Martin P Levinson
Biographic Data
| ID | 176799 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Martin P Levinson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Martin P |
| FAMILY NAME | Levinson |
| SIGNATURE | LEVINSON M P |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Exeter |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 16 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 66 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 16 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1954 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Fifty years on – and still no resolution
The Quest for Genuinely Participatory and Inclusive Research Approaches
This paper discusses approaches used in an AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council) research project across a number of sites in the United Kingdom. The Disability and Community: Dis/engagement, Dis/enfranchisement, Dis/parity, and Dissent (D4D) project explores issues around disability and community, investigating diverse topics related to inclusion/exclusion. The D4D project is distinctive in the combination of academic and nonacademic Co-In…
Criss-Crossing the Irish Sea
In recent years there have been increasing demands to acknowledge the heterogeneity of Gypsy/Romani/Traveller communties (e.g., Levinson, 2014; Tong, 2015; Tremlett, 2013). There have also been suggestions of a need for more gendered analyses. A growing number of sources (Kóczé, 2009, 2011, 2015; Magyari-Vincze, 2006, 2007; Oprea, 2005a, 2005b) have focused on Gypsy/Romani/Traveller women’s identities, studies that are all outside of the UK and I…
Survival in the badlands
This article considers the understandings of space and place amongst a group of disaffected students within an institution that had been in a state of flux over a number of years. The article explores ways in which students are positioned by institutions into specific spaces, ways in which they use those spaces to challenge authority and ways in which they appropriate both space and place to assert new, and often playful, identities. The authors …
Student behaviour, motivation and the potential of attachment‐aware schools to redefine the landscape
This article is a position paper drawing on the findings of several studies into attachment‐aware approaches in schools and other settings. In seeking to promote pedagogical positions that place greater emphasis on the emotional landscape of students, the authors locate this in an historical perspective. They outline the ways in which educationalists have come to separate the learning being from the feeling being, to the extent of evolving separa…
When Participants Don’t Wish to Participate in Participatory Action Research, and When Others Participate on Their Behalf
What’s the plan?’ ‘What plan?’ Changing aspirations among Gypsy youngsters, and implications for future cultural identities and group membership
Considering data from a research project with two Gypsy communities (2010–2012) in South West England, this article explores issues of education and identity. The two communities have contrasting experiences within the education system. Informed by inter-disciplinary perspectives on identity and assimilation theories, the article explores these experiences within the wider context of the researcher’s work with Romani communities over the past two…
Supporting the learning of nomadic communities across transnational contexts
Deriving from the authors’ respective ethnographic fieldwork (around two decades in each context), this position paper considers experiences of education across two communities: Gypsy/Roma in the UK and Indigenous in Australia. The article brings together understandings across these traditionally nomadic communities, with no shared history or cultural connections other than nomadism, but with common experiences of exclusion, inequity, alienation …
Accountability to research participants
Drawing on findings from an ethnographic study of Romani Gypsy groups in England (1996–2000), along with data from follow-up work involving original and additional participants (2005–ongoing), this paper explores several ethical issues that arose. It traces developing relationships across a 13-year period, identifying the problems of attempting to construct a ‘research community’ consisting of individuals with diverse lifestyles, and at times, co…
Literacy in English Gypsy Communities
The attribution of low literacy levels among Gypsy children to difficulties of access to schools neglects underlying sociocultural explanations. There has been little analysis in reports/studies of Gypsy attitudes toward literacy, nor of outcomes of acquisition. Informed by new literacy theory and by the discourse of previous ethnographic studies, and by acculturation theories, this article draws on findings from an ethnographic study of English …
Conflicting value systems
Drawing on data from a three‐year ethnographic study of Gypsy life in England, this article explores the experience and attitudes of Gypsy women regarding the home‐school interface. Specific attention is given to the following: role expectations in the different contexts; changing perceptions of role in the face of economic and social change; the contradictions and tensions arising from the process of schooling; and the identity dilemmas experien…
Gypsy children, space, and the school environment
This article draws on data generated from a 31⁄2‐year ethnographic study of the interface between Gypsy culture and the educational system in England. The evidence suggests that Gypsy children have distinctive spatial orientations that are embedded in their own culture and life experience. These relate to issues revolving around degrees of nomadic and sedentary lifestyles, and also around spatial awareness deriving from the site environment. In c…
The Role of Play in the Formation and Maintenance of Cultural Identity
Drawing on data from a three-and-a-half-year ethnographic study of Gypsy life in England, this article explores the orientations of Gypsy children toward play and the way in which play operates to affirm a separate identity and enforce boundaries. The apparently uncontrolled, and at times destructive, behavior of Gypsy children in a social/play context has been perceived by some observers as a barrier to educational progress. To illustrate and ex…
Gypsy Identity and Orientations to Space
Drawing on data from a three-year ethnographic study of Gypsy life in England, this article explores Gypsy orientations toward space. The tensions that exist at the interface between sedentarism and nomadism are considered against a background of changing lifestyles due to shifting socioeconomic factors and recent government legislation. Attention is given to the dilemmas confronting participants subsequent to moving into houses and also to notio…
