Stereotyping Irish Travellers: Popular cultural identity and ethnocentrism in recent Media

Lucía

Description

Resumen
El propósito de este trabajo es analizar el problema de los estereotipos, y en especial el caso de la Comunidad de Travellers en la sociedad irlandesa actual. Además, se pretende definir cómo funciona, examinar sus causas y sus posibles consecuencias, incluyendo los prejuicios, la discriminación y el racismo. Así mismo, también se tratan los problemas de identidad, etnocentrismo y el reconocimiento de estatus de etnia de este grupo minoritario. La difícil situación de los Travellers se examina brevemente, analizando sobre todo los cambios que han existido en la política que se les aplica, y cómo se les ha representado en los medios de comunicación. Se incluye un análisis detallado de estudios e informes recientes que ilustran las nuevas formas de estereotipos y sus consecuencias.

Se analizan algunos ejemplos de intentos de acercar las dos comunidades y se llega a la conclusión de que para poder obtener un grado satisfactorio de intercomunicación cultural es necesario evitar simplificar la realidad de una cultura.

Abstract
This essay intends to look at the issue of Stereotyping, particularly involving the Travelling Community in modern Irish Society. The essay looks to define the practice, examine its causes and its potential consequences, including prejudice, discrimination and racism. We also look at issues of identity, ethnocentrism and recognition of ethnic minority status, which are prevalent in modern Irish society towards the Travelling community. The plight of Irish Travellers is briefly examined, focusing on the various changes in policy over the past 50 years, their representation in the various media and their fight to be recognised as culturally distinct from the dominant culture. There is extended analysis of recent studies and reports, illustrating more modern or ‘sophisticated’ forms of stereotyping and its ramifications, such as Tokenism and Aversive Racism.

We look at some examples of successes in bridging the gap between the Travelling Community and the general Irish population and draw the conclusion that in order to attain the level of Intercultural Communication desired, it is necessary to avoid over-simplification of one’s environment and to continue to attempt to eradicate the development of stereotypes in our culture, particularly the Travelling Community.

Sujets

• Etnocentrismo
• Medio de comunicación
• Irlanda

Informations

• Publié par: erevistas
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 93
• Langue: Español

Extrait

Oceánide 4 2012
 
Fecha de recepción: 20 agosto 2011
Fecha de aceptación: 20 diciembre 2011
Fecha de publicación: 25 enero 2012
URL:http://oceanide.netne.net/articulos/art4-13.php
Oceánide número 4, ISSN 1989-6328


Stereotyping Irish Travellers: Popular cultural identity and ethnocentrism in recent Media

Lucía Vázquez de la Torre Castillo
(National University of Ireland Galway NUIG, Ireland)

RESUMEN:

El propósito de este trabajo es analizar el problema de los estereotipos, y en especial el caso de la Comunidad de
Travellers en la sociedad irlandesa actual. Además, se pretende definir cómo funciona, examinar sus causas y sus
posibles consecuencias, incluyendo los prejuicios, la discriminación y el racismo. Así mismo, también se tratan los
problemas de identidad, etnocentrismo y el reconocimiento de estatus de etnia de este grupo minoritario. La difícil
situación de los Travellers se examina brevemente, analizando sobre todo los cambios que han existido en la política
que se les aplica, y cómo se les ha representado en los medios de comunicación. Se incluye un análisis detallado de
estudios e informes recientes que ilustran las nuevas formas de estereotipos y sus consecuencias.
Se analizan algunos ejemplos de intentos de acercar las dos comunidades y se llega a la conclusión de que para poder
obtener un grado satisfactorio de intercomunicación cultural es necesario evitar simplificar la realidad de una cultura.
Palabras clave: etnocentrismo, viajantes, estereotipos culturales, medios de comunicación, Irlanda.
ABSTRACT:

This essay intends to look at the issue of Stereotyping, particularly involving the Travelling Community in modern Irish
Society. The essay looks to define the practice, examine its causes and its potential consequences, including prejudice,
discrimination and racism. We also look at issues of identity, ethnocentrism and recognition of ethnic minority status,
which are prevalent in modern Irish society towards the Travelling community. The plight of Irish Travellers is briefly
examined, focusing on the various changes in policy over the past 50 years, their representation in the various media
and their fight to be recognised as culturally distinct from the dominant culture. There is extended analysis of recent
studies and reports, illustrating more modern or ‘sophisticated’ forms of stereotyping and its ramifications, such as
Tokenism and Aversive Racism.
We look at some examples of successes in bridging the gap between the Travelling Community and the general Irish
population and draw the conclusion that in order to attain the level of Intercultural Communication desired, it is
necessary to avoid over-simplification of one’s environment and to continue to attempt to eradicate the development of
stereotypes in our culture, particularly the Travelling Community.
Keywords: ethnocentrism, Travellers, cultural stereotypes, Media, Ireland.

