Mediaeval brigands? sedentarism and postmodernity: the social control of 'New Age Travellers' 1985-1995

Hester, Richard George (1999). Mediaeval brigands? sedentarism and postmodernity: the social control of 'New Age Travellers' 1985-1995. University of Birmingham. Ph.D.

Preview

Hester1999PhD.pdf
Text - Accepted Version
Available under License All rights reserved.
Download (12MB) | Preview

Abstract

This dissertation seeks to make sense of the ‘moral panic’ that occurred in relation to the phenomenon o f ‘New Age Travellers’ between 1985 and 1995. The thesis commences in section I by setting out an historical context of the ways in which travelling people have been treated. This is followed in section II by a description of the events of the 1970s, 19980s and 1990s in Britain relating to hippies and associated groups as well as a discussion on the making of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. Section III presents a discussion of the theoretical concepts used the project and acts as a link to the fieldwork in the final sections. The remaining sections examine public opinion, the role of the media in the social control of New Age Travellers, policing Travellers and a view from New Age Travellers themselves by way of an ethnographic study. The project concludes with a model of social control that recognises the relationships between a sedentarist hegemony, the politics of land use (including assumptions on the commodification of land) and aspects of postmodemity and the state as essential explanatory elements of a reaction to contemporary nomadic people.

Type of Work:

Thesis (Doctorates > Ph.D.)

Award Type:

Doctorates > Ph.D.

Supervisor(s):