Gypsy Masculinities and the School–Home Interface
Drawing on data generated by a 3-year study, informed by ethnographic principles, of the interface between Gypsy culture and the educational system in the South West of England, this article focuses specifically on the experiences of young Gypsy males [1]. The manner in which they perform specific forms of masculine identity though business skills and dealing, fighting, and sex talk are considered. Tensions are highlighted regarding the ways in w…
Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Forced Labour
Literacy in English Gypsy Communities
The attribution of low literacy levels among Gypsy children to difficulties of access to schools neglects underlying sociocultural explanations. There has been little analysis in reports/studies of Gypsy attitudes toward literacy, nor of outcomes of acquisition. Informed by new literacy theory and by the discourse of previous ethnographic studies, and by acculturation theories, this article draws on findings from an ethnographic study of English …
When Participants Don’t Wish to Participate in Participatory Action Research, and When Others Participate on Their Behalf
The Role of Play in the Formation and Maintenance of Cultural Identity
Drawing on data from a three-and-a-half-year ethnographic study of Gypsy life in England, this article explores the orientations of Gypsy children toward play and the way in which play operates to affirm a separate identity and enforce boundaries. The apparently uncontrolled, and at times destructive, behavior of Gypsy children in a social/play context has been perceived by some observers as a barrier to educational progress. To illustrate and ex…
Gypsy children, space, and the school environment
This article draws on data generated from a 31⁄2‐year ethnographic study of the interface between Gypsy culture and the educational system in England. The evidence suggests that Gypsy children have distinctive spatial orientations that are embedded in their own culture and life experience. These relate to issues revolving around degrees of nomadic and sedentary lifestyles, and also around spatial awareness deriving from the site environment. In c…
Gypsy Identity and Orientations to Space
Drawing on data from a three-year ethnographic study of Gypsy life in England, this article explores Gypsy orientations toward space. The tensions that exist at the interface between sedentarism and nomadism are considered against a background of changing lifestyles due to shifting socioeconomic factors and recent government legislation. Attention is given to the dilemmas confronting participants subsequent to moving into houses and also to notio…
Gypsy Masculinities and the School–Home Interface
Drawing on data generated by a 3-year study, informed by ethnographic principles, of the interface between Gypsy culture and the educational system in the South West of England, this article focuses specifically on the experiences of young Gypsy males [1]. The manner in which they perform specific forms of masculine identity though business skills and dealing, fighting, and sex talk are considered. Tensions are highlighted regarding the ways in w…
Conflicting value systems
Drawing on data from a three‐year ethnographic study of Gypsy life in England, this article explores the experience and attitudes of Gypsy women regarding the home‐school interface. Specific attention is given to the following: role expectations in the different contexts; changing perceptions of role in the face of economic and social change; the contradictions and tensions arising from the process of schooling; and the identity dilemmas experien…
Student behaviour, motivation and the potential of attachment‐aware schools to redefine the landscape
This article is a position paper drawing on the findings of several studies into attachment‐aware approaches in schools and other settings. In seeking to promote pedagogical positions that place greater emphasis on the emotional landscape of students, the authors locate this in an historical perspective. They outline the ways in which educationalists have come to separate the learning being from the feeling being, to the extent of evolving separa…
Accountability to research participants
Drawing on findings from an ethnographic study of Romani Gypsy groups in England (1996–2000), along with data from follow-up work involving original and additional participants (2005–ongoing), this paper explores several ethical issues that arose. It traces developing relationships across a 13-year period, identifying the problems of attempting to construct a ‘research community’ consisting of individuals with diverse lifestyles, and at times, co…
What’s the plan?’ ‘What plan?’ Changing aspirations among Gypsy youngsters, and implications for future cultural identities and group membership
Considering data from a research project with two Gypsy communities (2010–2012) in South West England, this article explores issues of education and identity. The two communities have contrasting experiences within the education system. Informed by inter-disciplinary perspectives on identity and assimilation theories, the article explores these experiences within the wider context of the researcher’s work with Romani communities over the past two…
Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Forced Labour
Survival in the badlands
This article considers the understandings of space and place amongst a group of disaffected students within an institution that had been in a state of flux over a number of years. The article explores ways in which students are positioned by institutions into specific spaces, ways in which they use those spaces to challenge authority and ways in which they appropriate both space and place to assert new, and often playful, identities. The authors …
Supporting the learning of nomadic communities across transnational contexts
Deriving from the authors’ respective ethnographic fieldwork (around two decades in each context), this position paper considers experiences of education across two communities: Gypsy/Roma in the UK and Indigenous in Australia. The article brings together understandings across these traditionally nomadic communities, with no shared history or cultural connections other than nomadism, but with common experiences of exclusion, inequity, alienation …
Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Forced Labour
Gypsy Masculinities and the School–Home Interface
