Traveller planning policy continues to marginalise Gypsy families

Gypsies have rarely been served well by policy-makers in the UK. Here, Martin Myers outlines a glaring catch-22 embedded in planning policy for Traveller sites. The legislation and the discourse it uses work to reiterate fifteenth century legislation that requires Gypsies to comply or be cast out from society as non-citizens

An inheritance of exclusion: Roma education, genetics and the turn to biosocial solutions

Since the 1990s an increasing body of genetic studies of Roma people has been conducted and used to understand their lives. This includes research on health issues such as genetic predispositions to obesity or high cholesterol levels and the migration of European Roma from the Indian subcontinent. Such work needs to be contextualised within the wide-ranging historical oppression of Roma people including their enslavement, the Holocaust, denial of human rights and a lack of access to education. Aligning genetics research to educational policy has often been problematic in the context of discredited, ‘race’ science; recently more nuanced arguments have promoted ‘post-genomic’ solutions, such as biosocial strategies, that address social justice issues. This article argues that an economy of knowledge emerges in the ‘postgenomic era’ that privileges predominantly White European, majority populations and this is particularly apparent in the context of the Roma. The promotion of educational solutions framed by genetics research underpins how cultural capital, in this case scientific knowledge and its framing within social theory such as Deleuzian assemblage will, in all likelihood, maintain the status quo for the Roma

Narratives of Gypsy Identity and the Crossing of Boundaries

Gypsies have lived in the UK since the fifteenth century following a long diasporic movement originating in the north of India. Despite their long-standing presence they remain a marginalised group, often regarded in negative or stereotyped ways by their neighbours. This research considers the relationships of Gypsy families and their neighbours on the south coast of England. Using semi-structured interviews with members of 32 families the research explores the shaping of Gypsy identity. The interviews produced a unique picture of the lives of Gypsy families on the south coast and highlighted the ways in which family and individual identities were constructed both through their relationships with non-Gypsy neighbours and through the maintenance of boundaries between them. The research considers the associations between Gypsy identity and Gypsy community and identifies how these both shape and are shaped by relations with non-Gypsies. In this respect it pays particular attention to the role of citizenship in Britain since the Second World War and examines how citizenship demarcates a boundary with Gypsy non-citizens. The thesis suggests that Gypsy families on the south coast manage inherent physical closeness and distance in relations with their neighbours as well as less tangible, non-physical cultural markers. This bears the hallmarks of Simmel's (1971) stranger, but is often adapted around a self-imposed invisibility. Gypsy community is described as having a literal quality distinct from the citizenship routes of non-Gypsies in which community is based upon imagined commonalities. In doing so a 'Gypsy' identity emerges that can both maintain an historic understanding of Gypsy identity and adapt to the pressures of managing at times difficult relationships with non-Gypsy neighbours

Newspaper Accounts Of Gypsy Lives In The 2005 Election Year: An Examination Of The Representations And Misrepresentations Of Gypsy Identity

This paper examines the heightened interest in Gypsies demonstrated by newspapers in particular, (but also other media and politicians), during the 2005 election campaign. It will examine how representations made about Gypsy culture, lifestyle and identity often fail to engage accurately with the realities of Gypsy lives. In doing so it will consider what implications the election had for perpetuating or exaggerating some historically commonplace misrecognitions of Gypsies. The paper argues that the processes by which Gypsies are misrepresented are intrinsically bound to the processes by which society understands and shapes itself. The ‘othering' of Gypsy communities helps to shape and make readable societal boundaries

Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award Lecture 2010: Deconstructing Leptin: From Signals to Circuits

Martin G. Myers Jr., MD, PhD, received the American Diabetes Association's prestigious 2010 Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award at the Association's 70th Scientific Sessions in Orlando, Florida, on 28 June 2010. The Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award recognizes outstanding scientific achievement in the field of diabetes, taking into consideration independence of thought and originality

Effect of nuclear periphery on nucleon transfer in peripheral collisions

A comparison of experimental heavy residue cross sections from the reactions 86Kr+64Ni,112,124Sn with the model of deep-inelastic transfer (DIT) is carried out. A modified expression for nucleon transfer probabilities is used at non-overlapping projectile-target configurations, introducing a dependence on isospin asymmetry at the nuclear periphery. The experimental yields of neutron-rich nuclei close to the projectile are reproduced better and the trend deviating from the bulk isospin equilibration is explained. For the neutron-rich products further from the projectile, originating from hot quasiprojectiles, the statistical multifragmentation model reproduces the mass distributions better than the model of sequential binary decay. In the reaction with proton-rich target 112Sn the nucleon exchange appears to depend on isospin asymmetry of nuclear periphery only when surface separation is larger than 0.8 fm due to the stronger Coulomb interaction at more compact di-nuclear configuration.Comment: LaTeX, 13 pages, 7 figures, to appear in Nuclear Physics

The park is ruining our livelihoods. We support the park! Unravelling the paradox of attitudes to protected areas

Despite considerable field-based innovation and academic scrutiny, the nexus between conservation approaches, local support for parks and park effectiveness remains quite puzzling. Common approaches to understanding notions of environmental justice are to understand distributional and procedural issues, representation in decision making, and recognition of authorities and claims. We took a different approach and analysed environmental justice claims through institutional, ideational and psychological lenses. We sought to understand how the national park could have such broad support from local communities despite their acknowledgement that it severely curtailed their livelihoods. We conducted 100 household interviews in three villages that border Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area. Our study found that villagers 1) hold on to broken promises by the State for agricultural activities and alternative revenues without fully changing forest use behaviours; 2) were influenced heavily by the ‘educational’ programmes by the State; 3) accepted the authority of the State and lack of participation in decision-making based on historical experiences and values; 4) justified their burdens by over-emphasising the positive aspects of the park. Our findings present a complementary framework to explain environmental justice claims, allowing for a nuanced analysis of how people respond to justices and injustices, and specifically how injustices can be identified through proven social science concepts

Probing the structure of a birthplace of intermediate-mass stars: Ammonia cores in Lynds 1340

Lynds 1340, a molecular cloud forming intermediate-mass stars, has been mapped in the NH_3(1,1) and (2,2) transitions with the Effelsberg 100m telescope. We observed the whole area of the cloud where C18O emission was detected earlier, at a 40 arcsec grid, with additional positions towards the C18O peaks and optically invisible IRAS point sources. Our observations covered an area of 170 arcmin^2, corresponding to about 5.15 pc^2 at a distance of 600 pc, and revealed 10 ammonia cores. The cores, occupying some 7% of the mapped area, probably represent the highest density regions of L1340. Their total mass is 80 solar mass, about 6% of the mass traced by C18O. Six cores are associated with optically invisible IRAS point sources. Their average nonthermal line width is 0.78 kms^{-1}, while the same quantity for the four starless cores is 0.28 kms^{-1}. We suggest that the narrow-line cores are destined to form low-mass stars, whereas small groups of intermediate-mass stars are being formed in the turbulent cores. The features traced by NH_3, 13CO, C18O and HI obey the line width-size relation log Delta v_{NT} = 0.41(0.06)log R_{1/2}+ 0.12(0.06). Comparison of sizes, densities and nonthermal line widths of ammonia cores with those of C18O and 13CO structures supports the scenario in which core formation has been induced by turbulent fragmentation. The typical physical properties of the ammonia cores of L1340, R_{1/2} =0.08 pc, T_{kin}=13.8 K, Delta v_{total}=0.64 kms^{-1}, and M =9 solar mass are close to those of the high-mass star forming Perseus and Orion B clouds.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures. Accepted by A&