Synopses & Reviews
Anthropologists George and Sharon Gmelch have been studying the quasi-nomadic people known as Travellers since their fieldwork in the early 1970s, when they lived among Travellers and went on the road in their own horse-drawn wagon. In 2011 they returned to seek out families they had known decades before--shadowed by a film crew and taking with them hundreds of old photographs showing the Travellers' former way of life. Many of these images are included in this book, alongside more recent photos and compelling personal narratives that reveal how Traveller lives have changednow that they have left nomadism behind.
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"The authors are proven fieldworkers and talented writers with long-term expertise in Traveller culture; the images are excellent, crisp and professional, informative and evocative." --Ray Cashman, Ohio State University Indiana University Press
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"Bring[s] together photographs taken over a forty-year period with Traveller commentary on the photos and the lives they represent, along with 'snapshots' of the authors' experience.... As such, it offer[s] a unique contribution, in its combination of methods and representations, to the study of Travellers, but also to our understanding of Irish society through an especially dynamic period." --Lawrence Taylor, National University of Ireland-Maynooth Indiana University Press
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"When Sharon and George Gmelch returned to Ireland forty years
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"[C]olor photos... form a full picture of the group's culture over the decades, and... reflect the importance of photographs in Traveller life.... An unusual and captivating depiction of a rarely examined people." --Library Journal (Starred Review) Indiana University Press Indiana University Press
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"" -- Indiana University Press
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"Irish Travellers: The Unsettled Life provides extraordinary insight into the Irish Travelling community, complete with beautiful photographs from past and present. A crucially important work, it marks
changing times for the Irish Travelling community and, indeed Ireland as a whole. A wonderful book for general interest, research, and teaching alike." --Claire Bracken, Department of English, Union College Indiana University Press
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"Anthropologists Sharon... and George... Gmelch offer personal recollections from their initial fieldwork during the early 1970s coupled with observations from their encounters 40 years later in a follow-up trip.
About the Author
Sharon Bohn Gmelch is Professor of Anthropology at the University of San Francisco and Roger Thayer Stone Professor of Anthropology at Union College. Her books include Nan: The Life of an Irish Travelling Woman; Tinkers and Travellers: Ireland's Nomads; The Tlingit Encounter with Photography; and, with George Gmelch, Tasting the Good Life: Wine Tourism in the Napa Valley (IUP, 2011).
George Gmelch is Professor of Anthropology at the University of San Francisco and Union College. His books include The Irish Tinkers: The Urbanization of an Itinerant People and Behind the Smile: The Working Lives of Caribbean Tourism (IUP, 2012).