Drawing on data generated by a 3-year study, informed by ethnographic principles, of the interface between Gypsy culture and the educational system in the South West of England, this article focuses specifically on the experiences of young Gypsy males [1]. The manner in which they perform specific forms of masculine identity though business skills and dealing, fighting, and sex talk are considered. Tensions are highlighted regarding the ways in w…
Gypsy Identity and Orientations to Space
Drawing on data from a three-year ethnographic study of Gypsy life in England, this article explores Gypsy orientations toward space. The tensions that exist at the interface between sedentarism and nomadism are considered against a background of changing lifestyles due to shifting socioeconomic factors and recent government legislation. Attention is given to the dilemmas confronting participants subsequent to moving into houses and also to notio…
Gypsy children, space, and the school environment
This article draws on data generated from a 31⁄2‐year ethnographic study of the interface between Gypsy culture and the educational system in England. The evidence suggests that Gypsy children have distinctive spatial orientations that are embedded in their own culture and life experience. These relate to issues revolving around degrees of nomadic and sedentary lifestyles, and also around spatial awareness deriving from the site environment. In c…
The Role of Play in the Formation and Maintenance of Cultural Identity
Drawing on data from a three-and-a-half-year ethnographic study of Gypsy life in England, this article explores the orientations of Gypsy children toward play and the way in which play operates to affirm a separate identity and enforce boundaries. The apparently uncontrolled, and at times destructive, behavior of Gypsy children in a social/play context has been perceived by some observers as a barrier to educational progress. To illustrate and ex…
Conflicting value systems
Drawing on data from a three‐year ethnographic study of Gypsy life in England, this article explores the experience and attitudes of Gypsy women regarding the home‐school interface. Specific attention is given to the following: role expectations in the different contexts; changing perceptions of role in the face of economic and social change; the contradictions and tensions arising from the process of schooling; and the identity dilemmas experien…
Literacy in English Gypsy Communities
The attribution of low literacy levels among Gypsy children to difficulties of access to schools neglects underlying sociocultural explanations. There has been little analysis in reports/studies of Gypsy attitudes toward literacy, nor of outcomes of acquisition. Informed by new literacy theory and by the discourse of previous ethnographic studies, and by acculturation theories, this article draws on findings from an ethnographic study of English …
Accountability to research participants
Drawing on findings from an ethnographic study of Romani Gypsy groups in England (1996–2000), along with data from follow-up work involving original and additional participants (2005–ongoing), this paper explores several ethical issues that arose. It traces developing relationships across a 13-year period, identifying the problems of attempting to construct a ‘research community’ consisting of individuals with diverse lifestyles, and at times, co…
Supporting the learning of nomadic communities across transnational contexts
Deriving from the authors’ respective ethnographic fieldwork (around two decades in each context), this position paper considers experiences of education across two communities: Gypsy/Roma in the UK and Indigenous in Australia. The article brings together understandings across these traditionally nomadic communities, with no shared history or cultural connections other than nomadism, but with common experiences of exclusion, inequity, alienation …
What’s the plan?’ ‘What plan?’ Changing aspirations among Gypsy youngsters, and implications for future cultural identities and group membership
Considering data from a research project with two Gypsy communities (2010–2012) in South West England, this article explores issues of education and identity. The two communities have contrasting experiences within the education system. Informed by inter-disciplinary perspectives on identity and assimilation theories, the article explores these experiences within the wider context of the researcher’s work with Romani communities over the past two…
When Participants Don’t Wish to Participate in Participatory Action Research, and When Others Participate on Their Behalf
Student behaviour, motivation and the potential of attachment‐aware schools to redefine the landscape
This article is a position paper drawing on the findings of several studies into attachment‐aware approaches in schools and other settings. In seeking to promote pedagogical positions that place greater emphasis on the emotional landscape of students, the authors locate this in an historical perspective. They outline the ways in which educationalists have come to separate the learning being from the feeling being, to the extent of evolving separa…
Criss-Crossing the Irish Sea
In recent years there have been increasing demands to acknowledge the heterogeneity of Gypsy/Romani/Traveller communties (e.g., Levinson, 2014; Tong, 2015; Tremlett, 2013). There have also been suggestions of a need for more gendered analyses. A growing number of sources (Kóczé, 2009, 2011, 2015; Magyari-Vincze, 2006, 2007; Oprea, 2005a, 2005b) have focused on Gypsy/Romani/Traveller women’s identities, studies that are all outside of the UK and I…
Survival in the badlands
This article considers the understandings of space and place amongst a group of disaffected students within an institution that had been in a state of flux over a number of years. The article explores ways in which students are positioned by institutions into specific spaces, ways in which they use those spaces to challenge authority and ways in which they appropriate both space and place to assert new, and often playful, identities. The authors …
The Quest for Genuinely Participatory and Inclusive Research Approaches
This paper discusses approaches used in an AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council) research project across a number of sites in the United Kingdom. The Disability and Community: Dis/engagement, Dis/enfranchisement, Dis/parity, and Dissent (D4D) project explores issues around disability and community, investigating diverse topics related to inclusion/exclusion. The D4D project is distinctive in the combination of academic and nonacademic Co-In…
Fifty years on – and still no resolution
Sociology (15 works) · Anthropology (11 works) · Romani and Gypsy Studies (11 works) · Ethnography (10 works) · Gender Studies (10 works) · Gender Studies (10 works) · Political science (8 works) · Psychology (8 works) · Social science (8 works) · Pedagogy (7 works)