Includes bibliographical references (pages 315-323) and index (pages 325-334)
This book presents the untold stories of Gypsy and Traveller girls living in Scotland. Drawing on accounts of the girls' lives and offering space for their voices to be heard, the author addresses contemporary and traditional stereotypes and racialized misconceptions of Gypsies and Travellers. The author explores how the stubborn persistence of these negative views appears to contribute to policies and practices of neglect, inertia or intervention that often aim to "civilize" and further assimilate these communities into the mainstream settled population. it is against this backdrop that the book exposes the girls' racialized and gendered experiences, which impact on their struggles as young people to realize their potential and future prospects. Their narratives reveal the strengths of a distinct community, and the complexity of their silence and agency within the patriarchal structures that pervade the private spaces of home and the public spaces of education. This study also invites the reader to reflect on how the experiences of Gypsy and Traveller girls compares with young women from other social backgrounds, and questions if there is more that binds us than divides us as women in the modern world
