they livein a post-industrial society. The peas-ant cottages are gone. The deeply reli-

gious, communal "country people" areno longer there to purchase Travellersservices with bread, eggs, flour, shelteror grazing. Nor are they there to applytheir religious obligation to the poor orto fear the curses of the Tinkers. Theroads are crowded with tourist busesand trucks. The high tech and touristeconomy has little room for the Travel-lers. The moderns are embarrassed bythe Travellers and try to hide them be-hind wooden fences and stone walls sothe tourists won't know or ask aboutthem.

Using Oscar Lewis' concept of "theculture of poverty," Lewis Coser ex-plained that when social change occurs,a minority group that does not changewith mainstream society may developa culture that produces poverty. Howdo these nomads fit into the modernworld? Will they gradually settle, as-similate and become absorbed into Irishsociety? If so, what will be the costs totheir economic well-being and sense ofidentity? Liam Keane believes that theTravellers have their own unique an-cient culture and will never be assimi-lated. Furthermore, he feels that theyshould not be assimilated. Whatevertheir future, the Travellers are verymuch with us today. They have sur-vived. TA

Re-envisioning Culture—Continued from page 16

The implications of re-envisioninganthropology in the ways I have sug-gested are considerable, both in termsof what we should study and how weshould study it. We also need to reas-sess the mutual respect with which wenegotiate our differences of theory andmethod within socio-cultural anthropol-ogy. I'm an optimist and I propose weget on with it.

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