Stereotypes are “social structures which serve as to identify, sometimes superseding those
mental pictures of the groups in question” previously esteemed. A corollary of being part of
(Lipmann, 1922) or the traits that we view as the socialisation process is that we also learn about
characteristic of social groups, and particularly groups to which we do not belong, and indeed
those that differentiate groups from each other. In groups which we are taught to avoid. As Lustig and
short, they are that come to mind quickly when we Koester (2003: 140) tell us, this tendency to
think about “groups” (Nelson, 2009). But to identify as a member of some groups, called
understand the nature of stereotypes better, we ‘ingroups’, and to distinguish these ingroups from
must look at the nature of identity and ‘outgroups’ is very prevalent in human thinking.
ethnocentricity. An intrinsically important issue Furthermore, apparently inherent in our collective
concerning the development of intercultural mindset is the tendency to establish cultural
communication competence relates to the question biases, as cultural similarity allows people to
of how people start to identify themselves as being reduce uncertainty and to know what to expect
part of a particular group. Furthermore, why does when interacting with others. Experiencing shared
it seem almost inevitable that once established interpretations, or cultural patterns, provides
within that group, members of one culture start to guidelines about how people should behave and
develop negative attitudes toward other cultural indicate what to expect in interactions with others.
groups? Our cultural identity is something that we
unconsciously develop from childhood, when the There are multiple obvious benefits to restricting
immediate family is our initial point of reference one’s interaction to the confines of one’s own
regarding belonging to a group. As the child gets cultural group. It eliminates the threat of outside
older and more experienced the development of influences, reducing the unpredictable elements
outside interests, as well as those cultivated at that outside cultures bring. Also, quite simply, we
home or in school, creates new groups with which respond instinctively to stimuli, thereby saving
URL:http://oceanide.netne.net/articulos/art4-13.php
 Oceánide 4 2012
 
time by categorising the various stimulants into in Ireland (2011), a chief difficulty in assessing
handy preconceived patterns. By involving Irish Travellers position in society has been the
ourselves in intercultural communication we constant inaccurate use of terms like Race and
endanger the sense of superiority and security we Racial by some commentators when referring to
can depend on in our own cultural group. This the treatment of this minority by the dominant
social categorising is part of the way we all process society. Ethnicity is a product of learned behaviour
information about others. As well as organising within a particular environment, while race refers
stimuli into distinct conceptual categories, people to “biological and genetically inherited physical or
also presume that everyone else shares their physiological traits” (2011: 296). This confusion
worldview in terms of perception, reasoning and often leads to ethnicity being seen as the
interaction. The common practice of using personal identification of ethnic traits. Lentin distin-
experience to empathise with or understand the guishes between the term “ethnic minority”
actions or emotions of others is the basis of describing it as a “fluid and floating” concept - and
“ethnocentrism”, which is an important feature in “race”, which is understood as a rigid and
the development of stereotypes. Another feature of unchanging categorisation of people (2002: 232).
social categorising is the act of simplifying the This can have both positive and negative results. A
processing and organisation of information from productive effect could be the development of a
the environment by identifying certain strong and positive image about a particular ethnic
characteristics as belonging to certain categories of group, which may be helpful in breaking down the
persons and events (Lustig and Koester, 2003). barriers to intercultural communication. However,
This results in an over-simplification one’s it may also lead to the development of negative
environment, so that prior experiences are used as stereotypes.
the basis for determining both the categories and
the attributes of the events. This process is called Another commonly used term in contemporary
stereotyping. This organisation and simplification Irish society with little regard to its actual meaning
can create some genuine obstacles to intercultural is “ethnic minority”. Simply put, an ethnic minority
competence, because they may lead to prejudice, is one that is culturally distinct from the majority
discrimination and racism (Lustig and Koester, of the population with a sense of itself as a
2003), all of which contribute adversely to the community also (Giddens, 1997). The travelling
breaking down of barriers to intercultural community in Ireland is a clear example of an
communication. All cultures instruct their members ethnic minority group with a sense of itself as a
on preconceived ways to respond to the world, community. It is culturally distinct from the
which they consider to be proper and appropriate. Settled community. This, however, is not a view
Hence, people tend to consider their own history shared by the Irish Government, which refuses to
and experience as being universal. When this belief recognise the Travelling Community as an
develops (or regresses as such) into a feeling that ethnically distinct group. This is evident in the
one’s own culture is superior to a culture from Department of Justice Equality and Law Reform’s
without, it becomes ethnocentrism. William G. interpretation of the Equal Status Act 2000, which
Sumner’s (1940) definition of Ethnocentrism is offers protection to those discriminated against
“the view of things in which one’s own group is the base