PLACE INVADERS: CONSTRUCTING THE NOMADIC THREAT IN ENGLAND* |
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| Authors: | PETER KABACHNIK |
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| Institution: | Assistant professor of geography at the College of Staten Island, Staten Island, New York 10314. |
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| Abstract: | Over the centuries, the image of nomads threatening sedentary ways of life has been a common pejorative representation. In order to understand what geographies underpin narratives about nomads, I examine how social theory and media representations invoke the image of nomads. Both media and academic representations are buttressed by limited understandings of place and space, framing nomads as the quintessential “place invaders.” Focusing on nomadic Gypsies and Travelers in England provides a contemporary example of this process. British media representations construct nomadic Gypsies and Travelers in England as out‐of‐place and threatening. Deconstructing essentialist geographical conceptions allows us to avoid reproducing the common image of placeless nomads, reveals how people utilize place to render others inferior, and highlights the fact that conflicts between nomadic and sedentary ways of life are not intractable and natural. Adopting a more nuanced understanding of place can challenge the dominant trope of nomads as place invaders. |
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| Keywords: | England Gypsies and Travelers media representations nomads place |
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