Where are we going
Irish Traveller men imagining individual and collective futures
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2390564 |
|---|---|
| Authors | A Veale (0000-0001-5758-421X, University College Cork, corresponding author), Paul Walsh (0000-0002-4988-6901, University College Cork) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 22-44 |
| Publication date | 2025-07-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Culture & Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1354-067X • E-ISSN: 1461-7056 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1354067x251357957 |
| OpenAlex | W4412028147 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 20 |
Irish Travellers were recognised as an indigenous ethnic minority in 2017, which was an important symbolic step in acknowledging the uniqueness of Traveller culture. Drawing on Zittoun & Gillespie's concept of the imaginative loop, this paper explores how Irish Traveller men imagine the future for themselves and their community, in the context of being an ethnic minority group where mainstream society has restricted many of their cultural practices, including nomadism. Participants were six Irish Traveller men in the South of Ireland. Deductive thematic analysis was applied to the data using analytic dimensions of the imaginative loop model in terms of triggers, imaginative resources, dimensions of time, generalisation and plausibility, and intra-psychological or external outcomes. Emergent themes included Imagining possibilities: Discrimination as a constant; Pride and creation of a Traveller Hero; Where are we going? The rocky road to utopia; and 'A fair crack of the whip': Claiming an equal future for their children. Imagination emerged as a site which linked past experience/future possibilities but also as a site of resistance to cultural assimilative pressures, and one of protest and demand, as men asserted a right to equality and parity of esteem, and re-envisioned relationships with the settled community. Implications for mobilising imagination for addressing intergenerational discrimination and social trauma are discussed. Future research could engage with the settled Irish population to explore their imaginings of the future of the Travelling community and culture in Ireland
Economics · Financial economics · Futures contract · Irish · Linguistics · Indigenous Studies and Ecology · Irish and British Studies · Philosophy · Romani and Gypsy Studies
Narrative Imagination and Everyday Life
Imagination and Creativity in Childhood
Reaching the hard-to-reach
Possibility studies
Conceptual and design thinking for thematic analysis
(Un)imagination and (im)mobility
Imagination in people and societies on the move
Exploring the interplay between (im)mobility and imagination
Education in Ireland
Significance of Horses
The ‘Final Solution
Engaging Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller Communities in Research
Ethics and positionality in qualitative research with vulnerable and marginal groups
Cultural Continuity as a Hedge against Suicide in Canada's First Nations
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |